As a scientist, a man, and a manly scientist, I have to agree with the dinosaurs.
But 13 men to the Moon? Was there someone I missed?
Hat tip to Steve for the link.
-
About Bad Astronomy
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He's written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic and fights the abuse of science, but his true love is praising the wonders of real science.
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February 14th, 2007 at 9:58 am
If we can put a man on the Moon, why can’t we put a woman on the Moon?
February 14th, 2007 at 10:05 am
The link embedded in the image itself points to the minimalist URL “http:///”.
February 14th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Those stupid dinosaurs really crack me up. Now that you mention it, I think I’d probably buy one of those buttons.
February 14th, 2007 at 10:17 am
I fixed the link. I’ve been having lots of trouble with links lately, and I’ve even been testing them before posting! I need to upgrade the software.
February 14th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Forget the buttons, there’s now a T-shirt!
February 14th, 2007 at 10:22 am
click comments above the comic, you’ll see:
“you may be wondering who the thirteenth person on the moon is. it’s t-rex! he left his wallet there once. it was by ACCIDENT.”
February 14th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Clearly you missed… the Man in the Moon.
February 14th, 2007 at 10:27 am
No!! Number 13 was Bugs Bunny.
February 14th, 2007 at 10:29 am
My brother, the Rocket Scientist(worked for Rockwell) swears up and down that people HAVE had sex in space, but of course, NASA has to deny it,,,
Is this a sexist conspiricy???
Gary 7
February 14th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Didn’t someone’s ashes take a ride on a probe that slammed into the moon (I want to say Shoemaker)?
That would be #13.
(Though I doubt he enjoyed it as much as the first twelve…)
February 14th, 2007 at 10:51 am
I sent a comment in to point out that the actual reason all the early astronauts were men was simply that they were all top-gun fighter pilots.
February 14th, 2007 at 11:04 am
“If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we put a woman on the moon?”
Or, how about, “We put men on the moon, so let’s put Bart Sibrel there, too.”
February 14th, 2007 at 11:33 am
If we’re going to put anyone else on the Moon, I say we load up all the Moan Hoax loonies for a one way trip >_>;;;
February 14th, 2007 at 11:44 am
>>> “If we can put a man on the Moon, why can’t we put a woman on the Moon?”
Dang. There’s a really horrid joke about PMS and Lunar cycles there just waiting to be unearthed.
February 14th, 2007 at 11:51 am
So where’s the real proof of sex in space? I’m sick of all the
anecdotes – my third cousin’s brother’s sister’s dog groomer
SWEARS he heard about it from a NASA engineer his ex-boyfirend
used to date!
I miss the old days when it was just men up there. Can;t take
wimmen seriously.
February 14th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Oh man, I love Bad Astronomy! Thanks for the link.
February 14th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
The thirteenth man is clearly Wallace. Gromit, while he is man’s best friend, doesn’t actually fall into the category of men.
February 14th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Eugene Shoemaker?
February 14th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Link: http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/news82.html
February 14th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I’m surprised at you! The 13th man was Norton! Ralph sent him straight to the moon on several occasions…
February 14th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Of course! Wallace! Good call, Pip.
February 14th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Hmm, I only count 12 live humans ON the moon. Was there an unreported stowaway?
1-2: Armstrong, Aldrin Apollo 11
3-4: Conrad, Bean Apollo 12
5-6: Shephard, Mitchell Apollo 14
7-8: Scott, Irwin Apollo 15
9-10: Young, Duke Apollo 16 (my favorite)
11-12: Cernan, Schmitt
Now, you could count all those who flew AROUND the moon, which would add the 6 command module pilots from the landing missions, 3 for the Apollo 13 crew, 3 for the Apollo 8 crew, and 3 for Apollo 10. That’s 15 more, for a total of 27.
February 14th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
It’s already been said but bears repeating: in the dinosaur comics continuity, T-Rex has been to the moon. (and is a dude. And is not asian?)
February 14th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Gene Cernan was the Last Man on the Moon, (at least according to the title of his book). — He did leave his daughter’s initials on the moon though.
February 14th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Politically correct nonsense.
February 14th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Yes Dulouz, you are absolutely correct. Why shouldn’t we discriminate against half the humans on the planet?
February 14th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Phil,
For someone whom I admire very much as a clear thinker, you have totally missed the point.
The 60′s and 70′s did discriminate against women, but to use modern values to make a judgement on the past is plain stupid. It’s like saying the whole idea of the USA as a free country is a lie because some of the founding fathers had slaves. By modern standards these people would be monsters but we can only judge them by their own time – and in their own time they were visionaries.
One thing that does bug me. As a non-American it drives me crazy that the flag on the moon was from the USA. I am not anti-American but somehow it should have captured all humanity instead of one tribe.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
“Why shouldn’t we discriminate against half the humans on the planet? ”
Well, if we start a colony in space, we’ll need that other half to keep it going for generations.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
One thing that does bug me. As a non-American it drives me crazy that the flag on the moon was from the USA. I am not anti-American but somehow it should have captured all humanity instead of one tribe.
Take your own lesson here: Look at the values of the time. What was the big reason America tried to go to the moon in the first place? To outdo the Russians. The American flag was their way of simply saying, “We win.”
February 14th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Infophile,
You are of-course correct – if it wasn’t for tribalism we wouldn’t even have attempted it.
It does show the limits of humanity though.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
So, T-Rex is people?
Not in my taxonomy.
As a woman who was a girl completely inspired by space program, I was willing to wait till I was all growed up, by which time they would have women in the space program.
And they did.
But they stopped going to the moon.
The great tragedy of my life is that, we may never again land a human on the Moon or another planet in my lifetime. And I’ve got 30-50 years left. That’s crushing to my spirit.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Q: Why have they never sent a woman to the moon?
A: Because it doesn’t need cleaning.
Erm, that’s the way I heard it told, anyway. I would never condone such a joke.
February 14th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Doesn’t need cleaning? What about all the dust?
Mind you, a vacuum cleaner probably wouldn’t be much use…
February 14th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
“The great tragedy of my life is that, we may never again land a human on the Moon or another planet in my lifetime. And I’ve got 30-50 years left. That’s crushing to my spirit. ”
Have no fear, WB.
NASA’s plans are for returning by 2020.
That’s 13 years away.
So, if all goes well with that plan, your spirit will be lifted again.
February 14th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
The Soviet Union first sent dogs into outer space orbit , then, the USA sent chimpanzees into orbit.
There has never been a child in orbit around the earth or moon. When will the first human be born on the lunar surface. That would be a double header (a woman and child) hit for NASA.
February 14th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
But not all the men to land on the moon were fighter pilots. Jack Schmitt was a geologist, not a pilot (although he became a pilot during NASA training).
February 14th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Going into silliness…..
What would happen to a werewolf on the Moon?
J/P=?
February 14th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
What with all the radiation around, it’s probably not the best of ideas to send up someone who’s pregnant.
February 14th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Stop whining about all those American flags on the Moon – we did all the work to get there and we made it happen! Lousy foreigners always parasiting off of the USA and you come crying when your in trouble, but then you have the nerve to dump on us for doing something you couldn’t!
America put men on the Moon, not Europe and certainly not any other place. Even the Russains couldnt beat us!
And as for wimmen – let them stay home and be mothers and housewives. That’s what they are geneticaly programmed to be and do.
Did I upset the feminazis here? Good!
UN flag – screw that!
February 14th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Yes, we did the work,,,then we turned tail and ran home to mama,,,
I expect the first nation to establish a permanent Lunar presence will be Chinese.
Anyone for learning Madarine?
Josh Whedon: right on,,,
Gary 7
February 14th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
“So, T-Rex is people?
Not in my taxonomy.”
Oh yeah? Try telling a T-Rex that to his face! I double-dog dare you!
Either MERman is hilariously funny, or the biggest idiot on this blog. I can’t figure out which…
February 14th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
!3 astronauts on the Moon? Have you forgotten Mohammed, he went there on his white horse, apparently – ergo 13.
February 15th, 2007 at 5:02 am
Maybe I just say the things the rest of you gutless liberal
cowards are too afraid to say, but think it anyway.
Yeah, the US stopped going to the Moon when we should have
kept going, but we are going back now and I bet the thing that
galls you the most is that it happened during a REPUBLICAN
administration. Clinton didn’t give two craps about space
(unless it involved interns) and Carter actively cut space
programs.
The USA put men on the Moon first, while everyone else
stared at our accomplishments on their TVs. That’s all you
and anyone else needs to know. And now we’re going to
do it again.
The Chinese talk big but it takes a lot more than a few
manned orbits of earth to put men on the Moon. And
they ripped off the Soviets anyway. And do we really
need Indians taking over the Moon, too? They already
stole all our US jobs.
February 15th, 2007 at 5:55 am
And as for wimmen – let them stay home and be mothers and housewives. That’s what they are geneticaly programmed to be and do.
Did I upset the feminazis here? Good!
MERman reminds me of the guy who “graced” Jennifer’s blog and was flushed away.
I bet the thing that
galls you the most is that it happened during a REPUBLICAN
administration.
Who was chief designer of the Saturn V rockets that got us to the Moon? Not an American. What president got the program going? Duh. Talk is cheap, especially from someone who didn’t even visit JSC while he was governor.
February 15th, 2007 at 6:20 am
Of course, landing on the moon was a goal initiated by Kennedy…
February 15th, 2007 at 7:00 am
For those who think this is “Politically Correct Nonsense”, read about the Mercury 13
http://www.mercury13.com/ – to start
There were women selected, who passed the same tests, and even did better than the men selected, but were denied their chance.
And I’ll say that I’m not genetically programmed to be a housewife, are role which didn’t exist before the last century, nor is any man genetically programmed to be a pilot.
February 15th, 2007 at 7:55 am
Carolyn,
Interesting site on the Mercury 13. I didn’t know about that. The sixties (seventies, eighties etc, etc, etc) were definitely sexist. All we can do now, though is to agree that the crew of the next trip to the moon should be completely selected on merit. If that means that the crew is 100% female, then good and Neanderthals like MERman will have to accept that the USA would be nothing without American women.
And MERman, presumably you only mourned those members of the crew of Columbia’s last flight who were born in the USA. You sad little man.
February 15th, 2007 at 8:51 am
I think that the ’13th man’, may have been Gene Shoemaker, whose ashes were aboard the Lunar prospector. He trained the astronauts in geological suvey methods, and had wanted to go himself. Unlike the other 12, he will be there through eternity.
February 15th, 2007 at 9:12 am
I sense a troll.
February 15th, 2007 at 11:59 am
WB Says: “Now, you could count all those who flew AROUND the moon, which would add the 6 command module pilots from the landing missions, 3 for the Apollo 13 crew, 3 for the Apollo 8 crew, and 3 for Apollo 10. That’s 15 more, for a total of 27.”
Nice summary, but it’s actually 26. Jim Lovell went twice (Apollo’s 8 & 13).
- Jack
February 15th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
To be fair, JFK was mainly interested in sending men to the
Moon to deflect from the Bay of Pigs fiasco. He admitted as
much that he wasn’t really interested in space. He just wanted
a way to best the USSR in a non-war way.
If JFK hadn’t been assassinated, I wonder if there would have
been continued support for Apollo? A lot of it was due to his
memory and the nation putting a rosy outlook on Camelot.
JFK was not terribly popular in the early days of his admin,
and don’t forget he barely beat out Nixon in the 1960 elections.
February 15th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
> That’s 15 more, for a total of 27.â€
> Nice summary, but it’s actually 26. Jim Lovell went
> twice (Apollo’s 8 & 13).
Jim Lovell went twice but didn’t walk on the moon. Gene Cernen (Apollos 10 & 17) and John Young (10 & 16) also went twice, commanding and walking on the moon on their second missions. Nobody flew on two successful landing missions.
So, it’s actually 24 men who’ve been at least around the moon and 22 who’ve been into Lunar orbit (the two to go round the moon but never into orbit being Fred Haise and Ken Mattingly on Apollo 13 – their commander, Jim Lovell having been into Lunar orbit on Apollo 8).
February 15th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
OK, that emoticon should be read as digit eight followed by close parentheses.
February 15th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Thanks for the update on the totals.
12 live humans walking on the moon.
12 others who at least flew around it.
1 whose ashes were delivered there for repose.
I’d surely love to live to see many more humans walking around on the moon. I’m willing to learn Mandarin.
Above my computer is a print of Alan Bean’s “America’s Team…Just the Beginning,” signed by the Apollo 12 crew.