45th Anniversary of The Flight of the Eagle

The Eagle has landed. 45 years ago today the LEM separated from command module Columbia and put two Americans, Neil Armstrong and Buzz F'n Aldrin on the moon.

My father worked on the program, I was a kid in Huntsville Alabama when all this happened. He and mom let me and my kid sis stay up and watch the first moonwalk. It was about 10pm central time.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 11:07 AM

Comments

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1 The space program did so much for the US. Now its just a vestige of what it was. Its so sad that we have to spend money on the FSA at the expense of space exploration.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at July 20, 2014 11:06 AM (60Vyp)

2 I've been told important people get upset if our nation thinks it's exceptional.

Well

Fuck them

I wish buzz could punch them all in the nose

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 11:09 AM (zOTsN)

3 Question. I watched the landing too. Didn't those guys actually "fly/land" the LEM? Educate me horde.

Posted by: Guido 'loves the ukulele' at July 20, 2014 11:10 AM (VwjGX)

4 Was 5 when I watched it. I can remember my Dad picking me up one evening and having me wave to the men on the moon.

We should have several colonies on it by now!

We put men on the moon.

Posted by: The Man from Athens at July 20, 2014 11:11 AM (O3k74)

5 The moon landings were showy - and a terrific technological achievement - but not serious. 'Commercial' space is serious.

Posted by: PersonFromPorlock at July 20, 2014 11:11 AM (EDprM)

6 #2 Ditto.

He can start with that POS Kerry.

Posted by: The Man from Athens at July 20, 2014 11:12 AM (O3k74)

7 I bet if the US were to commit to colonizing space in order to provide a build/launch platform for manned exploration, the explosion of science, technology and innovation would be astounding.

On the other hand, we can just continue to let NASA be a tool to help Muslims feel good about themselves as directed by the Affurmatif Axshun Preznit and see how far we get.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at July 20, 2014 11:13 AM (60Vyp)

8 The projection and perception of American power is very very serious business

If you don't have it, you get what we have in the Ukraine.

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 11:14 AM (zOTsN)

9 Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way ...

Posted by: Adriane ... at July 20, 2014 11:16 AM (TTOGv)

10 Likewise, the moon landing was a victory in the Cold War, and very serious. Also very serious science

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 11:16 AM (zOTsN)

11 I was almost 6 and remember my dad waking me and my brother up. He brought us out to the living room to watch the landing broadcast on the TV. I still remember standing there watching. In later years, Dad said he wanted us to be able to say we saw this momentous thing live...that we were "there" when it all happened.

Posted by: Lady in Black at July 20, 2014 11:17 AM (tsGZY)

12 We: men on the moon. international space station etc.

Muslims: blowing yourself up to kill unbelievers = going to heaven.

Assholes.

Posted by: The Man from Athens at July 20, 2014 11:17 AM (O3k74)

13 We were staying with my aunt and uncle who had rented a house down on the LI coast, a house without a TV. My dad took me to buy a little black and white number with rabbit ears and let me stay up to watch the landing.

I still remember sitting there watching in awe while my dad was furiously trying to dial in the rabbit ears. This was before cable, cell phones and the internet. It was a much simpler time. It was more than showy, it was f'n magic.

Posted by: JackStraw at July 20, 2014 11:18 AM (g1DWB)

14 By the way: Viking 1 landed on Mars today in 1976!!!

Posted by: The Man from Athens at July 20, 2014 11:18 AM (O3k74)

15 Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.

Posted by: The Armstrong Kid Next Door. at July 20, 2014 11:18 AM (jfUIE)

16 That trip to the moon was a waste. So many people starving in Africa and we do this. The money would have been better spent on helping the children and what did we get from it. Just stooped pictures. If President Obama was in charge back them things would have been done correctly.

Posted by: Dorcus Blimline from Brattleboro,VT at July 20, 2014 11:21 AM (hP/Mt)

17 I loved watching the Apollo missions as a kid. That and the development of new jet fighters. I also remember watching the lunar landing in school and how proud our teacher was that America had done it. Even more so when they returned safely.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at July 20, 2014 11:21 AM (60Vyp)

18 UAE plans on being on Mars in 7 years.

Lot of inshallah there I think.

Posted by: RWC at July 20, 2014 11:22 AM (c7WtF)

19 "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

JFK 1962

"The US is no more exceptional than any other country."

BHO 2010

Posted by: JackStraw at July 20, 2014 11:23 AM (g1DWB)

20 The LM was pretty much computer flown, but on this landing Armstrong had to do the final bit of landing by hand, I think due to the landing site having too large of boulders or something. Interesting note: the LM was flown with the astronauts standing up.

Posted by: dudenolongerinsantacruz at July 20, 2014 11:24 AM (PGXA8)

21 19 "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

JFK 1962

"The US is no more exceptional than any other country."

BHO 2010
Posted by: JackStraw at July 20, 2014 11:23 AM (g1DWB)

Way to harsh my mellow, Jack.

Posted by: Buck Farack, Gentleman Adventurer at July 20, 2014 11:24 AM (Nk6GS)

22 I thought I remember Sister Dolorata rolling in a tv set to watch the landing. Then I checked out the time of the landing,and I was on a bus heading home from school. Now I'm confuzzled.

Posted by: Hadoop at July 20, 2014 11:24 AM (Ph479)

23 Wapakoeneta Daily News Headline for tomorrow's paper 45 years ago: Neil Step On The Moon.

http://tinyurl.com/q9ozygc

Posted by: buzzion at July 20, 2014 11:25 AM (zt+N6)

24 The moon landings were showy - and a terrific technological achievement - but not serious. 'Commercial' space is serious.

We couldn't agree more. There's big money to be made in developing commercial space. Say, if you happen to come across a Xenomorph or hear of one, please let our Bio-Weapons Division know. We'll be sure to cut you in for a percentage.

Posted by: Weyland-Yutani "Building Better Worlds" at July 20, 2014 11:26 AM (BAS5M)

25 I stayed up to watch the walk. Home from college on NY. Working with dad and alarm went off at 2:30 am. for drive to Harlem to carry meat. Heard the alarm go off and dad said "glad you watched now get ready for work." Long day. But good times. Lol.

Posted by: Guido 'loves the ukulele' at July 20, 2014 11:26 AM (VwjGX)

26 Jim Hoft @gatewaypundit 6m
Oklahoma Governor: ICE Sent Us 1,200 Illegal Immigrant Children -- Including 90 from India (Video) http://shar.es/NFLmO via @gatewaypundit

Posted by: Costanza Defense at July 20, 2014 11:26 AM (ZPrif)

27 When I was in Vietnam Apollo 12 landed. I remember pointing to the moon (visible in daylight) and saying to one of the Vietnamese secretaries: "There are two Americans there right now." She said: "You crazy, nobody can go to moon." I said "Americans can".

Of course now she would be right. Today the closest this country can get to the moon is Barack Obama flying a ball into a sand trap.

Posted by: An Observation at July 20, 2014 11:27 AM (ylhEn)

28 We were out playing at the only time of day it was comfortable... Mom called out the back door "They're fixin' to walk on the moon"
Boy did we come running....

Posted by: Mr. Wizard at July 20, 2014 11:27 AM (gmrH5)

29 Posted by: RWC at July 20, 2014 11:22 AM (c7WtF)

A lot of bullshit to keep the restive masses under control for just a little while longer.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 20, 2014 11:28 AM (QFxY5)

30 I was only eight months old at the time, but my mom and watched it.

Posted by: SMFH at it all at July 20, 2014 11:29 AM (OsWis)

31 Mom and dad.

Posted by: SMFH at it all at July 20, 2014 11:29 AM (OsWis)

32 DiT, since the moon landings were faked, does that mean he really wasn't your "father"? Is it possible that he was just an actor playing your "father" to add another layer of sophistication to the hoax?

Posted by: Zombie John Gotti at July 20, 2014 11:30 AM (zT0DN)

33 I was born on July 20, just as the landing was taking place. They asked my dad if he wanted to be in the delivery room, and his answer was something to the effect of "hey, you only land on the moon for the first time in history once!" Can't say I blame him; I wouldn't want to be in there with all that mess and the yelling....

Posted by: PabloD at July 20, 2014 11:32 AM (RQlNa)

34 And don't worry to much about "ethics" or "morality." Focus on the percentage.

Posted by: Weyland-Yutani "Building Better Worlds" at July 20, 2014 11:32 AM (BAS5M)

35 "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

JFK 1962

"The US is no more exceptional than any other country."

BHO 2010

Posted by: JackStraw at July 20, 2014 11:23 AM (g1DWB)

He also pointed out the American spirit of adventure:

"Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there." Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked."

Posted by: Zombie John Gotti at July 20, 2014 11:32 AM (zT0DN)

36 >>If President Obama was in charge back them things would have been done correctly.
Posted by: Dorcus Blimline from Brattleboro,VT

I'm sure the graft would have been incredible.

Posted by: Aviator at July 20, 2014 11:33 AM (3rrMW)

37

A lot of bullshit to keep the restive masses under control for just a little while longer.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 20, 2014 11:28 AM (QFxY5)

Can't wait for the footage. It's going to make 'Thunderbirds' look believable.

Posted by: RWC at July 20, 2014 11:33 AM (c7WtF)

38 I was 4 a the time and was very into space things. Watching it on TV is probably one of my earliest childhood memories. I was in awe that we had men on the moon.

Posted by: Beer Ninja at July 20, 2014 11:34 AM (1zSof)

39 Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.

Posted by: The Armstrong Kid Next Door. at July 20, 2014 11:18 AM (jfUIE)

Love that story. **snicker**

Posted by: Count de Monet at July 20, 2014 11:34 AM (BAS5M)

40 It's easy to start asking questions like "if we haven't been back there in 40 years, then what was the point?"

A nation cannot choose to be exceptional. It either is, or it isn't, and virtually everything we did in the 20th century showed that we were.

A nation can obviously choose NOT to be exceptional, however. Which is what we are doing now.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 11:34 AM (Dj0WE)

41 Landing on the monn was a distraction. I remember it well.

President For Shizzle Barky O McFuckstick.

Posted by: Chavez the Hugo at July 20, 2014 11:35 AM (Q8vlx)

42 Zombie. Exactly. Made the hoax more believable. Lol.

Posted by: Guido 'loves the ukulele' at July 20, 2014 11:35 AM (VwjGX)

43 Moon landing or Obamaphones? Whaddya want?

Alas, our country has chosen.

Hope we brighten up in the near future.

Posted by: One Hungry and Loose Bear at July 20, 2014 11:37 AM (Uhx+Z)

44 36 -

The wind powered spacecraft industry would have gotten billions and billions of dollars.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 11:37 AM (Dj0WE)

45 We should have several colonies on it by now!

We looked. There is no beer, women or oil there, and it's not made of cheese.

Posted by: DaveA at July 20, 2014 11:37 AM (DL2i+)

46 1903-Wright Brothers first flight.
1969-Apollo 11 lands on the moon.

In 66 years we accomplished this.

Now 45 years has gone by and we have to hitch a ride to space.

Posted by: Hanoverfist at July 20, 2014 11:37 AM (ecN6u)

47 NASA needs to have all funding pulled and disbanded. It is a global warming fucking joke.

Posted by: Chavez the Hugo at July 20, 2014 11:38 AM (Q8vlx)

48 Nasa's new motto. "Muzzies on the moon...". Wait one step at a time. "Muzzies out of the stone age in our lifetime. "

Posted by: Guido 'loves the ukulele' at July 20, 2014 11:40 AM (VwjGX)

49 We should have purple-haired babes in silvery minis up there too. Keeping watch for UFOs.

Posted by: Count de Monet at July 20, 2014 11:40 AM (BAS5M)

50 I hate being negative about this stuff. The milestone should be something we can all celebrate. Instead, it is just another marker of the extent of the decline.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 11:40 AM (Dj0WE)

51 To save weight in the Lunar Module, LM, traditional seats were done away with. Which is why both astronauts stood up only secured by straps.

They were operating under some very strict math, for every pound the LM weighed it would require five pounds of propellant.

To blithely say the LM landing was automatic is to do disservice. For most of the way down it would be controlled by Newton's Laws and computers. But those final few hundred feet, it would be Armstrong selecting the final landing site. Then the onboard LM computer faulted because it was processing too much data and the boulders, that had been missed in the photographs used to select the landing site, meant the skills Armstrong had honed in bringing back a wounded jet, in Gemini 8, and the crash of the LM flying simulator were utilized to the fullest.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at July 20, 2014 11:42 AM (BIjAL)

52 If private industry had the funding of NASA we would already have strip joints and casinos on Mars.

Posted by: Chavez the Hugo at July 20, 2014 11:42 AM (Q8vlx)

53 Literally going to the moon says "we can achieve anything we desire, there is literally no where you can go to avoid the projection of American power"

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 11:43 AM (zOTsN)

54 Once the hard work at NASA was done, the technocrats moved into jobs there for the steady pay and the government protections.

Kind of like the military brass after the Cold War ended. Once the challenge and uncertainty receded, it became a safe haven for pencil pushers.

Posted by: --- at July 20, 2014 11:44 AM (MMC8r)

55 We've done several things just as, if not more, important than the Moon Landing since 1969.

For example, we've built several museums on the National Mall dedicated to Noble People of Color and their struggles against oppression from Evil White People and Unfettered Capitalism.

Maybe a couple White guys on the Moon means more to you than the struggles of millions of Noble People of Color against White racism and Exploitative Capitalism, but not to the New American Majority.

We didn't land on the Moon, the Moon landed on us!

Posted by: Progtard 2000 at July 20, 2014 11:44 AM (ZPrif)

56 Could be our new National Anthem

http://tinyurl.com/yjwom9x

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 20, 2014 11:44 AM (e8MIX)

57 I remember watching the grainy black and white images on our t.v., then walking out into the night air and dad pointing heavenward to the men on the moon. I had no grasp of the immense distance traveled by the astronauts -- the moon is RIGHT THERE.

A decade later the smart kids in class were bemoaning the money wasted on a project implemented merely to show up the Russians, when there were so many people "starving" in the U.S. Well, we've had years of government assistance programs, and the number of people on welfare seems to have remained steady.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 20, 2014 11:44 AM (QBm1P)

58 We're depending on Russia to get us to space now. So very sad to be reminded about this.

Posted by: Soona at July 20, 2014 11:46 AM (rbjTB)

59 51 -

It is also widely known that everyone in Houston was in a panic over the fact that there was literally only seconds worth of fuel left when it touched down.

Armstrong performed his job under extraordinary pressure, knowing full well that if he got it wrong there would be two dead astronauts lying up there on the moon, rather than his footprints and words being preserved for history.

And in that situation, he coolly and calmly touched the thing down, as if he had being doing such a thing all his life.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 11:46 AM (Dj0WE)

60 I was three. I dimly remember being gotten out of bed and in the basement where we had our TV, and not being sure why. Then my father said "Well, we're on the Moon" and I remember thinking "what a stupid thing to say, no we aren't."

Posted by: --- at July 20, 2014 11:47 AM (MMC8r)

61 Well, we've had years of government assistance programs, and the number of people on welfare seems to have remained steady.
--
I'll have you know that it's more than doubled!! Excelsior!!

Posted by: Barack Obama at July 20, 2014 11:48 AM (ZPrif)

62 How did the moon landing help my quota entry into Princeton?

Guilt! No Blacks were on the trip got my Black ass in.

So those whiteys on the moon made me famous!

Go baby!

Posted by: Moochie at July 20, 2014 11:48 AM (0FSuD)

63 I'll have you know that it's more than doubled!! Excelsior!!
Posted by: Barack Obama at July 20, 2014 11:48 AM (ZPrif)
-------------------
And you say we're not exceptional!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 20, 2014 11:48 AM (QBm1P)

64 All Hail Eris, actually when Apollo 11 lifted off there were people down at Kennedy bemoaning all the money that could be used to help poor people instead being used to go to the Moon. To whit the Rev. Ralph B. Abernathy and his demonstrators were there.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at July 20, 2014 11:49 AM (BIjAL)

65 It's our leaders that have gotten small

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 11:50 AM (zOTsN)

66 56 -

Alternative national anthem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzQKECQgjW8

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 11:51 AM (Dj0WE)

67 DiT, are you an alumnus of Sherwood Park? A lot of the engineers that worked on the Saturn V project lived here then.

They were all over Huntsville really, but it was a smaller city back then and we used to know so many people from other schools too.

It was such a different time in our country. The space program was a good diversion to the BS news about the war and politics and our parents had an active hand in it so it was all double plus good.

The NASA picnic was always exciting, got to meet astronauts and the MAN, WVB.

Posted by: Gmac- Pondering...something involving rope and a tree at July 20, 2014 11:52 AM (baiNQ)

68 Question

If it were today, would be put an American flag on the moon

Or would it be too imperialist and we might hurt others feelings with our display of exceptionalism

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 11:52 AM (zOTsN)

69 "
It's our leaders that have gotten small"

Bullshit!

Posted by: Stewart Smalley at July 20, 2014 11:53 AM (e8MIX)

70 The bear is loose on the moon!

Posted by: Chavez the Hugo at July 20, 2014 11:54 AM (Q8vlx)

71 60 -

Heh, it's like sitting around with a bunch of fat drunks who proclaim "we just won the Super Bowl!"

No you didn't, those guys on tv, with the helmets and pads, they just won it.

You watched it on tv with the rest of us schlubs.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 11:54 AM (Dj0WE)

72 As Heinlein pointed out NASA is the only government agency to pay for itself: The taxes raised from the sales of miniature electric motors developed for space flight have more than payed for all of NASA's budgets.

That is part of why Progs like Obama hate it so much; it isn't a waste of money. That and the fact that NASA employees tend to be right wing; since crazy left wing loons can't get anything off the ground. (There was one person in the Soviet Union who was the key to the Soviet space program - the Russian space effort hasn't moved the fuel gauge off of "Empty" since he died.)

Posted by: An Observation at July 20, 2014 11:55 AM (ylhEn)

73 68 -

Answer: does Superman wear the red, white, and blue, and stand for truth, justice and the American way anymore?

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 11:56 AM (Dj0WE)

74 Thank you, Dave in Texas!

After 45 years it still brings me a thrill. I was a kid too.

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 11:56 AM (gjOCp)

75 First word for the moon?

Houston

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 11:57 AM (zOTsN)

76 From the moon. I pad spelling

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 11:58 AM (zOTsN)

77 For some reason, my 12 year old butt was at the only indoor mall around, with my parents.
Watched it on the display television at one of the stores.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 20, 2014 11:58 AM (e8MIX)

78 Two days in a row in 1969 had great impact in history.

July 19, Ted Kennedy got away with murder & lying to Poli e.

July 20 First Man on Moon.

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 11:58 AM (gjOCp)

79 I am truly honored to have been born to share the same earth with these great men, and to have been witness to their extraordinary courage and selflessness. Now, it's tragically sad that we allowed a time of heroes to pass without building upon their greatness. Instead, their accomplishments are pushed aside, dulled, and disregarded. Grounding NASA in favor or mooslim outreach and global warming is a terrible slap in the face for the men of character who once did impossible things. I can't help but to note how our friends around the world watched, smiled, and celebrated with us as we stepped foot on the moon, and our enemies paused with begrudging respect to tremble at the greatness of America. I'm afraid we will never again see the likes those times, but I'm grateful for having shared that era with imperfect heroes, and epic men.

Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 11:59 AM (G1XMn)

80 Difference between getting to the Moon and ending poverty: We actually got to the Moon.

Posted by: --- at July 20, 2014 12:00 PM (MMC8r)

81 does Superman wear the red, white, and blue, and stand for truth, justice and the American way anymore?

-
He wears rainbow and stands for diversity.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at July 20, 2014 12:01 PM (Mogjf)

82 79 perfect.

Posted by: Chavez the Hugo at July 20, 2014 12:02 PM (Q8vlx)

83 80 -

Not only that, but they didn't lie to us and tell us getting to the moon was the goal.

The people who said ending poverty was the goal, they knew it was a lie when they said it.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 12:02 PM (Dj0WE)

84 Place your bets

A tweet with the JEF staring at the moon

Or nothing

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 12:04 PM (zOTsN)

85 81 -

Yeah, about this Super MAN business.....

Posted by: Maude, the Lesbian at July 20, 2014 12:04 PM (Dj0WE)

86 >> does that mean he really wasn't your "father"?

hahahaha.. well if he wasn't my dad he sure threw himself into the role, busted my chops every other day

Posted by: Dave in Texas at July 20, 2014 12:04 PM (l7DqC)

87 Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at July 20, 2014 11:49 AM (BIjAL)
-------------
This is why I can't wait for the commercialization of space exploration to proceed apace. Once it's unfettered from "betterment of mankind", the serious business of exploiting the hell out of the solar system can commence. And, incidentally, bring about the betterment of mankind.

I think we need a new frontier just to give the alphas a place to expend their restive energy and brain power.

And surely my years of reading sci fi qualify me to mine asteroids in the Belt.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 20, 2014 12:04 PM (QBm1P)

88 At this moment, NASA has a probe driving around Mars Landed safely in August 2012 after journeying 1500 times farther than Apollo XI. It's the size of a small car and NASA landed it with no pilot and no ability to communicate during the critical minutes. And it's not the first or second or third probe NASA has landed on Mars, either.

Counts for nothing, though, because it doesn't have people on board, right?

Posted by: Zarkhoff at July 20, 2014 12:05 PM (GskHy)

89 These men were not just astronauts, but aviators, flying the damn thing. Well done, American men.

Posted by: Bill at July 20, 2014 12:06 PM (N2A89)

90 84 -

Something said about how he remembers at the time thinking it was a symbol of what America could become.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 12:06 PM (Dj0WE)

91 there is literally no where you can go to avoid the projection of American power

-
We'll hash tag you back to the stone age.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at July 20, 2014 12:06 PM (Mogjf)

92 Hey Dave,

Back in the day, my Dad worked for Aerojet General. The whole time everyone was marveling about the lunar excursions, the entire staff at Aerojet was sweating bullets.

Aerojet built the rocket motor on the Orbiter which would be used to escape lunar orbit and head back to Earth. The public would never know a thing about Aerojet if the motor worked flawlessly...

Years later, an Aerojet competitor did get just that kind of fame, Morton Thiokol.

Posted by: MikeW at July 20, 2014 12:07 PM (rGo9s)

93 I remember reading somewhere that as they were showing the live moon landing coverage in England, the BBC had Pink Floyd playing live in the studio as accompaniment. I wish I could have heard that.

Posted by: OregonMuse at July 20, 2014 12:07 PM (yRdR4)

94 It counts. Mars counts. But it is not the same as heroic personal risk. Life or death.

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 12:08 PM (zOTsN)

95 It'll be nothing, thunderb. JEF doesn't want to acknowledge the accomplishments of a bunch of white guys. And he's at Camp David this week-end, it was overcast last night so they couldn't get the shot.

Posted by: Retread at July 20, 2014 12:08 PM (l7hog)

96
Where do you think we'll be in another 45 years?

Other than dead, I mean.

After the Carbon Tax, the VAT tax, and the regulations regulating every single thing that is produced and every thing you do.

Posted by: Soothsayer of The Righteous And Harmonious Fists (-434 days left until climate chaos) at July 20, 2014 12:09 PM (sSPgI)

97 Those were military pilots BTW. Men.

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 12:10 PM (zOTsN)

98
The kids today -- these idiots -- where do you think they'll take this nation in 45 years?

Posted by: Soothsayer of The Righteous And Harmonious Fists (-434 days left until climate chaos) at July 20, 2014 12:13 PM (sSPgI)

99 The moon? Dude, that was like more than two years ago.

Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at July 20, 2014 12:14 PM (YcEhy)

100 94 -

It also points out that we do have the technology, but rather than doing any sort of great interplanetary exploration, we're driving a remote control car around Mars, taking cool pictures and looking for water.

Really? That's it?

Really, that's it.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 12:14 PM (Dj0WE)

101 I met some very fine young pilots at Farnborough last Thursday. Army, Navy and Air Force. We still have people like that, or the potential

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 12:15 PM (zOTsN)

102 A tweet with the JEF staring at the moon

A five spot on "Nothing"

Posted by: Fox 2! at July 20, 2014 12:16 PM (cHwSy)

103 It was faked! It was recorded on a soundstage in the basement of a Bilderberg mansion, directed by Col. Sanders!

Posted by: Insomniac at July 20, 2014 12:16 PM (mx5oN)

104 97
Those were military pilots BTW. Men.

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 12:10 PM (zOTsN)

They already knew how to get out of the Nevada desert, so landing there was a piece of cake.

Posted by: Netroots Nut at July 20, 2014 12:17 PM (0FSuD)

105 Hmmm. Great comment the other day (wish I could source):
"We now teach fisting instead of physics"

/sadbuttrue

Posted by: anon a mouse at July 20, 2014 12:17 PM (gXRIG)

106 The UNRWA gave the rockets they found in a school back to Hamas. Why are we part of the UN?

Posted by: Hadoop at July 20, 2014 12:17 PM (Ph479)

107 Meet the Press had John Kerry on said some "strong words" "This is a moment of truth for Mr. Putin & for Russia. Russia needs to step up & prove its bona fides..."

-
I'll bet Putin's soiling his drawers now.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at July 20, 2014 12:17 PM (Mogjf)

108 Kids today?

Yes...they have plans for this nation

http://tinyurl.com/oqg8pkj

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 20, 2014 12:17 PM (e8MIX)

109 *sighs and gets on soapbox*

Neil Armstrong had been a military pilot, when he landed on the Moon he was a civilian NASA astronaut.

Buzz Aldrin was still active duty and a Colonel. Just as Michael Collins was active duty.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at July 20, 2014 12:18 PM (BIjAL)

110 Thunderb,
I have iPad spelling problems too. Sometimes I can get the word I want to use & it doesn't want to accept as a word if I add one or two of !!

I don't think we'll hear anything from JEF today about moon.

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 12:18 PM (gjOCp)

111 101
I met some very fine young pilots at Farnborough last Thursday. Army,
Navy and Air Force. We still have people like that, or the potential

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 12:15 PM (zOTsN)

Did you get to see that 787-9? That video on the ONT was cool. What a take off!

Posted by: Netroots Nut at July 20, 2014 12:18 PM (0FSuD)

112 O/T

Jason L. Riley from WSJ on CSPAN2 BookTV right now destroying his interviewer. When a conservative black American is challenged by a liberal black American, it's a blowout.

Posted by: CJ at July 20, 2014 12:18 PM (jbdp1)

113 Yeah, I remember staying up to watch it, too. (We always had early bedtimes as a kid, so it was quite memorable.)

I used to love watching the recoveries as well. Especially the part where the capsule was brought on board and you'd get a quick view of the astronauts before they were quarantined.

Posted by: Y-not, old fart at July 20, 2014 12:18 PM (zDsvJ)

114 off netroot sock

Posted by: Nip Sip at July 20, 2014 12:18 PM (0FSuD)

115 We landed a man on the fcuking moon.

We now have a president wearing mom jeans & a helmet whe n riding a bike. Give me a fucking break

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at July 20, 2014 12:19 PM (HVff2)

116 Soothsayer, the magnificent young men and women are out there, but they don't get the coverage. Do you think our true Best and Brightest would want to get into politics?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 20, 2014 12:19 PM (QBm1P)

117 "The UNRWA gave the rockets they found in a school back to Hamas. Why are we part of the UN?"

What do you know.....
it worked.
Praise Allen

Posted by: #giveusbackourrockets at July 20, 2014 12:20 PM (e8MIX)

118 We now have a president wearing mom jeans a helmet whe n riding a bike. Give me a fucking break

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at July 20, 2014 12:19 PM (HVff2)

That doesn't know how to close an umbrella

Posted by: Nip Sip at July 20, 2014 12:20 PM (0FSuD)

119 bona fides

Thought that word went out with the Dukes Big Jake

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at July 20, 2014 12:20 PM (HVff2)

120 I saw the Dreamliner and the 380. They didn't take off exactly like that during the show Not allowed to since Russians plowed into the crowd some years back. Still very impressive

But I loved the roar of the military aircraft. Like the sky was ripping

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 12:21 PM (zOTsN)

121 To those idiots calling NASA a waste of money - Welfare spends the entire NASA yearly budget every 10 days. And for every dollar spent on NASA, $100 is returned to the economy in technology. Welfare money is just pissed away.

Posted by: Jame Eager at July 20, 2014 12:21 PM (z7Wu4)

122

That doesn't know how to close an umbrella

Posted by: Nip Sip at July 20, 2014 12:20 PM (0FSuD

Or know that there are 50 states.....oh fuck it the list goes on. How I despise TFG

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at July 20, 2014 12:23 PM (HVff2)

123 We can still be exceptional. We just lack exceptional leadership

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 12:23 PM (zOTsN)

124 Especially the part where the capsule was brought on board and you'd get
a quick view of the astronauts before they were quarantined.

Was their quarantine trailer an Airstream?

Posted by: Retread at July 20, 2014 12:25 PM (l7hog)

125 112 O/T

Jason L. Riley from WSJ on CSPAN2 BookTV right now destroying his interviewer. When a conservative black American is challenged by a liberal black American, it's a blowout.
Posted by: CJ at July 20, 2014 12:18 PM (jbdp1)
-------------------
Thanks for the heads up! I saw him on RedEye, where he managed to cling to a shred of dignity amid the tomfoolery.

Some interviewer. So, expressing opinions on our current president, a mere politician and not a demigod, is "touching the third rail"? Sweet smoking Zeus!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 20, 2014 12:25 PM (QBm1P)

126 I agree that the Moon Landing was impressive, at least as a monument to White Privilege, if nothing else.

Posted by: Barack Obama at July 20, 2014 12:25 PM (ZPrif)

127 We can still be exceptional. We just lack exceptional leadership

-
Yeah, but we elected Mr. Mediocre.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at July 20, 2014 12:25 PM (Mogjf)

128 We're too risk-adverse and politically correct now. With that pervasive mindset, there's no way we could match what these men did. Just imagine what would go into selecting a team for a Mars landing. Rest assured, the best, most qualified team could not be chosen, but a politically correct, socially engineered group. Also, be assured the (hypothetical) first person on Mars will not be a white hetero man. Yes, this is the age which we now live, and it's sad. I'm very afraid that we do not move forward from this time to build on unless there's a huge reset in our society. We've now become civilly enlightened to the point of self destruction.

Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 12:26 PM (G1XMn)

129 Ah, I remember the proud newspaper headlines the following day:

http://tinyurl.com/kratp

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 20, 2014 12:28 PM (QBm1P)

130 An exceptional leader could take us off the path to self destruction.

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 12:28 PM (zOTsN)

131 Great video, DiT.

Posted by: rickl at July 20, 2014 12:29 PM (sdi6R)

132 Stood on a sidewalk in Chicago's Old Town and watched it on a TV that a restaurant had put in its window facing the street so that people could see it live.

I also went to high school with a guy who became an astronaut in the post lunar landing days. He was two years ahead of me. In that town, one of the big streets is now Jerry Ross Avenue.

Posted by: Sherry McEvil, We Be Proud to be an Amurrican at July 20, 2014 12:29 PM (kXoT0)

133 "Didn't those guys actually 'fly/land' the LEM? Educate me horde."

All of the Apollo missions were flown with the hypothetical capability for the LEM to operate completely under computer guidance all the way from PDI, power descent initiation, to contact light.

Of the six missions that landed, every time, the commander took over manual control in the last minutes of the landing sequence. Sometimes this was obviously necessary for safety. As someone mentioned, Eleven was landing long into a boulder field. But beyond that... guys with the right stuff aren't typically going to let a gawdamn computer do their flying for them. Not for their one and only landing on the gawdamn moon.

The one Apollo commander who said that he would have let the computer fly it all the way to engine shutdown, because the engineering staff he deeply respected had asked him to let it make the attempt, and he thought it was important to prove out the capability, was Jim Lovell on Thirteen.

He and his crew ended up having to use the LEM as a lifeboat instead of as a lander, so we'll never know how will Otto Pilot would have done in his debut performance.

Posted by: torquewrench at July 20, 2014 12:29 PM (noWW6)

134 Great video, DiT.

***

I wish it hadn't cut out before Buzz took his first step but, yes, a very good vid.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at July 20, 2014 12:30 PM (DmNpO)

135 Otto Pilot...

"Now his reinflation tube is located..."

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at July 20, 2014 12:31 PM (BIjAL)

136 " Also, be assured the (hypothetical) first person on Mars will not be a white hetero man."

If the second choice was a one legged diabetic Lebanese lesbian leper in a wheelchair, and in a coma, NASA would be designating a Mars lander to be ADA compliant, with a folding wheelchair ramp.

And the white guy could push her down the ramp, and be #2 on Mars.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 20, 2014 12:31 PM (e8MIX)

137 "Was their quarantine trailer an Airstream?"

As I recall, yes.

Impeccably polished.

Posted by: torquewrench at July 20, 2014 12:31 PM (noWW6)

138 "Diversity is our number 1 priority."
-Admiral Roughead

Posted by: Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead at July 20, 2014 12:32 PM (ZPrif)

139 45 We should have several colonies on it by now!

We looked. There is no beer, women or oil there, and it's not made of cheese.
Posted by: DaveA at July 20, 2014 11:37 AM (DL2i+)

-------

Babes and Beer: We bring them and the Grey Goose. Dibs on Kate Upton.
Oil: none but lots 'o metals

Posted by: The Man from Athens at July 20, 2014 12:32 PM (O3k74)

140 I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The Space Age is just starting to get interesting. We ain't seen nothing yet.

And I say that as one who watched the first moon landing live as a child. Yeah, it's taken a long time, longer than I expected, but things are finally starting to come together.

Posted by: rickl at July 20, 2014 12:33 PM (sdi6R)

141 Kate Upton in a UFO reboot as Lt. Ellis?

Actually the moon Titan possibly has pools and pools of liquid hydrocarbons. Which are 100% organic.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at July 20, 2014 12:34 PM (BIjAL)

142 "They were operating under some very strict math, for every pound the LM weighed it would require five pounds of propellant."

That's the thing that amazed me most about the moon journey-the launch back to earth from the moon. On video, the LM launch/asecent looked something like a firecracker - not nearly as impressive as the launch from Cape Kennedy. I remember thinking... how is something that launches with a little 'pop' going to make it all the way into space?

Posted by: Mike at July 20, 2014 12:35 PM (XBYpf)

143 As time has gone by I have come to dislike the Space Program and see it as a grand failure.

We performed brilliant stunts and did not notice we were doing the same thing the Soviets were doing: branding ourselves with the mark of our central government.

Americans will truly go to the Moon when private citizens and companies go there to make money.

Posted by: eman at July 20, 2014 12:36 PM (MQEz6)

144 In 2008, only 12% of incoming plebes at the Naval Academy had SAT math scores below 600.

I fixed that problem and in 2009 I proudly announced I raised that to 22% of incoming plebes who are innumerate retards!

Diversity isn't an end-state, it's an ever retreating goal. It's something we work on every day with every white and asian applicant who has higher grades and test scores that we reject.

Because Diversity.

Posted by: Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead at July 20, 2014 12:36 PM (ZPrif)

145
140 I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The Space Age is just starting to get interesting. We ain't seen nothing yet.
...
Posted by: rickl at July 20, 2014 12:33 PM (sdi6R)

We may do some things yet, but we won't do them "greatly".

Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 12:36 PM (G1XMn)

146 We're too risk-adverse and politically correct now.

-
There's a thread on Twitchy about a panel on comedy at Netroots. The convolution they go through to make sure their humor is PC is hilarious, unlike their humor.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at July 20, 2014 12:37 PM (Mogjf)

147 "Great comment the other day (wish I could source):
'We now teach fisting instead of physics'"

Kids in unionized American public schools today learn about _Heather Has Two Mommies_ before they learn how to add two plus two.

Posted by: torquewrench at July 20, 2014 12:37 PM (noWW6)

148 I remember my dad trying to take pictures of the TV screen during thee first step. Shutter speed and exposure had to be just right. They didn't turn out too good, but we still had a piece of history.

Posted by: bergerbilder at July 20, 2014 12:38 PM (8MjqI)

149 We landed on the Moon, found no one to enslave, so never went back.

Posted by: A Leftist History Moment at July 20, 2014 12:39 PM (MMC8r)

150 hydrocarbons,

Mars has water and carbon dioxide. all the atoms you need to make hydrocarbons. All it takes is energy.

water, carbon dioxide, and chlorophyll. trace of nitrates, sunlight, another odd dozen or so elements.

Posted by: Ignoble Minimust at July 20, 2014 12:39 PM (pvms6)

151 Thank you, Torquewrench.

I was looking for something to watch in the past month or so & Apollo 13 was on. I missed the beginning & was going to watch it on demand. I forgot about it

I'm writing a note to watch it if it's still available.

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 12:40 PM (gjOCp)

152 We may do some things yet, but we won't do them "greatly".
Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 12:36 PM (G1XMn)
----------------------------
You don't know this!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 20, 2014 12:40 PM (QBm1P)

153 Some interviewer. So, expressing opinions on our current president, a mere politician and not a demigod, is "touching the third rail"? Sweet smoking Zeus!
Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 20, 2014 12:25 PM (QBm1P)

--

She makes an allegation of racism.

He cites facts disproving the claim.

She says, "Interesting conversation we're having." Moves on to next claim.

Posted by: CJ at July 20, 2014 12:41 PM (jbdp1)

154 49 We should have purple-haired babes in silvery minis up there too. Keeping watch for UFOs.
Posted by: Count de Monet at July 20, 2014 11:40 AM (BAS5M)

No. We have red, green and purple haired feminazis with countless body piercings and indecipherable meaningless tatoos that vomit all over themselves in ghey bars and despise the penis.

Yay, LIbEraliSm!

Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at July 20, 2014 12:41 PM (CHH1S)

155 >> I remember thinking... how is something that launches with a little 'pop' going to make it all the way into space?

This might provide your answer. Unless you can hit a 6 iron miles and miles wearing a space suit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yNIMtagHck

Posted by: JackStraw at July 20, 2014 12:42 PM (g1DWB)

156 Today is also the 70th anniversary of Col. Stauffenberg's unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Hitler in the Wolf's Lair.

Posted by: I lurk, therefore I amn't at July 20, 2014 12:42 PM (ab+jQ)

157 I still believe. The trick is to outlast our poor leadership

Posted by: Thunderb at July 20, 2014 12:42 PM (zOTsN)

158 One small step for a man. One giant leap for muslim outreach.

Posted by: Boss Moss at July 20, 2014 12:43 PM (g+1oD)

159 wasn't born yet, but my uncle , a electrical engineer and absolute genius, worked on the wiring systems.

he also helped make the wiring for MX missiles.

miss that guy.

Posted by: exsanguine at July 20, 2014 12:43 PM (WiAcn)

160 *pauses*

And I just thought how the world will really end. Aliens finally decide to contact us after seeing how fast we are going down the hand basket. And Mr. Chicago Way tries to shake them down for a piece of the action. The aliens get mad and blow up whole planet.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at July 20, 2014 12:43 PM (BIjAL)

161 @TheRealBuzz Jul 18
Did you know I took the first space selfie during Gemini 12 mission in 1966? BEST SELFIE EVER http://buzzaldr.in/BuzzSpaceSelfie

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at July 20, 2014 12:43 PM (DmNpO)

162 I remember after the moon landings that people were blaming hurricanes and tornadoes on us "messing around on the moon."

Posted by: Count de Monet at July 20, 2014 12:44 PM (BAS5M)

163 Why colonize Mars when artificial habitats are far more efficient?

Fixating on planets and moons is a sign of how young a species we are.

Posted by: eman at July 20, 2014 12:44 PM (MQEz6)

164 Neigh. It's like finding a pinpoint in a haystack.

Posted by: John F'n Kerry at July 20, 2014 12:45 PM (g+1oD)

165 127 We can still be exceptional. We just lack exceptional leadership

-
Yeah, but we elected Mr. Mediocre.
Posted by: The Great White Snark at July 20, 2014 12:25 PM (Mogjf)

######

"Mr. Mediocre" is paying way too kind a compliment to Obozo.

Posted by: The Man from Athens at July 20, 2014 12:46 PM (O3k74)

166
We performed brilliant stunts and did not notice we were doing the same thing the Soviets were doing: branding ourselves with the mark of our central government.

Posted by: eman at July 20, 2014 12:36 PM (MQEz6)

I respectfully disagree. Accomplishing these impossible feats of engineering and bravery gave most Americans great pride in our country. It's that same pride and patriotic feeling our "leaders" today do not want us to have, or even remember. That's all part of breaking down a truly exceptional nation and people into the likes of the 3rd world countries who once stood in awe and respect of our greatness. Who here does not long for the patriotic love of country we felt when Neil and Buzz landed on the moon?

Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 12:47 PM (G1XMn)

167 143 As time has gone by I have come to dislike the Space Program and see it as a grand failure.

We performed brilliant stunts and did not notice we were doing the same thing the Soviets were doing: branding ourselves with the mark of our central government.

Posted by: eman at July 20, 2014 12:36 PM (MQEz6)

Will just have to agree to disagree with that.

Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at July 20, 2014 12:47 PM (CHH1S)

168 160 -

I figure God has a reset button, and He's really not going to give us much warning. Someday, He will just hit it, and poof. All this is gone.

Starting over.

My assumption is His finger is very very close to it as we speak, but heck, who knows. None of us down here, that's for sure.

We also have no way of knowing how many times He has done this before. We only know what we know about THIS universe, which still, is not very much.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 12:47 PM (Dj0WE)

169 She says, "Interesting conversation we're having." Moves on to next claim.
Posted by: CJ at July 20, 2014 12:41 PCER
__________

Even worse, Riley asks "But what are the actual RESULTS of these programs?"

You *never* ask if the magic money tree actually bears fruit.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 20, 2014 12:47 PM (QBm1P)

170 45 years ago today was the beginning of the saying; "We can put a man on the moon, but..... "

Posted by: kbdabear at July 20, 2014 12:48 PM (aTXUx)

171 Get along little corgis.

Posted by: Boss Moss at July 20, 2014 12:51 PM (g+1oD)

172 I remember after the moon landings that people were blaming hurricanes and tornadoes on us "messing around on the moon."

-
What the bell do you think is going to happen when you punch holes in the sky?

Posted by: The Great White Snark at July 20, 2014 12:51 PM (Mogjf)

173 I'm glad they didn't get stomped by Giant Agnes Moorehead.

Posted by: Moron in a Stars & Stripes Snuggie at July 20, 2014 12:51 PM (Ks4nX)

174 The great post-Apollo period of disappointment was neatly summed up by Jim Baen when he said, "Sometimes the space program reminds me of a government agency."

The thing about 1960s NASA is that it wasn't really a government agency, yet. It was too new. It operated largely outside the rules. Engineers were not dominated by nontechnical management. There had not been time for the bureaucratic ossification to set in, for the ass-kissers and time-servers and seat-warmers to be promoted to top slots. The crazy 1970s nonsense of affirmative action and quotas hadn't arrived yet.

It couldn't be repeated today. Not within the confines of government. Hell, as discussed yesterday, modern government can't decide whether to fine you for letting your lawn go brown, or fine you for watering it to keep it green. Build the capability to get to the moon in under ten years? In the words of the ancient Chinese sage, Na Ga Ha Pen.

Posted by: torquewrench at July 20, 2014 12:53 PM (noWW6)

175 170 45 years ago today was the beginning of the saying; "We can put a man on the moon, but..... "

Posted by: kbdabear at July 20, 2014 12:48 PM (aTXUx)

Heh......yeah.

Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at July 20, 2014 12:53 PM (CHH1S)

176 Luckily the Moon didn't flip over.

Posted by: Boss Moss at July 20, 2014 12:53 PM (g+1oD)

177 88 At this moment, NASA has a probe driving around Mars Landed safely in August 2012 after journeying 1500 times farther than Apollo XI. It's the size of a small car and NASA landed it with no pilot and no ability to communicate during the critical minutes. And it's not the first or second or third probe NASA has landed on Mars, either.

Counts for nothing, though, because it doesn't have people on board, right?
Posted by: Zarkhoff at July 20, 2014 12:05 PM (GskHy)

Not even remotely the same. In the animal world, if you piss on something, you mark it as your territory. Americans pissed on the moon, it's ours. We haven't pissed on Mars yet.

Posted by: Ashley Judd's Puffy Scamper Just pissed on a Ferrari at July 20, 2014 12:53 PM (+Fae7)

178 166 -

I agree with you.

I also think there are some who worship at the feet of private enterprise and capitalism a wee bit too much too. All human enterprises are, by their nature, flawed.

All humans are capable of evil, and generally the only reason government is capable of greater evil is because there are more humans involved.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 20, 2014 12:54 PM (Dj0WE)

179 Put me in the pro Space Program camp. With all the flaws, especially now, I think it's been a good thing. And I would prefer it remain under the purview of the "military" or similar.

The thing about private, profit-driven research and development, which is certainly true in the life sciences and I believe is generally true across disciplines, is that dissemination of the findings is not the priority. Making money is. Therefore, the dissemination of the research products, IP and otherwise, is severely hampered compared what you'd see in either a government lab or a non-profit funded program.

I'd prefer that the U.S. military controlled space and that the research surrounding space exploration be disseminated more broadly than what you'll find with some private company driving things.

I denounce myself.

Posted by: Y-not, old fart at July 20, 2014 12:55 PM (zDsvJ)

180 I was 14. Watched it at a friends who lived katty corner behind me. Him, his mom, dad, sister and myself.
As I was reading the first 50 or so comments a lump started to rise in my throat, this little screen started to become hard to read and my breathing hung up a couple of times.
It's too bad that only happens now when I read about things my country used to do.

Posted by: teej at July 20, 2014 12:55 PM (90w0Z)

181 Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 12:47 PM (G1XMn)

And yet here we are.

We were tricked. We placed our pride on the wrong things in the wrong way.

Our pride as Americans was focused by the Feds through NASA into grand puffs of smoke.

The Space Program lived and died like the Soviet Union.

Posted by: eman at July 20, 2014 12:57 PM (MQEz6)

182 Posted by: Zarkhoff at July 20, 2014 12:05 PM (GskHy)

Get back to us when you land on Mongo.

Posted by: --- at July 20, 2014 01:00 PM (MMC8r)

183 127
-
Yeah, but we elected Mr. Mediocre.
Posted by: The Great White Snark at July 20, 2014 12:25 PM (Mogjf)

----------------

No. We elected a chocolate Mussolini.

Posted by: Soona at July 20, 2014 01:07 PM (7k+i8)

184 I sat on the couch on that Sunday night 45 years ago with my family, in Dayton, Ohio.

My grandmother sat next to me. She knew the Wright Brothers when she was a small child. Her grandfather hauled their "aereo -plane" out to Huffman Prairie (now part of Wright-Patterson AFB) where they really learned to fly (after the 1903 flight), with his four-horse hitch.

I was never prouder to be an American than I was that night.

I just missed meeting Neil Armstrong in 2003 when we went to the Centennial of Flight Air Show in Dayton

We can do great things, and be great again. But we have to stop living in a world of illusions created by the Left. We can watch TV on our cell phones, and Skype each other all over the world, but we need to start Dreaming Big.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative riding the comfy chair at July 20, 2014 01:08 PM (+1T7c)

185 Doctrine of Proportionality

Under those rules WWII was an illegal war.

Under those rules Sherman's march to the sea was an illegal tactic.

Posted by: Ignoble Minimust at July 20, 2014 01:08 PM (pvms6)

186 [expletive deleted]

Posted by: Ignoble Minimust at July 20, 2014 01:09 PM (pvms6)

187 166 Havedash,
Yes I also long for the days when we had American Pride & Exceptionalism. My iPad wanted to make Exceptionalism into two words, maybe I misspelled it?

I was 9 when we landed on the moon & I still get same thrill watching it today.

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 01:11 PM (gjOCp)

188
The thing about private, profit-driven research and development, which is certainly true in the life sciences and I believe is generally true across disciplines, is that dissemination of the findings is not the priority. Making money is. Therefore, the dissemination of the research products, IP and otherwise, is severely hampered compared what you'd see in either a government lab or a non-profit funded program.

I'd prefer that the U.S. military controlled space and that the research surrounding space exploration be disseminated more broadly than what you'll find with some private company driving things.

I denounce myself.

Posted by: Y-not, old fart at July 20, 2014 12:55 PM (zDsvJ)

Agreed here because of one word. Greed. When space goes truly commercial, they may go farther and faster, but it will be a non-patriotic, cheapened endeavor.

As others here have said, NASA wasn't truly wasn't a government agency back then. It was a group of exceptional every-day men who didn't realize they were heroes. NASA cannot be that NASA now. It's too far gone. Commercial enterprises will be a self-serving, ugly, cheap shadow of what NASA once was. That era is gone. These men are quickly passing. This was an amazing time, with epic men who were brave enough to allow history to make them great, instead of seeking greatness. Hold on to those feelings and memories - those of us lucky enough to have them. I don't think we will experience them again.

Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 01:12 PM (G1XMn)

189 51 To save weight in the Lunar Module, LM, traditional seats were done away with. Which is why both astronauts stood up only secured by straps.

They were operating under some very strict math, for every pound the LM weighed it would require five pounds of propellant.

To blithely say the LM landing was automatic is to do disservice. For most of the way down it would be controlled by Newton's Laws and computers. But those final few hundred feet, it would be Armstrong selecting the final landing site. Then the onboard LM computer faulted because it was processing too much data and the boulders, that had been missed in the photographs used to select the landing site, meant the skills Armstrong had honed in bringing back a wounded jet, in Gemini 8, and the crash of the LM flying simulator were utilized to the fullest.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at July 20, 2014 11:42 AM (BIjAL)

Thanks much Anna. I vaguely remember Armstrong having to make some quick moves in adjusting the final landing site because of the boulders all within the last few hundred feet. He did fly and land that module. There wasn't too much too it structurally I don't believe and it could have been damaged on impact if he hit a rock.

Posted by: Guido at July 20, 2014 01:16 PM (VwjGX)

190 174 The great post-Apollo period of disappointment was neatly summed up by Jim Baen when he said, "Sometimes the space program reminds me of a government agency."

The thing about 1960s NASA is that it wasn't really a government agency, yet. It was too new. It operated largely outside the rules. Engineers were not dominated by nontechnical management. There had not been time for the bureaucratic ossification to set in, for the ass-kissers and time-servers and seat-warmers to be promoted to top slots. The crazy 1970s nonsense of affirmative action and quotas hadn't arrived yet.

It couldn't be repeated today. Not within the confines of government. Hell, as discussed yesterday, modern government can't decide whether to fine you for letting your lawn go brown, or fine you for watering it to keep it green. Build the capability to get to the moon in under ten years? In the words of the ancient Chinese sage, Na Ga Ha Pen.

Posted by: torquewrench at July 20, 2014 12:53 PM (noWW6)

Brave men and women died in that pursuit. The politicians of today abhor taking any chances that may lead to death because they feel it will reflect poorly on them.

NASA's reliance on the shuttle is an example. It was a great achievement, but the US started using it for all of our manned space needs. We then allowed the fleet to age instead of retiring and replacing, so when the shuttles started to fail, they failed spectacuraly. So, they get retired without any replacement, and we now have to beg Ivan to take us to the space station that we built.

Posted by: Ashley Judd's Puffy Scampera at July 20, 2014 01:20 PM (+Fae7)

191 I was a kid in Huntsville Alabama when all this happened.

You and I were only twenty miles apart then. Salute.

Posted by: toby928(C) at July 20, 2014 01:22 PM (QupBk)

192 So, they get retired without any replacement, and we now have to beg Ivan to take us to the space station that we built.

Posted by: Ashley Judd's Puffy Scampera at July 20, 2014 01:20 PM (+Fae7)

Given what's going on with Putin and Russia, that soon, will no longer be an option.

Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 01:23 PM (G1XMn)

193 People laughed at Newt when he talked about returning to the moon. That's how far we've fallen.

Posted by: Resigned. at July 20, 2014 01:25 PM (Lbv/k)

194 No fucking way.

WE LANDED ON THE MOON!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Lloyd Christmas at July 20, 2014 01:25 PM (+Fae7)

195 Back in the 1960s, the Space Race was an important battle in the Cold War. The capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union were vying for the allegiance of Third World nations.

But nowadays NASA is just another Federal agency which is more concerned with self-preservation than actually doing anything.

Now the trick is to figure out how to make money in space. Once some smart people can figure out how to do that, our future will be assured.

Posted by: rickl at July 20, 2014 01:27 PM (sdi6R)

196 I remember watching something on a Saturday afternoon in July 1969. I remember it well because my Uncle drove from CT to Boston area to take my younger brother & me away for a week. My father got very sick on July 4 that year & I think my mother didn't want us around.
My older brother was in the Army then, I just went to ask him. He watched something here & something at Fort Lee.

He doesn't know why we were sent to CT. I might have dates mixed up. My father did get very sick on Independence Day

Anyone remember what I'm thinking of on a Saturday in July? Did they land on moon?

My uncle didn't want to watch it, he just came in & didn't even stay for more than five minutes.

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 01:31 PM (gjOCp)

197 But nowadays NASA is just another Federal agency which is more concerned with self-preservation than actually doing anything.

Now the trick is to figure out how to make money in space. Once some smart people can figure out how to do that, our future will be assured.
Posted by: rickl

Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy. It becomes more important to preserve the bureaucracy than fulfilling its "mission" or assigned task. There is then no "ends", because the "means" become the "ends". The now un-written purpose of the bureaucracy is to perpetuate itself.

But I'm with you, Rick. We are about the same age, and remember the same things, and feel about this the same way. Great things can still happen. We can do great things again.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative riding the comfy chair at July 20, 2014 01:32 PM (+1T7c)

198
Given what's going on with Putin and Russia, that soon, will no longer be an option.
Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 01:23 PM (G1XMn)

Don't forget. The Russians are the only ones going to the space station now. They can now probably legitimately say that we have abandoned it, and they are taking it over.

While we were relying on the shuttle, we should have been developing the "big dumb booster" with a tried and test re-entry vehicle, but those aren't "sexy" enough for polticians.

Posted by: Ashley Judd's Puff Scamper at July 20, 2014 01:33 PM (+Fae7)

199 NASA's space shuttle was an elephant designed by committee.

It was too big for the job. Sold as a pick up truck that could carry a payload.

It should have been smaller and dedicated to hauling a live crew into orbit. That and nothing more. Because there were living people on board it had to be 'reliable'.

Heavy lifting should have been done by a cheap disposable with a reliability factor of 80% or so with back ups to cover the failures.

The second problem with the shuttle, we only built five, only four space flight capable. We should have built twenty four. or a hundred and twenty four.

The director of NASA once made the remark that an actual launch of the shuttle didn't 'cost that much' relative to the development costs.

Lessons learned in the early stages of construction should have been incorporated in the later versions.

The problem with the ISS is we only built prototypes, one of everything, each prototype hand crafted. We should have been building modules in the hundreds. A Kebo module soft landed on the lunar surface (or on Mars) could easily be the beginning of a permanently manned lunar research facility when supporting modules were attached.

The basic research we need to preform was neglected in favor of exotic research into 'pure' science. Instead of learning how to grow food we developed methods to dehydrate and vacuum seal ready made food which would be shipped periodically, when we already had a long history of canned foods of all types (too much weight) (too much trash).

All faults easy to see now, after the fact, and no one has the will to continue a fruitless endeavor when there are so many desperate unaccompanied children crossing the US border who desperately need help.

Posted by: Ignoble Minimust at July 20, 2014 01:35 PM (pvms6)

200 While we were relying on the shuttle, we should have been developing the "big dumb booster" with a tried and test re-entry vehicle, but those aren't "sexy" enough for polticians.

Posted by: Ashley Judd's Puff Scamper at July 20, 2014 01:33 PM (+Fae7)

So true. But never fear, some dot com leftist billionaire and his merry band of affirmative action engineers will get us there. They might even pipe in weed on the trip up and down to mellow the ride some.

Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 01:39 PM (G1XMn)

201

Jesus fucking Christ let's all just sit in the middle of the floor and moan.

Step back and listen a bit.

Posted by: irongrampa at July 20, 2014 01:39 PM (jeCnD)

202 I believe we can be a source of pride again too!

We must elect leaders & not failures!

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 01:45 PM (gjOCp)

203 SpaceX launches have me on the edge of my seat, every time.

Perhaps that's because they have aborted a couple of launches after first stage ignition.

By definition, that's about as exciting at it gets. A rocket launch that is more exciting than that tends to get all splodey.

Posted by: rickl at July 20, 2014 01:47 PM (sdi6R)

204 Irongranpa,
I agree with you!

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 01:48 PM (gjOCp)

205 "18
UAE plans on being on Mars in 7 years."

"I Aim for the Stars...but Sometimes I Hit Haifa..."

Posted by: richard mcenroe at July 20, 2014 01:48 PM (XO6WW)

206 I post here not to bury the Saturn V but to praise it.

There was an engineering drawing of the injection plate, I think it was for a Saturn V engine. There was something about the position (size, shape) of the holes affected the performance. I don't think we have the industrial machine tools to make one again.

then I remember a comment about 'pogo'ing when fuel is running out and the pumps are sucking air. The engine gets a big slug of propellent and the launch vehicle accelerates sharply only to cease acceleration when a slug of air is injected into the combustion chamber. . . at a thousand pounds per second (on the shuttle. don't know about the Saturn V)

Exclamation Point, what a machine. What engineering. . . and now we make tiny little self direct mobile vehicles that no one uses because you can bike faster than those things.

Posted by: Ignoble Minimust at July 20, 2014 01:53 PM (pvms6)

207 Bill Safire wrote an excellent Failure speech for Nixon, mercifully not needed:

IN THE EVENT OF MOON DISASTER:

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

PRIOR TO THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT: The president should telephone each of the widows-to-be.

AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT, at the point when NASA ends communications with the men: A clergyman should adopt the same procedure as a burial at sea, commending their souls to "the deepest of the deep," concluding with the Lord's Prayer.

Posted by: toby928(C) at July 20, 2014 01:58 PM (QupBk)

208 196
My uncle didn't want to watch it, he just came in & didn't even stay for more than five minutes.

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 01:31 PM (gjOCp)

I can't even wrap my mind around that. Why in the world would someone not want to watch history being made?

That's the right-wing equivalent of low-information voters. I remember my grandmother saying in 1968 that we would never land on the moon because "it wasn't God's plan".

Posted by: rickl at July 20, 2014 01:59 PM (sdi6R)

209 202 I believe we can be a source of pride again too!

We must elect leaders & not failures!

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 01:45 PM (gjOCp)

I'd add the caveat that a free people get the leadership that it asks for and deserves. What I mean by that is that even if we manage to elect some new leaders who will espouse true conservative principles, that's not enough. We need a fundamental transformation of our society and the media. That's going to take time and hard work by people who are willing to stand up for what they believe, and to fight for it. Without that, a few good elections will mean little in the long run.

Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 02:11 PM (G1XMn)

210 The Moon landing was a wonderful event, a true symbol of the greatness this country once had. And then we abandoned that greatness, I'll never know why. The Left hates success, I suppose.

Can we be a great nation again? I think the time has passed, myself.

Posted by: Null at July 20, 2014 02:21 PM (xjpRj)

211 Rickl.
I remember that as a Saturday afternoon! They landed & walked on the moon on at ten pm Central Time per Dave's post.
My nine year old brain was confused. My uncle picked us up in the afternoon & took us to CT EDT. It may have been Sunday & he wanted to watch it.

He was my favorite "uncle" & isn't even a blood relative. He was married to one of my mother's sisters & she died before I was born. We stayed close because they had a son & my uncle had to work & my cousin lived with us before I was part of the family.

I still call his widow my Aunt!

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 02:26 PM (gjOCp)

212 Posted by: Havedash at July 20, 2014 01:12 PM (G1XMn)

You have linked patriotism to the Federal Government.

That is Democrat thinking.

Ordinary business activity is far more patriotic than the grandest Government activity.

Posted by: eman at July 20, 2014 02:36 PM (MQEz6)

213 I'm keeping this page open to watch it a fourth time tonight.

Now I'm going out to roses!

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 02:38 PM (gjOCp)

214 If President Obama was in charge back them things would have been done correctly.
Posted by: Dorcus
-----------------------

Riiiiiight.
The guy who just now figured out how magnets work.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, ec., etc. at July 20, 2014 02:43 PM (vPh3W)

215 I'm sure today's liberals are SO uncomfortable that Armstrong & Aldrin were Anglo white males, and hoisted an American flag instead of the UN one on the Moon.

Oh well.

Fuck 'em!

Posted by: CoolCzech at July 20, 2014 03:00 PM (+jY4+)

216 OOp

Posted by: Ashley Judd Puff Scamper at July 20, 2014 03:05 PM (+Fae7)

217 I was on survival training when this happened. Didn't know about it 'till a month later. Missed Woodstock and the Manson murders, too. The eventful summer of '69 that I missed.

Posted by: I lurk, therefore I amn't at July 20, 2014 03:08 PM (ab+jQ)

218 208 196
My uncle didn't want to watch it, he just came in & didn't even stay for more than five minutes.

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 01:31 PM (gjOCp)

I can't even wrap my mind around that. Why in the world would someone not want to watch history being made?

That's the right-wing equivalent of low-information voters. I remember my grandmother saying in 1968 that we would never land on the moon because "it wasn't God's plan".
Posted by: rickl at July 20, 2014 01:59 PM (sdi6R)

Simple. It was "too much". My great grandmother who was in her late 80's when the moon landing happened probably couldn't wrap her head around going from riding in a horse drawn carriage to seeing a man on the moon.

Posted by: Ashley Jud's Puffy Scamper at July 20, 2014 03:12 PM (+Fae7)

219 Ashley Judd's Puffy Scamper,
Read 211!
I'm obviously wrong in day I remember.

Posted by: Carol at July 20, 2014 04:06 PM (gjOCp)

220 I was 10 years old in 1950 when I saw the movie "Destination Moon". It totally blew my mind letting me think that such a thing is even possible. It took only 19 more years until I saw the dream fulfilled. Sadly it is now over 40 years since the last time man walked on the moon.

(You can view this movie today on YouTube)

Posted by: 2SoonOld2LateSmart at July 20, 2014 06:37 PM (NHUxU)

221 The space program was the triumph of an America that is deader than Rome -- WASP males chosen for no reason other than their ability to get a job done with excellence.

Posted by: Roscoe at July 20, 2014 08:47 PM (4HYng)

222 I remember I had a model of that lander . . .

Posted by: dave at July 20, 2014 09:16 PM (Kotc4)

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