R.I.P. Neil Armstrong. :(
POSTED BY: Kwicko
UPDATED: Friday, September 7, 2012 18:57
VIEWED: 8064
PAGE 2 of 2
That footage always takes me right back to 1969. My parents woke me and my brother to come downstairs and watch the grainy footage on our modest black and white TV (well they nearly all were then) as it happened. Must have been about 3 or 4 in the morning UK time. I was 5. That moment and that wonder has stayed with me ever since and the guys at the sharp end who paved the way like Armstrong deserve our deepest respect. And he really did manually fly that damn tin can down to the ground because the original site was full of rocks, with just 20 seconds of fuel left. Not the first time he'd saved a spaceship either - he flew a Gemini I think it was out of a deadly spin in orbit. There's a reason they used test pilots in those early days! Hero is a very overused word these days, but he and so many of those other pioneers deserve the name.
Just sad that he didn't live to see humans return to the moon...but then none of us are getting any younger! I hope I do see it someday before it's too late.
Nick
The Signal < www.serenityfirefly.com>;
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I was 4 months short of my 4th birthday on that day; I remember my entire family was watching the coverage for over two days. It's one of my earliest memories.
The way things are going, I doubt I'll live to see us going back. But I hope I do, with all my heart. We must go back. There's so much to learn, and do.
There's one way it might happen: if private investors bypass NASA completely, mount a mining expedition to a Near-Earth Asteroid, and bring back so much mineral wealth that money will cease to have any meaning. Some of those puppies are practically made of valuable metals.
Here's hoping. Best wishes to Neil's family and friends. :(
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Preaching to the converted here mate. Jerry Pournelle (Dr Pournelle, worked on the physical tests for astronauts early in the space programme amongst other things) wrote about doing exactly that, with *existing* technology, back in the 70s in his A Step Farther Out articles in Galaxy magazine and of course his long time (SF fiction) collaborator Larry Niven was one of many writers to have asteroid miners (Belters) in stories before that. It's almost a no brainer to exploit all the mineral goodies (iron alone in fact would make it worthwhile) out there. Unlimited solar power would be a side benefit :-)
(If you can pick up the 2 volumes of the collected A Step Farther Out second hand, they are still well worth a read for any space nerd)
I just hope future generations (and it saddens me too that it will be future ones and not ours probably) are able to create the infrastructure that allows "survival with style". Who knows, private space venures are an early stage reality now and companies that can see money in space will want access. Fingers crossed. I want to see more real spaceships, a abase on the moonm Mars, all the things that the Apollo age promised as possible and that folk like Armstrong wanted (still do) to see become a reality. That would be his and their best legacy.
Nick
The Signal < www.serenityfirefly.com>;
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
A quiet humble hero.........R.I.P.
Now there's a real hero and great man of our generation.
sgg
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Lemming:
I just hope future generations (and it saddens me too that it will be future ones and not ours probably) are able to create the infrastructure that allows "survival with style". Who knows, private space venures are an early stage reality now and companies that can see money in space will want access. Fingers crossed. I want to see more real spaceships, a abase on the moonm Mars, all the things that the Apollo age promised as possible and that folk like Armstrong wanted (still do) to see become a reality. That would be his and their best legacy.
Where's D. D. Harriman when you need him?
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
RIP, Sir. There's nothing more to say.
bun
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
you could not call him a smooth criminal but he was the first person to do the moonwalk
It is said that he used to tell really bad jokes about the moon then at the end say I guess you had to be there,now that's class.
RIP
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, and a lot of bitching"
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME