Newest shuttle launch got me thinking......

[talloulou]

Here's what I always wondered.....how come we never go back to the moon?

Wouldn't it be easier to build stationary space stations on the moon than have satellite space stations?

And how come the Russians never went to the moon?

If you have some big race to the moon and you don't win.... don't you still want to come in second? Why would the Russians just give up and never go to the moon and yet still have a big space program?

I do love conspiracy theories........cause their fun. Yet I can't believe the moon walks were hoaxes...that's just too outrageous. But at the same time it does seem weird that we never return to the moon. It's not like we explored the whole thing. And the fact that the Russians just gave up like that????

Usually when one nation pulls ahead other nations work to catch up they don't roll over and toss their goals.

Maybe aliens told us we are not allowed to go the moon anymore

 

[Meredith]

LOL. That has to be it. No trespassing! Violators will be vaporized!

 

[zacdl]

It costs money, lol.

I dunno about Russia, they might think the whole space thing is stupid and dont really want to go any further than the Space Station.

Just too many unknowns to build on the moon, I guess.

We ARE going back in case you didnt hear about the Pres's plan.

I think its something like 2012 or so (Supposed to be 2010 but NASA has a couple years of getting ready after that)

 

[talloulou]

It cost alot of money to send shuttles up in space and just have them drive in circles around the earth over and over again too....but we still do that. I think the aliens grounded us and we are no longer allowed to do anything but orbit the earth. It's like parents making their children play in the yard.

 

[talloulou]

You were right Zacdl....

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/14/tech/main593184.shtml

Cool maybe our weapons are advanced enough now to tell the aliens to piss off! Or maybe Bush is just up to his old cowboy ways....

I knew there was a reason I voted for Bush. He has that cool aliens be damned swagger....

 

[PBirdsong]

I hate it when aliens do that!

You probably wouldn't be surprised to learn that your questions are the same questions a lot of other people have asked too. And those questions are exactly what have sparked this "return to space".
The Apollo program (as everyone knows) is exactly what took us to the moon. And we went there several times after Apollo 11. But the Apollo program ended sadly because of budget cuts. That is what sparked the construction of the shuttle. The space shuttle (the first one named Enterprise) was supposed to be the budget friendly answer to explore space, but its limit was that it would never reach the moon.
Around this time (if I remember my history correctly) the Russian space program was falling apart to a major lack of funds. I think this is what really kept them behind. They can now launch men into space, but their space program on it's own is struggling and is only staying afloat with the help of other nations; including ours.
But that seems to be the best way. These days NASA doesn't have a single mission that is soley American.
And lately the space program has decided to return to the moon again and the Internation Space Station is going to be used as the catapult. The plan is to finish construction of the ISS and use it as a "rest stop" between Earth and The Moon. Much later they hope that The Moon will be a "rest stop" to Mars.
But just so you know, I think The Moon is back in our crosshairs again. This time with plans of building a station on it and letting people stay there and extended amount of time.

 

[Jchillin]

I just happened to be around during the chase. If I remember correctly, going to the moon was more of an ego thing than for any significantly other reason. Russia had beaten everyone with the manned space flight, so it was "We'll have to go one better". Other than collecting rocks, the moon missions were just too expensive and wasn't supported by anyone (Congress, President's, etc.).

The orbiting space station took over (does anyone remember Skylab?). The amount of good that came out of that and the current space station are immeasurable. Think about the products that were developed and now available commercially.

Did man really land on the moon? Could it have been an elaborate hoax? Perhaps. Imagine what American's thought when someone mentioned Wilbur and Orville actually left the ground.

 

[talloulou]

Here's a fun website

http://www.dc8p.com/html/moonhoax.html

The Wright Brothers are a good example... they did something that seemed impossible but afterwards airplanes got more and more advanced.

Maybe we didn't go to the moon after all. Maybe we just cheated

 

[fishfreek]

I wasnt around but I belive there where also other things in the 70's that took over priorities. Something called Vietnam comes to mind. The fact the shuttle design does not have the ability to get that far out into space and get back let alone land on the moon and take off was also limiting. We are by no means wasting time in space. Hundreds of experments get performed on every mission to further our knowlege and understanding of the space enviorment.

I belive the next step is to get back to the moon and setup a fixed operations base from the moon to then shoot for mars. Given the lower gravity on the moon it would theoreticly be cheaper to go to mars from the moon since it would burn up less fuel on the exit from launch thus providing more fuel for return launch.

We went to the moon. The people whom died on the launchpad did not die in vein.

 

[PBirdsong]

We went to the moon. The people whom died on the launchpad did not die in vein.

I totally agree. And I can't wait until we go back.

 

[BillyZ]

a station on the moon is impracticle at this point. The time to get there, and therefore the cost involved, would make every mission opressively expensive. Having an orbiting station makes it something we can get a shuttle to every year or so, as well as other countries to get shuttles up to as well. (well not "Shuttles" but you know what i mean). THis way we can run regular experiments, bring up fresh supplies and fresh crew etc. With the current shuttle's speeds, it would take... a couple days to get to the moon. Then there's the landing and taking off from the moon. Each time you have to land or take off you add serious risk to the mission, as we've seen with a couple orbit missions

http://www.freemars.org/jeff/planets/Luna/Luna.htm

 

[deli_conker]

Or we could take this approach...

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html

 

[William]

The moon is a delicate object.


Despite what people fantasize about doing, We can NOT mine the moon, or built large structures on it.


Because it is the moons precise mass and weight that keeps earths orbit in check.



It would be far to risky to do anything worth while with the moon, Without risking damage to the ecological cycle of earth.



Now, small stations or what not probably won't hurt...but it takes so much time to get to the moon, not only that...but the moon is not protected from radiation.


For the most part, IIRC, the ISS and Shuttle orbit low enough for them to be protected from the vast majorty of radiation in space by the earths magnetosphere.

 

[zenn]

i believe we can send rovers and small unmanned aircraft now that can do the job of collection and such just as good as men can. and it costs way less. Remember, we did land a few different craft on Mars recently. I just think we've moved on.

 

[quarryshark]

It would be cool to go back to the moon. (I remember the first time).
Imagine, NASA would capture the imagination of a whole new generation and that would give a big boost of public support to NASA. Despite of all the important research done on the shuttles, I think the public is a little bored of them.
I'm surprised no one in the private sector has tried.

 

[zenn]

i'd agree^^^another trip to the moon would be sweet. Especially considering all the new technology we have since the last visit. We could use some sweet high def. digital camera's and video recorders to get all the sweet action. And yeah, it would motivate a new generation of children to see space exploration and the study of space in a new light.

 

[BillyZ]

Take a look here:
http://moon.google.com/

It's a great satelite image of a small section of the moon. (similar to how maps.google.com works) and it even has a few fo the landing sites pre-marked. Really neat stuff. You can even zoon all the way in and check out the markings left behind.

 

[oscarbreeder]

They left some really cool markings when they landed.

 

[cJw]

LOL. That has to be it. No trespassing! Violators will be vaporized!

Actually, I read something that said almost exactly that back when conspiracy websites were a hobby of mine. 8O

 

[BillyZ]

They left some really cool markings when they landed.

I had heard rumors about the footprints spelling things out. It was good to see some photo proof.