Magnificent desolation

[Wraith]

I have to say, I am horribly disappointed in this forum. Either the search function is utterly and completely broken and in desperate need of repair, or no one at all has mentioned that today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch.

And you call this a tech forum? Bah.

(And yes, I know that the title is from a different Apollo mission. Still one of my favorite lines about the moon.)

Wraith
"The world is being Americanized and technologized to its limits, and that makes it dull for some people. Reaching the Moon restores the frontier and gives us the lands beyond."
— Isaac Asimov

[notyoueither]

It's more fun to insult one another.

[DanS]

For me, the anniversary is a landmark of how little we have progressed in spacefaring since Apollo. Nostalgia for something that was accomplished well before I was born just doesn't get me up in the morning.

[Ben Kenobi]

The launch really isn't that impressive TBH.

The landing on the other hand, well that's something else entirely.

[zakubandit]

Tech forum?

[Theben]

How exciting could it have been if they copied over the original tapes?

[SlowwHand]

The landing is the 20th, Monday. I know about it, so don't get so high and mighty.

[Dis]

faked

[Wraith]

--"The launch really isn't that impressive TBH"

Oh, come on. Surely everyone here has played Civ. You know what happens when you launch the ship to Alpha Centauri. The landing is important, of course, but the launch is, too ^_^

--"For me, the anniversary is a landmark of how little we have progressed in spacefaring since Apollo"

This I certainly agree with. At least this time around we've got companies like Space X and Armadillo Aerospace moving in. They're no Pan-Am, but they're also no Constellation cluster****. (Not that they don't have their own FUBARs to deal with, but at least there's more than one.)

Wraith
"What beauty. I saw clouds and their light shadows on the distant dear earth.... The water looked like darkish, slightly gleaming spots.... When I watched the horizon, I saw the abrupt, contrasting transition from the earth's light-colored surface to the absolutely black sky. I enjoyed the rich color spectrum of the earth. It is surrounded by a light blue aureole that gradually darkens, becoming turquoise, dark blue, violet, and finally coal black."
— Yuri Gagarin

[Provost Harrison]

It's Apolyton, not Apolloton

[Ben Kenobi]

Wraith, I've had the pleasure in nuking an AI's capital after they launched. Launching is important, yes, but it's all about the landing.

[ZEE]

faked

i, for one, am utterly shocked at your lack of faith in our fair government, our honest media, and the selfless acts of human beings throughout our nations history.

it will take me a while to get over this one.

[DanS]

This I certainly agree with. At least this time around we've got companies like Space X and Armadillo Aerospace moving in. They're no Pan-Am, but they're also no Constellation cluster****. (Not that they don't have their own FUBARs to deal with, but at least there's more than one.)

I am willing to bet all takers that SpaceX will make it to Mars before NASA will.

[Winston]

The first images of the Apollo landing sites taken from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have been released by NASA, just in time for the anniversary.

Spaceflight Now article

Apollo 14 site:

[Zkribbler]