Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011

Subject: BS: Reach for the stars.... Half century
From: GUEST,mauvepink
Date: 11 Apr 11 - 04:46 AM

The Royal Air Force mottos says it all really: "Per ardua ad astra" or "Through struggle to the stars".

Fifty years ago tomorrow is the anniversary of man's (Yuri Gagarin's) first leap into space. In that time both the Americans and the Russians have lost brave men and women while struggling to reach the stars. Whilst our non-manned satellites have visited every planet in the solar system, thus far man has only set foot on the moon. Just twelve men have managed that feat but it has taken thousands more to get them there. Now, of course, not just the Americans and Russians are in space. So many nations have got astronauts and space really has become multinationally cooperative. Whilst we still fight each other on the ground it is reassuring to know that up there, in space, men and women get along just great and their homelands cooperate wonderfully now to see it happen

Tomorrow I will look to the sky and reflect on those 50 years, the lives of those who have lived and died in space or trying to reach it, and carry on hoping that some day soon mankind returns out there...

Vladimir Komarov   Soyuz 1   parachute failure

Georgi Dobrovolski   Soyuz 11 crew   exposed to space vacuum
Viktor Patsayev
Vladislav Volkov

Greg Jarvis   Space Shuttle Challenger crew   exploded
Christa McAuliffe
Ronald McNair
Ellison Onizuka
Judith Resnik
Michael J. Smith
Dick Scobee

Rick D. Husband   Space Shuttle Columbia crew   broke up on re-entry
William McCool
Michael P. Anderson
David M. Brown
Kalpana Chawla
Laurel B. Clark
Ilan Ramon

There have been other crews lost too whist training for missions. I am not sure how many in Russia but I think the most memorable in the 'Space race' were:

Gus Grissom   Apollo 1 crew   burned to death in test: capsule fire
Edward White II
Roger Chaffee

May they all be remembered tomorrow


mp

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: GUEST,lefthanded guitar
Date: 11 Apr 11 - 12:31 PM

I remember the day,such an astounding acheivement when I was in grade school. A friend of mine had a huge crush on Gus Grissom, back in the day before celebrities feared 'stalkers'. She had sent him so much fan mail, that he actually arranged a meeting with his 'number one fan'. It was in the local papers and although I did n't get to meet him, her enthusiasm was contagious. I always thought that spoke of a gallantry of these men.

The space program seems to be dead now; though I don't have the lofty hopes I had for it as a child; I think it would only be used to as warbases and to mine and destroy the ecology of yet another heavenly body. Perhaps I'm just getting old, but it seems that was such an innocent time- and the kind of heros we had as youngsters inspired so much more hope, honesty and integrity than most of those who are lauded in today's worldwide media.

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 11 Apr 11 - 01:01 PM

I never really understood why they spent fortunes to reach outer space when we live on such an incredibly beautiful planet in the first place.
Just think, if all the space money had been spent on Planet Earth, what an amazing difference it could have made.

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: GUEST,mauvepink
Date: 11 Apr 11 - 01:28 PM

If I may be so bold as to suggest that we probably lived in the last generation of being in such an innocent time. The people we saw on the TV back then were true heroes for sure and not just part of a celebrity culture (though, Lord knows, some NASA astronauts sure lived it up around Cape Canaveral).

The fact remains that the money was spent on probably avoiding a war on Earth. It was a major test period for rockets, without doubt, but the fact that America and Russia locked horns in Cold War challenges such as the space race probably benefited mankind in many other ways. Some of why we know this is such a beautiful planet is borne out of views taken of this humble rock from out in space and who can ever forget "Earthrise" taken from lunar orbit. Some of those pictures have inspired millions. Lots of the technology from space exploration we use every day. We still get the weather wrong, true!

It's not the money spent on such exploration that is a waste. It's the countless amount spent of billions and billions in lost lives, money, and conflict on this beatiful planet. We know so much about our planet because we look at it from out there...

Still: thread drift creeps in. It does not stop us being able to remember those brave men who have died

mp

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Apr 11 - 02:04 PM

Thanks for starting this thread. I'd heard a bit on NPR about it, the other day. I remember being really fascinated with this until the summer of 1969 when they actually walked on the moon. That summer I was too busy being a rebellious sixteen year old and barely registered what had been done when my mom pointed it out on the tv that day as I ran in and out going out with friends.:-<

One of my proudest moments, later in life, was when my son won a top spot in the Wyoming Science Fair and actually stood on stage with one of the astronauts who'd walked on the moon and who congratulated him, shook his hand, and gave him an award! It was really neat!

In memory of the Space Shuttle crash of 2003, there is a moment-by-moment thread here on Mudcat, as we found out: Space Shuttle Crash?

kat

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Apr 11 - 02:05 PM

Thanks for starting this thread. I'd heard a bit on NPR about it, the other day. I remember being really fascinated with this until the summer of 1969 when they actually walked on the moon. That summer I was too busy being a rebellious sixteen year old and barely registered what had been done when my mom pointed it out on the tv that day as I ran in and out going out with friends.:-<

One of my proudest moments, later in life, was when my son won a top spot in the Wyoming Science Fair and actually stood on stage with one of the astronauts who'd walked on the moon and who congratulated him, shook his hand, and gave him an award! It was really neat!

In memory of the Space Shuttle crash of 2003, there is a moment-by-moment thread here on Mudcat, as we found out: Space Shuttle Crash?

kat

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 12 Apr 11 - 10:33 AM

I was fascinated at the first moon landing but not the mission that followed after. Things started to go wrong during the mission, Tom Hanks was in the film. Infact it wasn't until things started to go wrong that it actually caught my attention I was a teen and not interested in watching the same thing all over again. Now I see it so differently after watching the Space Shuttle Crash, I hope I never see another disaster like that again ever, it brought it home that these were real people more so than had gone before. Possibly because there were women onboard as well, not meaning to sound sexist but seeing them waving before setting off, it just felt so very different.

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 Apr 11 - 12:35 PM

Blimey - 50 years ago. Seems an eternity! I was 8 and the world was becoming very interesting. Thank heavens it got more so and we could play astronauts - Don't think I could have coped with cowboys and indians for much longer :-) I remember getting an astronaut suit made of some silver shiny stuff, complete with helmet and visor. Pity the space race seems to have died off - We got some wonderful advances with it! Maybe we will pick it up again in future - we can but hope. Hopefully HAL will eventualy say 'Affirmative, Dave. I read you. ' rather than 'Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye. ' :-)

Cheers

D.

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 06:29 AM

I was 20 at the time that the Apollo 11 mission landed on the Moon (it was a few days before my 21st birthday). I was in my local folk club when it happened. The folk club, at that time, was in a hotel and those of us who were interested (many weren't) went into the TV lounge to watch the landing (that's how I remember it, anyway - I wonder if it really did happen at that time? Does anyone know what time of day it was in the UK when the landing actually happened?).

What I do remember was that I found it all a teeny bit disappointing. I was a keen SF fan and had already been to the furthest reaches of the Galaxy (vicariously, of course!). If it took all of that effort and money just to reach the Moon we were never likely to get to Alpha Centauri, or further, in my lifetime ...

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: DMcG
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 06:52 AM

Just think, if all the space money had been spent on Planet Earth, what an amazing difference it could have made.

It may sound like splitting hairs, but I think what you really mean is if all that #effort# had be spent focussing on Planet-Earth problems, what a different it would have made, and there I very much agree with you. Money is something else entirely and the two are totally separate. For example, all the space money was spent on earth: there's no-one else we know of to take it, so it all went round and round though jobs, goods, other jobs, other goods .... All we have really 'spent' apart form effort is a relatively small amount of metal, ceramics and so on.

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: GUEST,mauvepink
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 09:15 AM

Simrod...

Apollo 11 touched down on the lunar surface at 8.17 UDT so I suspect that could have been 9.17 BST. If you were in your hotel at that time then it should be right.

I remember my parents allowing me to stay up so I could watch it :-)

mp

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 09:51 AM

Thanks, mauvepink - so my increasingly dodgy memory didn't fail me then!

Subject: RE: Reach for the stars.... Half century 12 April 2011
From: GUEST,mauvepink
Date: 13 Apr 11 - 10:34 AM

TBH Shimrod, you have helped me fill in a gap in my own memory by having to look it up again!

Ta muchly ;-)

I am surprised this thread has been so under written to. I would have thought there would be many good memory comments on these times past. I wonder if it's because Gagarin was a Russian and that our American cousins have never forgiven them? It would have been great had the world have been involved as much in Russian space feats as they have American ones. The Russians were quite secretive back then until success was assured. The Americans let us have it all, the good and the bad, in their announcements.

No matter. If you take away the Russian and the American preemptors it was mamkind's acheivement all the same

mp