Apollo 17

[ozzy72]

Well on this day in 1972 the last manned mission to the moon left for home! I still find it hard to believe that we were putting men on the moon in my lifetime.... pity I was rather young at the time (still in nappies) and thus didn't appreciate it!

[Hagar]

I still find it hard to believe that we were putting men on the moon in my lifetime.... pity I was rather young at the time (still in nappies) and thus didn't appreciate it!

I was long out of nappies when I watched all this happening live on my TV set. I was 29 years old in 1972 but I'm not sure I believed it then or now.

I remember sitting my little daughter in front of the TV to watch one of the later Moon landings. It might well have been Apollo 17. I doubt that she can remember any of it but she can at least tell her grandchildren that she watched the first men in history walking on the Moon on one of those old-fashioned TV sets in her own living room. This will be perfecly true but I'm not sure they will believe that either.

[dcunning30]

We have this man to thank for it:





BTW, Bush has proposed to go back to the moon.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld ... -headlines

[beaky]

LOL... haven't seen that pic of WVB in a while. How'd he break the arm again? I can't remember...

Pretty excited that there's interest in returning to the Moon, but I hope they'll consider a more practical approach than an all-out, mega-expensive "footprints and flagpoles" mission.
Coincidentally, I just finished reading an article (in popular Mechanics) by Buzz Aldrin wherein he describes his own vision of an old but oddly ignored idea: building a 'cycler' spacecraft that is boosted only once- into an orbit between Earth and Moon. Crews and robot tugs would rendezvous with it from Earth or lunar orbit for a 'free ride" between those two worlds. He also proposes it as an excellent way to get humans to Mars, and I agree with him.
 If I only live long enough to see such a system in operation, I'd be satisfied we were on the right track- even if another landing is not made immediately.
But if not, I at least have the memories of Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, the US/Soviet rendezvous, and of course Mir , the Shuttles, and the ISS. That's right- I'm just old enough to have seen Gemini coverage on TV...
Not a bad century to be born in, if you're an outer space buff...

[Hagar]

Not a bad century to be born in, if you're an outer space buff...

I suppose that's true even if you weren't particularly interested in outer space. It remains to be seen how this century turns out. I don't wish to put a cat amongst the pigeons but although I was just as doubtful that I would see it happen in the 1960s as I am now the situation was completely different & we couldn't help but be caught up in the excitement of it all, not to mention the vital importance of it as it affected every one of us. I don't think that anyone outside the US, except perhaps the most passionate space freaks, will attach the same importance to it now or get too excited about the prospect of man returning to the Moon. The main reason that Apollo 17 was the last manned space mission is that the general public was becoming bored with the whole thing & saw no point in continuing with an expensive project once the point had been proven & the Space Race had been won. It was the end of an era.

[dcunning30]

I don't think that anyone outside the US, except perhaps the most passionate space freaks, will attach the same importance to it now or get too excited about the prospect of man returning to the Moon. The main reason that Apollo 17 was the last manned space mission is that the general public was becoming bored with the whole thing & saw no point in continuing with an expensive project once the point had been proven & the Space Race had been won. It was the end of an era.

There's truth to that.  There's many in the US who thinks even a Space Shuttle program or any manned program is pointless.  Often, so many people just have no idea of the intangible benefits the investment of a space program provides, so they complain about wasted money.  Fact is, the process of solving problems in the space program always trickles downs to technology and science that have consumer and society benefits.  People just don't consider that, they just see astronauts in orbit and say "what a waste of money".

[Hagar]

[quote]There's truth to that.

[dcunning30]

Any benefits that were a direct result of it would have been possible without sending a single human being into space at all.

I haven't taken part in these debates, and I'm not interested in any heated discussions now.  But I'll just say this, there's a reason there's a saying called "necessity is the mother of inventions".

[Hagar]

[quote]I haven't taken part in these debates, and I'm not interested in any heated discussions now.

[H]

Any benefits that were a direct result of [the space program] would have been possible without sending a single human being into space at all.

...there's a reason there's a saying called "necessity is the mother of inventions".

A crux point, dcunning. Many inventions are derivitive of wartime motives but they still "could have been" invented elsewise. Without the motivation and the means, many things would not be invented, if even thought of, to say nothing of their byproducts. Many things would have been produced even sooner if the knowledge were coupled with the means.

[Rifleman]

The only way I can find some sense of value to all that has happened since April 12th back in 1961, is that, if not for the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria taking their chance, maybe we all would have fallen off the flat plate of the known world............

Each small step needs to be taken if there is a journey to be completed,.......I don't think mankind as a unified species on this planet can be totally restrained and kept on our fragile planet forever, without trying to reach out and see what "over the next hill" holds for us all...........

[myshelf]

if nothing else, the space program creates tons of jobs.

[RichieB16]

The main reason that Apollo 17 was the last manned space mission is that the general public was becoming bored with the whole thing & saw no point in continuing with an expensive project once the point had been proven & the Space Race had been won. It was the end of an era.

Well, I have been sort of following this discussion thinkint about adding something-and I finally decided that I should since this is one of my favorite topics.

[WebbPA]

Apollo 18 was not cancelled.  It launched on July 15, 1975.  It didn't go to the Moon, though.

[RichieB16]

[quote]Apollo 18 was not cancelled.