OT - Grumpy Old Man Thread

[Cincydawg]

I also wonder if we faked Apollo 13.  That would seem ... odd.

[MikeDeTiger]

I also wonder if we faked Apollo 13.  That would seem ... odd.

We faked the Challenger.  Christa McAuliffe is living on a desert island somewhere with Elvis Presley.  

[MikeDeTiger]

A neighbor woman that I regularly see when I'm walking the dog was wearing a "Tetris" themed t-shirt today.

Why does that not go into the happy thread for a nerd like me?

Because the brick featured in the center of it was not actually a real Tetris brick. It was comprised of 5 blocks, not 4.

Grumpy.

Yeah, my head explodes thinking about that.

It's 4 blocks.  This isn't rocket science.  

[utee94]

It just seems very circular and silly to me when someone values the statements of one astronaut casting doubt on the moon landings, and cites that man's astronaut credentials as validation, while ignoring the 12 astronauts who actually went to the moon and have repeatedly affirmed that it really happened, and denying their astronaut credentials as validation.

[CatsbyAZ]

Not sure how much this has to do with getting older, but I'm getting past the point of being able to develop new interests. Most of my friends watch F1, and over the last half-decade I joined them in watching the races, watching the Netflix series Drive To Survive, and even going to the race in Austin, but after two or three years I'm no longer willing to stay on top of the sport that they enjoy much more than I do. Same goes for trying to follow Premier League Soccer. After watching any number of matches with fans of Liverpool, Tottenham, and Arsenal over the years it was a relief to finally admit I can no longer muster a sustainable interest. Same with trying to follow the PGA.

Meanwhile, nothing seems more natural than holding onto the interests that I've developed since 12 years old: spectating pro/college sports, running, reading, travels and keeping a corresponding travel journal, and keeping up with the news. It's more than enough to occupy me from here on out.

[MikeDeTiger]

Meanwhile, nothing seems more natural than holding onto the interests that I've developed since 12 years old: spectating pro/college sports, running, reading, travels and keeping a corresponding travel journal, and keeping up with the news. It's more than enough to occupy me from here on out.

I hear you.  I've got so many backlogged books that it seems people could stop writing them right now and I'd still have more than enough to keep me occupied until my expiration date.  

[Wildcat4E]

Speaking of expiration dates, got word a fraternity brother died of cancer at 57 a couple of weeks ago, and another announced he has prostate cancer that has spread to his bones at 53 last night.

Solidifies my plan to get bucket-list stuff done before losing my mind and having to retire, which also means never retiring.

Live for Today

[MikeDeTiger]

Speaking of expiration dates, got word a fraternity brother died of cancer at 57 a couple of weeks ago, and another announced he has prostate cancer that has spread to his bones at 53 last night.

Solidifies my plan to get bucket-list stuff done before losing my mind and having to retire, which also means never retiring.

Live for Today

Hopefully it also solidifies your plan to do all your appropriate screenings.  

[Gigem]

Essentially what they did back in the late 60's took some major balls.  There were massive risks, and they did it and did it successfully and I think that's what makes it so hard to believe.

For example, it's probably well known than Apollo 8 was the first manned trip around the moon.  It's easy to forget that the USSR and the US were locked in a space race, and we were losing for about ~10 years.  From about 1957-1966 the USSR kicked our tails in almost everything space related.  First satellite, first man, first woman, first orbit, first probe to the moon, first to photograph the backside of the moon.  First space walk. 

It wasn't until about 1966 and the Gemini program that we were at least on-par with our Soviet Counterparts and actually began to exceed their capabilities.  First orbital rendezvous, first docking, first long duration mission (two weeks in a Gemini Capsule).  

The Soviets were well on their way to being the first to put a man around the moon, and in fact they had already sent a spacecraft full of animals (turtles and other small animals) around the moon with their Zond spacecraft.  They didn't need the N1 to do this, they already had the capability.  

NASA made the decision to send the first full-stack Apollo V around the moon because the LM was not ready.  Remember, this was December 1968.  The Soviets were very close to sending Zond on the same mission, but they were having issues.  The 2nd and 3rd Zond ended in failure, mostly due to navigation errors and technical issues that would have resulted in LOC (Loss of Crew).  

Instead of sending a test Apollo full stack into space or even an unmanned test they send full crew, three men.  This was ~2 years after the loss of Apollo 1 crew in a fire on the launch pad.  They launched it, sent it on a non-free return trajectory (not even Artemis II will do this), had to use the big CSM engine twice.  Once to orbit the moon, and once to return home.  

BRASS BALLS

[Gigem]

It's completely lost that without Apollo 8 skipping at least two missions, we may not have made that arbitrary 1969 deadline, and if Zond has beat us to lunar space it may have emboldened the soviets to attempt to move forward with their landing plans.  

This is the sequence:  
Apollo 8--> Proves that the Apollo CSM/Saturn V stack is capable of sending manned craft to orbit the moon and return.  

Apollo 9--> Test drive the LM in earth orbit. 

Apollo 10--> Test drive the LM in Lunar Orbit.  FYI we could have landed on Apollo 10.  We sent the whole enchilada into Lunar orbit, put the LM down a few hundred KM of the surface, and then aborted the landing and return to CSM.  This mission was basically a full up dress rehearsal.  These guys took all the risk, for almost none of the glory.  

Apollo 11 July 1969

Apollo 12 Nov 1969.  Second landing  

Without Apollo 8, Apollo 12 or 13(!) would have been the first landing.  

[Gigem]

It just seems very circular and silly to me when someone values the statements of one astronaut casting doubt on the moon landings, and cites that man's astronaut credentials as validation, while ignoring the 12 astronauts who actually went to the moon and have repeatedly affirmed that it really happened, and denying their astronaut credentials as validation.

That's not what he (Pettit) said.  What he said was "we destroyed the technology" or something similar.  No shit sherlock, we also destroyed the technology to make a 1966 Mustang.  
What he meant was we shut down the production lines, closed the facilities, and let the tooling get scrapped or rust away.  You work for a computer manufacturer, can we produce the exact same computer from 1999 today?  

Exact same processor, exact RAM, exact hard drive.  No, because we "destroyed" it.  

[utee94]

That's not what he (Pettit) said.  What he said was "we destroyed the technology" or something similar.  No shit sherlock, we also destroyed the technology to make a 1966 Mustang. 
What he meant was we shut down the production lines, closed the facilities, and let the tooling get scrapped or rust away.  You work for a computer manufacturer, can we produce the exact same computer from 1999 today? 

I'm not talking about what Pettit said, I'm talking about how some people have chosen to interpret it, in support of the idea of fake lunar landings.

[Gigem]

I'm not talking about what Pettit said, I'm talking about how some people have chosen to interpret it, in support of the idea of fake lunar landings.

Well, don't forget that Don Pettit is fake too.  He doesn't exist.   

[Cincydawg]

Historians and space enthusiasts have since debated whether Stafford and Cernan could have bucked NASA protocol and flown the final 15.6 kilometers to land on the Moon. Cernan later said that the ascent module was under-fueled to discourage the crew; NASA was also still optimizing the lunar module engines and testing the computer-assisted landing system back on Earth. In any case, the crew was not carrying equipment for a moonwalk.

The got within 16 km of the surface before ejecting the landing module and returning to orbit.