RIP Neil Armstrong

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chaos · #1 Post by **chaos** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:22 pm

In undated photo provided by NASA shows Neil Armstrong. The family of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, says he has died at age 82. A statement from the family says he died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. It doesn't say where he died. Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969. He radioed back to Earth the historic news of "one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the moon, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs. In all, 12 Americans walked on the moon from 1969 to 1972. (AP Photo/NASA)

http://news.yahoo.com/neil-armstrong-1s ... 54975.html

#2 Post by **Bandit72** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:27 pm

Heard this tonight and I'm glad it's got people talking about him and the mission. 43 years since he stepped on the moon and we've just landed Curiosity on Mars. What human space achievement will we be remembering in 2055 I wonder? Technology advances quickly, but I'd hazard a guess we won't be much farther than the red planet..

#3 Post by **Matz** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:01 pm

right, the Mars thing is pretty impressive, but 43 years after Armstrong's walk on the moon and NASA doesn't have a space ship, not so impressive

#4 Post by **Bandit72** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:33 pm

I read an interesting tweet tonight

"RIP Neil. Science flew us to the moon. Religion flew us into buildings"

I immediately thought CAN OF WORMS!

Hype · #5 Post by **Hype** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:38 pm

Matz wrote:right, the Mars thing is pretty impressive, but 43 years after Armstrong's walk on the moon and NASA doesn't have a space ship, not so impressive

Not true. They have been working on a replacement ship for years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_%28spacecraft%29

But, http://www.space.com/11363-nasa-space-s ... aries.html
http://phys.org/news/2011-02-nasa-chief ... uttle.html

#6 Post by **Matz** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:58 pm

yeah, I know, but I mean as of this moment they don't have a space ship they could fly to the space station let alone the moon if they wanted to, which is slitghtly pathetic in my book

Hype · #7 Post by **Hype** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:03 pm

Matz wrote:yeah, I know, but I mean as of this moment they don't have a space ship they could fly to the space station let alone the moon if they wanted to, which is slitghtly pathetic in my book

I don't understand what makes that pathetic... They've been trying to solve serious issues of human spaceflight that the Apollo astronauts escaped only because of luck... they've got a rover on Mars doing some pretty awesome stuff...

#8 Post by **Bandit72** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:36 pm

It's the whole time thing for me. Time is significant for us, yet pretty insignificant with relation to the universe. However much respect I have for Curiosity, Voyager beats it every time. Which is why I think in 43 years, we won't have made any significant advancement.

#9 Post by **Artemis** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 4:01 pm

Beautiful message from the family of Neil Armstrong:

"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

#10 Post by **Matz** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 4:03 pm

ok maybe I'm being to hard on NASA, I see what you mean. Still I think that if you'd told those people watching the moon landing in 1968 or 9 or whenever it was that in 2012 NASA would have no shot at going back to the moon and that they wouldn't even have a flying space ship at that time they'd be pretty surprised. We're just so used to seeing progress all the time in every other field almost that we come to expect the same from NASA. And then when they suddenly don't have a spaceship, a guy like me goes wtf?! a little bit. But of course space travel is a slightly different animal than producing bigger and better flat screen tv's each year for example, I know, so I guess it's ok. Maybe their budget is being cut as well, I don't know

Hype · #11 Post by **Hype** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 4:22 pm

Matz wrote:ok maybe I'm being to hard on NASA, I see what you mean. Still I think that if you'd told those people watching the moon landing in 1968 or 9 or whenever it was that in 2012 NASA would have no shot at going back to the moon and that they wouldn't even have a flying space ship at that time they'd be pretty surprised. We're just so used to seeing progress all the time in every other field almost that we come to expect the same from NASA. And then when they suddenly don't have a spaceship, a guy like me goes wtf?! a little bit. But of course space travel is a slightly different animal than producing bigger and better flat screen tv's each year for example, I know, so I guess it's ok. Maybe their budget is being cut as well, I don't know

When I was really young, I was way more into science than I am now. I wanted to be an astronomer (then I learned that I prefer broader concepts like 'causation' and 'explanation' to purely mathematical concepts), so I guess I read a lot of stuff on that... and I can remember there was a book published in the early 70s that was something like: "What the world will be like in 1990!" And one of the things they really honestly had in there was permanent settlements on the Moon.

Then we discovered that solar radiation is bad, and there's no easy solution to it, at least for the trips into outer space, and on planets that don't have a magnetosphere.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars

#12 Post by kv » Sat Aug 25, 2012 7:22 pm

this thread is better it has pictures

mockbee · #13 Post by **mockbee** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 8:59 pm

It has fewer posts though.................

#14 Post by SR » Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:25 pm

Space is being privatized here in the states. NASAs wearing it's death mask and the old timers like Neil didn't and don't like it one bit.

sinep · #15 Post by **sinep** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 2:50 am

i know recently he's had some trouble with the entire "doping" scandal, but he really was one of the greatest astronauts ever.

RIP satchmo.

#16 Post by kv » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:16 am

funny saw someone say they saw the moon last night and it had a ring around it so i looked for it and sure enough it did here too

mockbee · #17 Post by **mockbee** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:17 am

Did it look like this.......?

#18 Post by kv » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:23 am

my vision isn't that good

#19 Post by **Artemis** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:29 am

the next full moon at the end of the month is a "blue moon".

all the weirdos are going to be out in full force this week.

Hype · #20 Post by **Hype** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:33 am

mockbee · #21 Post by **mockbee** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:34 am

kv wrote:my vision isn't that good

Well, if you go to Griffith Observatory in the evening you can look through a telescope outside and see Saturn, or whatever planet or moon they have them pointing at.

And surprisingly ( ...........I guess not so surprisingly.

) Saturn looks exactly like that.

I guess I always thought it was just a representation with the ring, like, there is stuff whirling around it and if you had some some long exposure camera and represented it in such a way, it would look like this............

Nope, looked exactly like that in real time............

#22 Post by **Romeo** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:57 pm

this was always my favorite of the old space program

After being released from an 18-day quarantine to ensure that they had not picked up any infections or diseases from the Moon

like they caught super space cooties or something

Lokus · #23 Post by **Lokus** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 6:49 pm

True story: Apparently Neil Armstrong used to tell unfunny jokes about the moon and then say "Ah, I guess you had to be there".

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