Apollo 11 Week

[Doogie]

Dude...this is the 40th anniversary of the launching, landing and return of men from the moon and there is NO chatter from anyone. This is a monumental touching piece of human history accomplished and yet no mention. No fanfare. Should we have Obama the saint bless it and make it holy?? Seems to be the only way to things nowadays I find it absolutely pitiful to be an American right now.

Maybe we should help the Russians launch their 'Soyuz"moon rockets. Or help the Chinese get them into the "space race." Fuck if we are doing anything...let me ask this for the $50 dollar question: what went "wrong" on the Apollo 12 mission. And I will make this a $1000, who was supposed to be the 'original' first man on the moon and why did that get fucked up.

[Foster]

Dude...this is the 40th anniversary of the launching, landing and return of men from the moon and there is NO chatter from anyone. This is a monumental touching piece of human history accomplished and yet no mention. No fanfare. Should we have Obama the saint bless it and make it holy?? Seems to be the only way to things nowadays I find it absolutely pitiful to be an American right now.

Maybe we should help the Russians launch their 'Soyuz"moon rockets. Or help the Chinese get them into the "space race." Fuck if we are doing anything...let me ask this for the $50 dollar question: what went "wrong" on the Apollo 12 mission. And I will make this a $1000, who was supposed to be the 'original' first man on the moon and why did that get fucked up.

anthony nelson

this bitch screwed it up for him

http://www.sixtiesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/i_dream_of_jeanie.jpg

[Gvac]

Harry Potter is in the movies! Didn't you hear?

And there are some new comic books for sale!

This is what's important!

Come on, Doog.

Get your priorities straight!

[Doogie]

You know my father told something interesting about men landing on the moon. My grandfather was a total "Mick" ( He came here in 1928 after blowing up police stations in Ireland), and was born in the year men first flew (1903). Him, my father and others (amongst whom included John O Donuhue (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0640887/)) and my grand father said according to my father: "I was born in the year men first started flying and here I am watching men walk on the moon." And my grandfathers eyes were moist with tears. No we Sheridans are all "tough" guys. No one cries at wakes, etc, yet that story about my grandfather moves me. A man who understood the circumstances he grew up in. Yet it gets no coverage. No interview with Neil Armstrong, who was the only civilian in Apollo by 1969 and the only true perfect choice to be the first to step foot on the moon. Instead we get Michael Jackson and so forth.

God I want to kill people in our nation. And I say this as a vet. A vet who knows his history. Russia, I give you full permission at this juncture to drop neutron bombs. Keep our capsules alive. Kill the faggotry...AKA all of America.

[A.J.]

We're still too busy grieving for Michael Jackson.

[razorboy]

We're still too busy grieving for Michael Jackson.

He was the moonwalker, after all.

[TheMojoPin]

Dude...this is the 40th anniversary of the launching, landing and return of men from the moon and there is NO chatter from anyone. This is a monumental touching piece of human history accomplished and yet no mention. No fanfare.

Then you're living in a cave.

Under a rock.

On the moon.

Or you can't hear anything over the sound of your mangina sobbing.

[Doogie]

Then you're living in a cave.

Under a rock.

On the moon.

Or you can't hear anything over the sound of your mangina sobbing.

Ok...why did this make me laugh? Ass...

[PD]

It's an age thing.

For those of us old enough to remember the days when Space exploration was cool and fascinating, this is a big deal. No one seems to care much now. There have been a few news stories, but the biggest one was how NASA screwed up and erased some of their original tapes.

[Friday]

I am still paying attention, Doogie!

Space was my first love... I can remember the heartache I had as a kid learning that I wouldn't be able to pilot a shuttle because my vision was so bad. Didn't stop me from going to space camp and space academy though.

I still savor every night there is a clear sky so I can enjoy all of my favorite constellations.


btw... there will be an outdoor screening of Apollo 13 on the flight deck of the Intrepid in August.
pretty cool place to see a movie... especially one involving the military and space exploration...

[PapaBear]

What a coincidence! My father just came back from visiting his brother a few days ago, and I was just looking at the photos he took when he was there. I noticed this pic of my Uncle's room with a framed newspaper front page about Apollo 11!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y229/snowmaninva66/DSCF0119.jpg

[Gvac]

Here's a closer look at that newspaper (http://members.shaw.ca/rlongpre01/moon.html)

[razorboy]

My Dad tells the story of being a night manager at a Ft. Lauderdale hotel when he was eighteen and watching the lunar landing along with the other patrons in the lobby. God bless those crazy bastards.

[PapaBear]

Watching the moon landing on TV is actually my oldest memory. I didn't really understand what was happening. I just know we were all sitting around in the dark because my brother was taking pictures of the TV screen.

[TooLowBrow]

Watching the moon landing on TV is actually my oldest memory. I didn't really understand what was happening. I just know we were all sitting around in the dark because my brother was taking pictures of the TV screen.

my dad listened to the launch on radio. i wasnt even born

40 years later we both watched a launch streamed online, with video feeds live from the ouside of the shuttle, on separate laptops while discussing it while it was happening on cell phones. and i used bluetooth for the call.

technology is amazing, but it seems like everyday device (phones, tv) advances outshine our space advances

[Devo37]

FezFez: please use your influence with Ron to have Molly's Cupcakes offer all surviving Apollo astronauts a free cupcake (no beverage) in celebration of their accomplishments.

[TooLowBrow]

FezFez: please use your influence with Ron to have Molly's Cupcakes offer all surviving Apollo astronauts a free cupcake (no beverage) in celebration of their accomplishments.



the deal would be if all the survivors show up they get one cupcake

to share

no beverage

[Sinestro]

.let me ask this for the $50 dollar question: what went "wrong" on the Apollo 12 mission. And I will make this a $1000, who was supposed to be the 'original' first man on the moon and why did that get fucked up.

What's the answer???

[Gvac]

What's the answer???

Didn't you read this thread?

No one cares.

[ToiletCrusher]

What the fuck are the Apollo missions?

Someone please let me know when we start caring about the present and can leave the past behind us.

Man - 1
Moon - 0

I get it. We won. Unless there are space serpents, I don't want to hear anymore of this nonsense.

got it?

[KnoxHarrington]

I find it highly annoying that CNN's lead story on this now, in the "Tech" section of their site, is about douchebags who believe the moon landing was faked.

These idiots should get the Buzz Aldrin rebuttal to their stupid claims.

[A.J.]

What a coincidence! My father just came back from visiting his brother a few days ago, and I was just looking at the photos he took when he was there. I noticed this pic of my Uncle's room with a framed newspaper front page about Apollo 11!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y229/snowmaninva66/DSCF0119.jpg

My Mom saved a copy of the paper from that day too. I have to find it the next time I go up there.

[TheMojoPin]

Here's a closer look at that newspaper (http://members.shaw.ca/rlongpre01/moon.html)

We can put a man on the moon, but we can't bomb a tiny Asian nation into the Stone Age?

[Doogie]

What's the answer???

Ha...sorry about that, I was slacking with the answer. Had faith that some people here knew there shit.

In reference to my first question was the fact that Apollo 12 launched in a rainstorm and on the way up they were struck twice by lightning which fucked up every system onboard and made Pete Conrad keep his hand on the abort switch just in case they had to punch out. Didnt happen that way, one guy on the ground knew how to reset and recycle the system and relayed it to the crew, and Al Bean hit the switch that saved the mission.

After they got into orbit they had to test all the systems to make sure they were ok. All of them passed, except for one system they didnt have a test for. The pyro's on the decent chutes. They feared that the lightning might have of triggered the pyro's and the only way to make sure would be a visual inspection of the pyro's which meant an EVA on an already tight schedule to get to the moon. So the decision was made by a flight controller to send them to the moon anyway. If they were going to die upon reinsertion they might as well have them go to the moon first...


Now in reference to my 2nd question...Pete Conrad was actually on the way to becoming the first man on the moon. Unlike what many people have written about history and how "the right guy was picked to be first." It wasn't a big plan at all. The real plan on how crew rotations were picked were simply done by Deke Slayton. His rule was simple, You picked a crew based off how well they work together, how hard they work to get where they are and third how much experience they have. And as for backup crews, they always flew three missions after the prime crew flew (Apollo 7 flies, the back-up crew will fly on Apollo 10.)

Usually the thing that messes up backup crews and prime crews would be a death, injury or sometimes what Slayton perceived of as incompetence. This wasn't the case for Apollo 8 and 9. What happened in that case was the CIA informed NASA that Russians were rolling out a HUGE rocket in August 1968. They believed they were going for a shot at the moon before the Americans. That would have of been a huge prestige loss for America and NASA. Whoever got their first is what mattered. The missions of Apollo 8 and 9 were slated to depend on the Lunar Module as a back-up engine to get out of lunar orbit in case of failure by the Service Module's engine. The problem was that Grumman was falling behind on schedule on the Lunar Module and it would not be space ready until at least February 1969.

The crews of Apollo 8 and 9 were training for their respective missions. 8 was to be an in Earth orbit test of the LM, 9 was to be a test of it in lunar orbit. So NASA decided "fuck the LM, send a crew around the moon without it." This meant they would have to swap the mission numbers and as a result swap the backup crews. The prime crew for that first flight to the moon was Frank Borman-Commander, Jim Lovell-Command Module Pilot and Micheal Collins-Lunar Module Pilot. The back up crew was Armstrong, Aldrin, and Bill Anders. The prime crew for the high Earth orbit mission was Dave Scott (CMP), Rusty Schweickert(LMP), and Jim McDivitt (Cdr). Their back-up was Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and C.C Williams.

The other major rule that Slayton had was the Command Module Pilot (CMP) would command a mission three missions after their own flight, so this way they would get their shot on the moon too. What happened in the case of 8 and 9 was NASA swapped their missions and by default put Armstrong as the first man to walk on the moon, Conrad was slated to be the first. Just the machinations of technology not being ready yet, not wanting to break up crews and missions, and politics changed it to what we know. It actually does work out better for history though. Armstrong was a civilian at the time he walked on the moon. Most other astronauts were still in the military at the time they landed on the moon. Also note Michael Collins who was on 11 was slated for 8, but he had surgery on his back a few months before the mission and wasnt ready for 8, and wound up on 11. And C. C. Williams died before his flight, thrusting Al Bean into his spot...




A nice little excerpt from the miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" showing Apollo 12 getting struck by lightning:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TMYNy3JsHTE&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TMYNy3JsHTE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>



And the actual landing done in a decent dramatic way of the real events:

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EXT96N1YfbQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EXT96N1YfbQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[PD]

http://www.google.com/logos/moonlanding09.gif

[El Mudo]

We can put a man on the moon, but we can't bomb a tiny Asian nation into the Stone Age?



I wish Armstrong had said something like that headline instead of the "one small step...."

I don't think anything would have ever topped that.

[high fly]

When I think back on Apollo 11 it reminds me of eating Space Food Sticks...

[PD]

Box set of From the Earth to the Moon, on Amazon= 10.99.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B000A0GYD2/?tag=dealhack08-20