It's time for us to go back to the moon — and stay there

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smp United States of America
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It's time for us to go back to the moon — and stay there

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Post by smp »


From CNN.com:
"I was 15 years old when the United States first landed on the moon in July 1969, and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was out with friends that night, and we listened to the moonwalk of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the car radio. Like millions of others, I was both excited and proud of this accomplishment — the first time in history in which humans set foot on another celestial body. I followed the rest of the Apollo missions, and realized only later how much we had lost when the lunar landings ended with Apollo 17 in December 1972."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/perspect ... index.html

This is an interesting (to me anyway) opinion piece published on CNN today.

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Re: It's time for us to go back to the moon — and stay there

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Post by helicon »


I don't remember the Apollo Landings but I remember Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Pretty darn cool. And of course STS 1.
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Re: It's time for us to go back to the moon — and stay there

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Post by notFritzArgelander »


I watched the Apollo landings on TV. I'm not sure that the case has been made for a permanent base there. I think a politically driven timetable sets us up for failure in any case.

That said.... There are scientific reasons why an observatory on the Moon would be a good thing and not a mere vanity project.

Musk's Starlink constellation (and other obscenities of its ilk) are causing light pollution and will also create RF problems. I think that for the Moon a RF observatory on the far side would be beneficial. The body of the Moon would shield it from RF interference from Earth.

That's the top science dividend from having a permanent presence on the Moon anyway. It also isn't terribly attractive as a PR exercise.
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Re: It's time for us to go back to the moon — and stay there

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Post by Dragonsfire »


I remember watching the landings when I was a kid. was disappointed when it ended. Always wondered why things didn't progress on their.
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