One small step ... Farewell Neil Armstrong

[classic33]

On the face of it, Neil Armstrong was a remarkable man, agreeing to go where no one had ever gone before, not knowing if it would succeed, not knowing what he would face, and having the hopes and aspirations of an entire nation on his soldiers. I thought that he was just a brave and intelligent man in the right place the right time.

That makes him the coolest customer who has ever taken to the skies. And therefore a true hero, even above those engineers and scientists that got him there.

I thought the lunar module only carried two, now you're saying he took an army with him. And him a Navy pilot.

 

[Linford]

There was a lot of needle from Aldrin over who should be the first to set foot on the moon as traditionally it is never the commander who undertakes the first EVA's, space walks etc.

It was Aldrin however who spoke the first words on another celestial body, and that was 'Contact Light On' indicating that one of the probes on the end of the Eagles feet had touched the surface of the moon.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

On the face of it, Neil Armstrong was a remarkable man, agreeing to go where no one had ever gone before, not knowing if it would succeed, not knowing what he would face, and having the hopes and aspirations of an entire nation on his soldiers. I thought that he was just a brave and intelligent man in the right place the right time.

Turns out he was much more than that. I haven't got a reference to hand at the moment, but I remember hearing/reading that due to problems on the approach, when the lunar module was getting ready to land on the moon it was a little short of fuel. In fact, so short that one mistake on the approach, one unnecessary correction, would have left them both on the moon surface for ever. The world was watching. Under such immense pressure, Neil took the module down to the moon and nailed it. Like threading a needle first time with a tiger breathing down your neck, like hitting the bullseye or pocketing the final black whilst the timer on the bomb counts the last few seconds to zero. Without even hinting that there was a problem, that things were a bit tight.

That makes him the coolest customer who has ever taken to the skies. And therefore a true hero, even above those engineers and scientists that got him there.

But that is what they were trained to do, they were test pilots, they were the very best of the best and they knew how to fly things like an acclaimed actor knows how to perform on cue. These guys were chosen becuase they would keep cool under the most tremendous of circumstances and they knew it!

Whats more, they knew their spacecrafts inside out and back to front, and you can bet that Armstrong would have known *exactly* what he could do with it when he was landing on the moon, even when the 1202 alarm sounded. A lesser man might have aborted, but he knew and trusted his craft implicitly, knew what its strengths and weaknesses were, how to get the best out of it, every amp every gram of fuel every extra square foot, he knew, knew its character, probably even knew its name if it was a person, knew instinctively and treated it like his lover, flew it like nothing else existed in the whole universe but himself, Buzz, his craft and the landing site, flew it like it was an extension of himself, flew it 'in the zone'!

 

[Inertia]

A sad day, unlike buzz he seemed to shun the limelight, a real icon who was at the forefront of one of mankind's greatest achievements.

I came across this article showing the other side of the internet, the moon hoax believers, Im not sure whether to pity them or not.
http://gawker.com/5938218/neil-arms...ht-good-riddance-moon-truthers-mourn-a-legend

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

A sad day, unlike buzz he seemed to shun the limelight, a real icon who was at the forefront of one of mankind's greatest achievements.

I came across this article showing the other side of the internet, the moon hoax believers, Im not sure whether to pity them or not.
http://gawker.com/5938218/neil-arms...ht-good-riddance-moon-truthers-mourn-a-legend

It wouldn't be so bad, but they call themselves 'Truthers', which is about as w*nky as you can get!

 

[classic33]

A sad day, unlike buzz he seemed to shun the limelight, a real icon who was at the forefront of one of mankind's greatest achievements.

I came across this article showing the other side of the internet, the moon hoax believers, Im not sure whether to pity them or not.
http://gawker.com/5938218/neil-armstrong- -lying-piece-of-mason-sht-good-riddance-moon-truthers-mourn-a-legend

They can say what they want about whether or not they believe man went to the moon & returned safely. But if they want to put that kind of headline up, about someone who has just died, they are not worth bothering with.

Conspiarcy theories include:
The whole thing was staged in studio. Capricorn One being thrown up every time this one is mentioned. Reverse of that is that it was a NASA double bluff. "We went, but if we didn't this is how we could have done it". Now recent events in which cosmonauts were "locked away" inside a Russian earth bound test is being used to say that this is how the Russians did it.

Those that walked on the moon were not American, they were Russian. Russian launches were not as widely announced as the American. This meant that it was easy for America to launch the craft into space, rendevous with a Russian craft either already in orbit, or launched at around the same time & switch crews. This one allows for the man made materials left on the moon to be accounted for. The Americans stayed in low earth orbit whilst the Russians in the American craft & suits did the dangerous part of actually travelling to the moon & back. It also allows for the "mistake" made by Armstrong as he set foot on the moon and uttered those now famous words. The Apollo Soyuz Test Project, which saw the much publicised meeting in space between American astronauts & Russian cosmonauts, was the establishments way of coming clean on how the moon landing transfers were actually done. The Russians who had travelled to the moon & back were simply allowed to burn up on re-entry. They were too badly contaminated. They did however swap suits(contaminated) back with their American counterparts, who went on to take the glory. The Russians could rest safe in the knowledge that their systems were better than the Americans.
They did however have a poor safety record, cited as proof of what was actually being done. Cosmonauts being lost were those who were the "guinea pigs".

You also have the one in which NASA sacrificed their own people, leaving them on the moon or to burn up on re-entry, whilst the "heroes", in low earth orbit were safe. Apollo 13 was a "clear case" of where this went wrong. Whether the transfer was between two American Craft or American & Russian craft.

What they cannot prove is that man did not go to the moon, nor can they prove what the nationality of those that walked on the moon were. The only way to do that is to go back, either manned or un-manned missions & actually "see" what was left. How you go about convincing them of that is another matter.

Of topic, but I know two people in The Flat Earth Society.

 

[Linford]

They can say what they want about whether or not they believe man went to the moon & returned safely. But if they want to put that kind of headline up, about someone who has just died, they are not worth bothering with.

Conspiarcy theories include:
The whole thing was staged in studio. Capricorn One being thrown up every time this one is mentioned. Reverse of that is that it was a NASA double bluff. "We went, but if we didn't this is how we could have done it". Now recent events in which cosmonauts were "locked away" inside a Russian earth bound test is being used to say that this is how the Russians did it.

Those that walked on the moon were not American, they were Russian. Russian launches were not as widely announced as the American. This meant that it was easy for America to launch the craft into space, rendevous with a Russian craft either already in orbit, or launched at around the same time & switch crews. This one allows for the man made materials left on the moon to be accounted for. The Americans stayed in low earth orbit whilst the Russians in the American craft & suits did the dangerous part of actually travelling to the moon & back. It also allows for the "mistake" made by Armstrong as he set foot on the moon and uttered those now famous words. The Apollo Soyuz Test Project, which saw the much publicised meeting in space between American astronauts & Russian cosmonauts, was the establishments way of coming clean on how the moon landing transfers were actually done. The Russians who had travelled to the moon & back were simply allowed to burn up on re-entry. They were too badly contaminated. They did however swap suits(contaminated) back with their American counterparts, who went on to take the glory. The Russians could rest safe in the knowledge that their systems were better than the Americans.
They did however have a poor safety record, cited as proof of what was actually being done. Cosmonauts being lost were those who were the "guinea pigs".

You also have the one in which NASA sacrificed their own people, leaving them on the moon or to burn up on re-entry, whilst the "heroes", in low earth orbit were safe. Apollo 13 was a "clear case" of where this went wrong. Whether the transfer was between two American Craft or American & Russian craft.

What they cannot prove is that man did not go to the moon, nor can they prove what the nationality of those that walked on the moon were. The only way to do that is to go back, either manned or un-manned missions & actually "see" what was left. How you go about convincing them of that is another matter.

Of topic, but I know two people in The Flat Earth Society.

We in the UK were along with the rest of the world which had the ability to monitor others, able to earwig in on the transmissions from the spacecraft (they used our tracking stations in Oz IIRC).
It was a space race and something of immense national pride for both sides. The Russians were gutted when they were beaten to the punch.
Skylab in 75 came to be because the goal had been achieved, and the political will for more moon missions in a game of top trumps was lost and so they used one of the remaining 3 Saturn V's to launch a decent sized payload. The two remaining Saturn V rockets on display in Cape Canaveral and Houston are the real thing which then became surplus to requirements as development work had already begun on the shuttle from 69 onwards.They each took years to build by many contractors spread across the USA. At least with visitors paying to walk around for the last few decades, they are recovering part of the massive cost of their construction.

 

[classic33]

We in the UK were along with the rest of the world which had the ability to monitor others, able to earwig in on the transmissions from the spacecraft (they used our tracking stations in Oz IIRC).
It was a space race and something of immense national pride for both sides. The Russians were gutted when they were beaten to the punch.
Skylab in 75 came to be because the goal had been achieved, and the political will for more moon missions in a game of top trumps was lost and so they used one of the remaining 3 Saturn V's to launch a decent sized payload. The two remaining Saturn V rockets on display in Cape Canaveral and Houston are the real thing which then became surplus to requirements as development work had already begun on the shuttle from 69 onwards.They each took years to build by many contractors spread across the USA. At least with visitors paying to walk around for the last few decades, they are recovering part of the massive cost of their construction.

I only put forward a few of the theories that have been used to "explain" why we never went to the moon. I have no doubt we did. Annoyed at the Headline about a man who had just died, that many held in high regard.
Relative of mine used to be in charge of the walkers that took the Saturn V out to the launch pad.

 

[classic33]

http://www.google.com/moon/
For those who want to see where they walked

 

[classic33]

Laid to rest on the day of a Blue Moon.