Comments on: August Moon

By: Pat

Pat — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 00:04:02 +0000

How much fuel would each mission to the moons have required. The rockets would have been on for the whole time? How big was their fuel supply?

By: Michael Pettersson

Michael Pettersson — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 11:29:25 +0000

Well legal protection of the landing sites are not physical protection, it is only matter of time before some “Kilroy was here” grafitty appears on an old lander somewhere…

By: Bad Albert

Bad Albert — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 03:34:06 +0000

I think Tranquility Base would be considered sacred ground by anybody privileged enough to go to the moon for a long time to come. In fact it is conceivable it and the other landing sites would be declared National (Interplanetary?) Parks if lunar exploration got that extensive.

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:13:50 +0000

Outeast, I rather suspect that, after we get back to the moon and develop the ability to stay there for a significant length of time, and develop vehicles to allow extensive mobility on the lunar surface as well as cheaper and easier transport between the Earth and the Moon, pieces of original Apollo hardware from the moon will appear on ebay and fetch outrageous sums of money.

By: outeast

outeast — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 15:33:02 +0000

Heh! If I were them, I’d nick the US flag off the moon while I was up there… a bit like nicking traffic cones, only way more funny*.

*Well, except for the diplomatic crisis**, that is.

**Although nicking traffic cones isn’t actually that funny, it’s still funnier than a diplomatic crisis.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 14:59:31 +0000

I am not naive to realize that going into space and competing with other countries may lead to armed conflict. I was just trying to state an idealistic reason for getting back into the manned exploration of space. Perhaps up there we won’t fight. But then again we just need to look at the history of humans to know that is not realistic.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 08:37:06 +0000

For those not familiar with the workings of the Soviet manned lunar program, one of the things that crippled it was the constant jockeying for between competing bureaus for patronage. Imagine Boeing and Lockheed each building incompatible versions of the Saturn V (LOX/kerosene vs. hypergolics) and lobbying Congress and the President to give them the other guy’s funding. Plus the head of one company denounced the other one’s CEO and got him sent to Siberia back in the 1930’s, but that’s another story…

Anyway, in 2002 I attended a seminar given by a historian familiar with the Chinese space program; during Q&A I asked her about the prospects for a Chinese manned moon shot. She indicated that the infighting between competing power bases (industrial ministries, expatriate tycoons, the PLA, etc.) would made the USSR’s efforts seem as focused as a laser.

It would be interesting, at the very least.