Haven’t heard much chatter about this. I’m fascinated.
Historic- entering a new space age.
The Orion capsule switched from Tracking and Data Relay Satellites to the Deep Space Network, marking the first time in 50 years a spacecraft carrying people is traveling far enough to need to make the switch.
1 in 30 chances of crew loss.
That’s kind of scary.
I want to know what they see on the dark side of the moon.
I have had heard rumors of water - they discovered or believe its there. Want to claim it for future Hydro-fuel.
They have to fix the crapper first
First people to take a dump on the moon?
In all seriousness it’s pretty damn cool. I hope for their safety.
already done.
I have always thought those folks claiming that the 1969 moon landing was a fake were complete lunatics, but after seeing all of the prep for this and the need for an orbit around the Earth just to “check systems” before actually heading to the moon, I now have my doubts. All of this just to orbit the moon, let alone land on it. The tech advancements between 1969 and 2026 are basically the same as going from the 1800’s to 1980. Crazy!
I personally find it interesting that they say “we lost the technology to go back to the moon” when there’s allegedly a functional Apollo rocket hanging inside the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. I drive by it all the time. Like, can’t someone just go look at that thing and figure the technology out? It’s right there!
Other than that, I absolutely think we went to the moon in the first place.
I think back then the tech was just having good pilots who had no regard for personal safety
Now we have to figure out how to make computer do it
We already know
The technology wasnt lost. Its just so outdated.
The funding was also cut. 1970 Nasa had nearly 6% of the federal budget. Today? Even with the added funding for Artimis. Its under 0.2% for all of Nasa. And under 0.13% for Artimis.
Also Apallo only had a total payload of ~8,000lbs
Orion with the attached capsule has over 55,000lbs.
There was no longer a reason to do maned missions to the moon. We proved our point. And have sent multiple rovers and equipment to the moon since. Robots are much cheaper and more efficient than a human mission. Also Russia also said they were done with trying to get manned missions as well. So that was it. Mission accomplished funding was cut and redirected to things like the ISS and Hubble.
But now. Were planning to go to mars. And need a moon base to help us get there. So now we have a reason. And have the funding. And its taken so long because the the technology has dramatically improved.
Also for those interested you can download the Nasa ap and they have a really cool AR mission map.
Fallow the whole mission in the virtual space
I’ve always felt like deep space travel expenditure/effort was huge waste of money based on current technology. You could spend billions and maaayyyybe be the first to get someone to Mars alive. Great. Prefer the money goes towards military ops just above exosphere, or feeding and housing people. If/when we have an advancement in technology that makes space travel more feasible and can provide some ROI, then go for it.
I hear ya. But the F47, F35, and B21 planes have a higher budget than all of Nasa.
So its drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things
Probably, but it is also the work of many different vendors, so by the time you figure it out you probably could have just designed a new one
That isn’t the reason for this reply though. You just sprang a memory
Apparently in the 80’s when the Space Shuttles were grounded, they considered recommissioning that rocket for a heavy lift mission. The problem was that it was so full of squirrels and birds that it will never be usable again
Well nasa is up to be cut by almost 25%.
It was projected to be slashed to ~0.25% But the spending bill funded nasa and the Artimis program to maintain their ~0.35% of the budget through 2029.
Imagine what nasa could be doing if they had their ~6% back from the 60s. We would probably already have a base on mars
The moon landing is the best any time I need a good laugh.
