To the Moon Alice!

[Lostpuppy]

They're down! Whew! That was a nail biter waiting for the communication blackout and the chutes to open! Haven't seen that since I was a kid!

Been waiting too long my friend!!!!l
I still have my Apollo Helmet

 

[Torch]

Been waiting too long my friend!!!!l
I still have my Apollo Helmet

Lol! When I was a wee lad, my father took me to Cape Canaveral. After a tour including the inside of the assembly building I was allowed to touch a specific panel on the Saturn Five Rocket that was taking apollo and the moon buggy to the moon.

Im sure they removed or cleaned the panel but it was wonderful. I was surprised at the time that it wasn’t smooth! I know now that they put little ceramic insulators into the paint for heat regulation)
As if that wasn't enough we then went to the top and got to see thru the open capsule door from sime distance away. Of course we were not allowed to leave the elevator!

Now Imagine trying to do that today. The tour today is a Disney ride of cool stuff but you don’t get anywhere near anything current use. Can you imagine letting people see and touch the orion in the assembly building? You would get shot!

 

[Dr Arthur]

I think this Moonshot is a middle finger to China and the start of a colony.

I think you are completely right. Politics has a lot of impact in many things and this is simply just one,

 

[Dr Arthur]

I remember knowing, not thinking, knowing we were all about to die several times as we sat in our basement listening to the am radio. I have to say I an much happier to have these snot heads blissfully unawares then live though the cold war. From 1961 to 1991 the world was always a single average persons bad decision from armageddon. One fighter pilot, one sub captain, one bomber crew or one American destroyer with a former German Captain and Sidney Poitier reporting on the bridge. (I know there are several reported Soviet close calls now too) At the time they never made a scandal, it was just the way it was. We had nuclear bombs everywhere. I myself have carried them. It is unbelievable to me now.

Having flown in many SAC aircraft in the past the time that made me have my heart in my mouth and be truly afraid was the one time the radio officer came forward to the cockpit to say something. After this the flash blinds were clipped in place and flight was continued totally on instruments. Fortunately the alert passed. This really did make me think about the risks and consequences of a nuclear war. I returned to Australia and left the military no long after that.

 

[Torch]

Having flown in many SAC aircraft in the past the time that made me have my heart in my mouth and be truly afraid was the one time the radio officer came forward to the cockpit to say something. After this the flash blinds were clipped in place and flight was continued totally on instruments. Fortunately the alert passed. This really did make me think about the risks and consequences of a nuclear war. I returned to Australia and left the military no long after that.

We had started getting laser and flash safe (er) visors. That is another solid point for windowless cockpits and drones. In case y’all aint “pickin up what I am laying down” the Russian and Chinese would try to innocently blind us. Asshats, except I have a level of certitude that we did that right back!

It was usually temporary blindness in one eye through some small openings or if you had dropped the wrong visor. I never heard of anyone completely blind but a lot of Aviators/Pilots have been medically retired from it.

After the cold war Russia stopped and China has gone into turbbo mode with blinding lasers. From what I hear its not much of an issue any longer. (I have no idea) Aviators you are the weakest link!

 

[Dr Arthur]

In case y’all aint “pickin up what I am laying down” the Russian and Chinese would try to innocently blind us.

Yes that has been a ploy. Humans tend to look towards the direction of a light flash naturally. It is an inbuilt instinct that is hard to override. The Chinese military has developed laser devices with the sole intention of making you look towards a flash before getting hit by a brighter light source intended to either blind or temporarily disorientate.

 

[Ben Dhyani]

NASA Lays Out Moon Base Plans with Landers, Buggies and Drones at the Top of the List
NASA Lays Out Moon Base Plans with Landers, Buggies and Drones at the Top of the List

NASA is already ordering landers, rovers and drones for a sprawling moon base, less than two months after the Artemis II's record-breaking lunar flyaround.

The space agency outlined the first phase of its moon base plans on Tuesday, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four U.S. companies.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will provide a pair of landers to deliver moon buggies to the lunar surface, at a spot near the moon’s south pole. These so-called lunar terrain vehicles will be built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost. Firefly Aerospace, which landed successfully on the moon last year, will deliver the first drones to the moon.

All this hardware is ideally supposed to arrive before the first Artemis astronauts land on the moon, planned for as early as 2028.

During April's Artemis II mission, four astronauts flew around the moon, traveling deeper into space than the Apollo moon crews did during the late 1960s and early 1970s. For next year's Artemis III, another team of astronauts will practice docking NASA's Orion capsule in orbit around Earth with the lunar landers being developed for crews by Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX.

NASA is targeting Artemis III for mid-2027, with a landing by two astronauts following as soon as 2028. The moon base's second phase, from 2029 into the early 2030s, will start building up the permanent infrastructure, including a power grid. As for when the base will be ready to support astronauts for extended periods in specialized permanent habitats, that's expected sometime in the 2030s, during the third phase.

“Then we'll be able to say, 'Hey, we're permanently here and we're not giving it up,'” said NASA's moon base program executive Carlos Garcia-Galan.

Garcia-Galan envisions a moon base sprawling over hundreds of square miles, with a perimeter marked by drones, dubbed MoonFall, stationed at the corners.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said these territory markers are meant to be respectful of other countries' spacecraft and equipment that might be nearby. He expects reciprocity in the matter.

The goal of the moon base is to encourage a lunar economy while conducting scientific research and laying the foundation for a Mars expedition, Isaacman stressed.

“For those waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand and we will not slow down,” Isaacman said. “We are really just getting started.”

 

[Torch]

Butt Dial…..

The Moon Is Getting 4G! How This Breakthrough Will Transform Space Exploration Forever

For the first time ever, the Moon is about to get a 4G cellular network, revolutionizing how lunar missions communicate. Developed by Nokia Bell Labs in collaboration with NASA, this next-generation communication system will provide fast, reliable connectivity for robotic and future human...

dailygalaxy.com

 

[Torch]

The pro’s from Dover:

Building a Lunar Network: Johnson Tests Wireless Technologies for the Moon - NASA

NASA engineers are strapping on backpacks loaded with radios, cameras, and antennas to test technology that might someday keep explorers connected on the

www.nasa.gov

 

[Torch]

Just the facts (as of yesterday)

Nokia wins NASA contract to put 4G network on the moon - London Daily

Cell service could soon be out of this world. NASA has awarded Nokia a $14.1 million-dollar contract to bring astronauts the first cellular network on the moon, the space agency announced.

londondaily.com