Forty (40) Years Ago

[Bluerauder]

Forty (40) years ago .... the first man walked on the Moon. I am just a little surprised that it didn't even get mentioned here yesterday. Could be that about half the membership here wasn't even born when this happened. Could be that space travel is now considered a normal -- everyday occurrence. Back in the '60's, it was anything but normal .... and my hat is off to the engineers, designers, technicians who made it happen and to the men who rode the rocket to the edge and back through the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

Last night on Turner Classic Movies, I watched the 1989 documentary of the Apollo missions entitled "For All Mankind". It had lots of home movie footage taken by the astronauts aboard the space flights and on the Moon. This is the first time that I have seen much of this video. Wow .... just Wow.

I was only 18 years old when Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon. I remember it all. :up:

[CBT]

I was T-minus 2 years old when it happened so I don't remember it. My earliest t.v. memories are of the Viet Nam war and it was just about over. Moon walking didn't mean much to me until Michael Jackson did it. I think it's a fantastic achievement but the money, and more importantly, the lives wasted since that first moon landing don't make sense to me. There's nothing up there, why keep going. I do wonder what it would be like to set foot on another planet, tho.

[juno]

Armstrong walked on the moon (Apollo 11) on my 11th birthday. Best B-day party I ever had. Cake-ice cream- presents and watching a man walking on the moon!!!!!

[Bigdogjim]

I was also 18 Charlie I remember just about everyone watching the landing:)

[Mike Poore]

I was nearly thirty, and still think it was an astonishing achievement.

So far as CBT's observation that nothing came out of it, I have to differ; since much of today's technology, including, plastics, fabrication methods, medicine, and yes, even these confounded computers, not to mention the telecommunications industry, can be traced directly to that program.
Just think about how our lives would be without cell phones, digital communications or computers?

Wait! Um, maybe that might not be so bad, after all. :rolleyes:

[CBT]

I was nearly thirty, and still think it was an astonishing achievement.

So far as CBT's observation that nothing came out of it, I have to differ; since much of today's technology, including, plastics, fabrication methods, medicine, and yes, even these confounded computers, not to mention the telecommunications industry, can be traced directly to that program.
Just think about how our lives would be without cell phones, digital communications or computers?

Wait! Um, maybe that might not be so bad, after all. :rolleyes:

That is no where near what I said.

[Marauderjack]

Get "Capricorn One" and watch it carefully!!:eek:

[jonroe]

Charlie,

I paid attention to it yesterday. I dialed in on the Internet to the "in real time" replay of the CAPCOM exchanges and spent at least a few hours re-living the event by listening to those communications - fascinating. I was 14 at the time and remember the day very well. What astonished me that day (a Sunday afternoon) was why isn't EVERYONE watching this historic event? Why are there cars on the road at this time! I didn't get it then and I still don't get how some people that day were oblivious. Jon

[Mike Poore]

That is no where near what I said.


Yes it is. Go get him, Gordon......:neener:

[juno]

I think it's a fantastic achievement but the money, and more importantly, the lives wasted since that first moon landing don't make sense to me. There's nothing up there, why keep going. I do wonder what it would be like to set foot on another planet, tho.

There were no lives wasted in additional trips to the moon.
The shuttle program, yes. Basically it is just a freight truck designed to put things in low orbit. NASA made some horrible decisions that resulted in the deaths of those two crews.
The technology and wealth that spawned off the space program is almost immeasurable.
It is pretty sad to think that 40 years later we do not even have a heavy launch vehicle remotely close to the Saturn V. The most powerful machine ever built by humankind.

[juno]

Here is a time line for the Apollo program leading up to the moon landing.

Note that there was a significant delay and thousands of changes made after the horrible deaths of Apollo one.
When they restarted in October of 1968 in a period of only 9 months they tested all the new technology for the moon landing with 5 missions and successfully completed the landing. They actually circled the moon in the lander at 45000 feet! I believe they made sure the boys did not have enough fuel to attempt a landing. :)
Considering how long it takes us to do anything today, that is simply amazing. The engineers and flight support were incredible and the crews had balls of steel!!!!!
Watch "when we left the earth". Those guys are amazing!
My two favorite quotes were:
During a gemini mission they launched an icbm towards the capsule to evaluate tracking missles from space. When the missle was approaching, one of the astronauts said "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea" :)

When the first Saturn V was launched they could only put two guys in at a time. The third guy (I believe it was Borman) was looking around and noticed the crowds and tech folks were so much farther away then they were on any previous launch. When he asked about it he was told that it was for safety reasons with the more powerful rocket.


Apollo 1 - Ended in tragedy January 27, 1967.
Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White, Roger B. Chaffee were killed in a command module fire on the launch pad during a launch simulation at the Kennedy Space Center . Originally known as Apollo 204 and scheduled for launch February 21, 1967, the mission would have been the first manned Apollo mission. The tragedy prompted NASA to suspend Saturn 1B launches for almost a year and led to a major redesign of the Apollo Command Module (CM).
In the spring of 1967, NASA's associate administrator for manned space flight announced that the mission originally scheduled for Grissom, White and Chaffee would be known as Apollo 1. He said that the first Saturn V launch, scheduled for November 1967 would be known as Apollo 4. No missions or flights were ever designated Apollo 2 and 3.
Apollo 7 - October 11-12, 1968
Launch vehicle: Saturn 1B
Crew: Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, R. Walter Cunningham.
Duration: 10 days, 20 hours with, 163 Earth orbits.
Milestones: First manned Command Service Module operations in the lunar landing program. First live TV transmission from manned spacecraft.
Apollo 8 - December 21-27, 1968
Launch vehicle: Saturn V
Crew: Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., William A. Anders.
Duration: 6 days, 3 hours. In lunar orbit 20 hours, with 10 orbits.
Milestones: First manned lunar orbital mission. Support facilities tested. Photographs taken of Earth and Moon. Live TV broadcasts.
Apollo 9 (Gumdrop and Spider) March 3 -13, 1969
Launch vehicle: Saturn V
Crew: James A. McDivitt, David R. Scott, Russell L. Schweickart.
Duration: 10 days, 1 hour with 152 orbits.
First manned flight of all lunar hardware in Earth orbit. Schweickart performed a 37 minutes EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity). Human reactions to space and weightlessness tested. First manned flight of lunar module (LM).
Apollo 10 (Charlie Brown and Snoopy) May 18-26, 1969
Launch vehicle: Saturn V
Crew: Eugene A. Cernan, John W. Young, Thomas P. Stafford.
Duration: 8 days, 3 minutes. In lunar orbit 61.6 hours, with 31 orbits.
Milestones: Dress rehearsal for Moon landing. First manned CSM/LM (Command and Service Module/ Lunar Module) operations in cislunar and lunar environment. Simulation of first lunar landing profile. LM taken within 50,000 feet (15,243 meters) of lunar surface. First live color TV from space. LM ascent stage jettisoned in orbit.
Apollo 11 (Columbia and Eagle) July 16-24, 1969
Launch vehicle: Saturn V
Crew: Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.
Duration: 8 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes. In lunar orbit 59.5 hours, with 30 orbits.
Landing site: Sea of Tranquility (0.71 degrees North, 23.63 degrees East).
Milestones: First manned lunar landing mission and lunar surface EVA. "HOUSTON, TRANQUILITY BASE HERE. THE EAGLE HAS LANDED."--July 20, 1969. One EVA of 2 hours, 31 minutes. Flag and instruments deployed; Unveiled plaque on the LM descent stage with inscription: "Here Men From Planet Earth First Set Foot Upon the Moon. July 1969 A.D. We Came In Peace For All Mankind." Lunar surface stay time 21.6 hours; LM ascent stage left in lunar orbit. Gathered 44 pounds (20 kilograms) of material.

[CBT]

Some of you seem upset, maybe editing my own post will help.
I think it's a fantastic achievement There's nothing up there, why keep going.

[Haggis]

There's nothing up there, why keep going. I do wonder what it would be like to set foot on another planet, tho.

Just watch TV or go to the movies.

[Mike Poore]

Some of you seem upset, maybe editing my own post will help.


Nope, no one is upset, least wise, not me. I feel the privilege of disagreeing is important, and never cause to get upset.

Upon thinking what I now assume you meant, and not what I understood you to say, I have to agree with your assessment of the disastrous mis-management and politicization of the program, especially the Morton Thiacol debacle. It was a tragedy of unthinkable proportion.

My heart still aches for poor Sally Ride and all those school children who watched a dream literally explode before their eyes.

[Haggis]

Nope, no one is upset, least wise, not me. I feel the privilege of disagreeing is important, and never cause to get upset.

It was all fake, my Uncle knew this guy who said his cousin talked to someome who's brother-in-law met this dude at the bar who said he was the stage-hand dellivering the coffee when they were filiming the landing at the hidden movie set located in Patterson, NJ.

[juno]

It was all fake, my Uncle knew this guy who said his cousin talked to someome who's brother-in-law met this dude at the bar who said he was the stage-hand dellivering the coffee when they were filiming the landing at the hidden movie set located in Patterson, NJ.

Yep. Just ask Whoopi.

[SC Cheesehead]

Charlie,

Thanks for posting this. I was talking with a bunch of folks at the airport yesterday about the lunar landing. Those of us in the :geezer: category shared our thoughts on how really amazing it was; some of the younger guys with us just couldn't relate to the significance.

I was 16 at the time, and vividly remember watching the broadcast with some friends on our B&W TV. I can still see the images and hear "one small step..." hard to believe forty years have gone by.

[Haggis]

Charlie,

Thanks for posting this. I was talking with a bunch of folks at the airport yesterday about the lunar landing. Those of us in the :geezer: category shared our thoughts on how really amazing it was; some of the younger guys with us just couldn't relate to the significance.

I was 16 at the time, and vividly remember watching the broadcast with some friends on our B&W TV. I can still see the images and hear "one small step..." hard to believe forty years have gone by.

Are you sure you did not see that on TV yesterday? They were showing it all day.

[CBT]

Pretty much. We (well, people smarter than me) had the skills put people on another planet, plant an American flag, and brought back dirt, mission accomplished. I don't see why we have spent gajillions of dollars going to space since then. I don't think anything we put into space was worth 2 shuttles and 2 crews. It's not like we found God or the cure for cancer. Wow, a photo-op shaking hands with Russians on the space station. We didn't want to shake thier hand on the ground, it's not like things suddenly changed for the better after that. I could look at pictures from the Hubble all day, some mind boggling photos, but still sending people up there 40 years later just seems like a complete waste of money. We reached the point of diminishing returns a long time ago. If they come back with footage of aliens trying to break into the space station, I will jump back on the bandwagon tho:cool:


Nope, no one is upset, least wise, not me. I feel the privilege of disagreeing is important, and never cause to get upset.

Upon thinking what I now assume you meant, and not what I understood you to say, I have to agree with your assessment of the disastrous mis-management and politicization of the program, especially the Morton Thiacol debacle. It was a tragedy of unthinkable proportion.

My heart still aches for poor Sally Ride and all those school children who watched a dream literally explode before their eyes.

[SC Cheesehead]

It was all fake, my Uncle knew this guy who said his cousin talked to someome who's brother-in-law met this dude at the bar who said he was the stage-hand dellivering the coffee when they were filiming the landing at the hidden movie set located in Patterson, NJ.


Yep. Just ask Whoopi.

Yeah, I think E-Dubb met somebody that knew your Uncle too, he was telling me how he heard it was faked as well. ;)


Are you sure you did not see that on TV yesterday? They were showing it all day.

That's what started the conversation among the airport folks. A couple of us started commenting on the footage, what was going to come next, etc.; which elicted comments from the young guys like, wow, you can remember all that? Yeah, sonny, imagine that, an old guy with a memory....:rolleyes:

[Haggis]

Yeah, I think E-Dubb met somebody that knew your Uncle too, he was telling me how he heard it was faked as well. ;)



That's what started the conversation among the airport folks. A couple of us started commenting on the footage, what was going to come next, etc.; which elicted comments from the young guys like, wow, you can remember all that? Yeah, sonny, imagine that, an old guy with a memory....:rolleyes:

Yea, all of five minutes.

[SC Cheesehead]

Yea, all of five minutes.

Uhhhh, what were we talking about, and who are you?

[Mac-MerC]

Pretty much. We (well, people smarter than me) had the skills put people on another planet, plant an American flag, and brought back dirt, mission accomplished. I don't see why we have spent gajillions of dollars going to space since then. I don't think anything we put into space was worth 2 shuttles and 2 crews. It's not like we found God or the cure for cancer. Wow, a photo-op shaking hands with Russians on the space station. We didn't want to shake thier hand on the ground, it's not like things suddenly changed for the better after that. I could look at pictures from the Hubble all day, some mind boggling photos, but still sending people up there 40 years later just seems like a complete waste of money. We reached the point of diminishing returns a long time ago. If they come back with footage of aliens trying to break into the space station, I will jump back on the bandwagon tho:cool:

I totally agree.
Why arent they building a moon station by now?

[SC Cheesehead]

I totally agree.
Why arent they building a moon station by now?

I thought I heard something in the hews yesterday about this being in the works over the next 5 to 10 years.

[oldekid]

Forty years ago today, Uncle Sam had me enroute to yet another port. Upon arrival I remember massive quantities of free drinks, all paid for by the locals, because on that day, we (Americans) were all considered heroes.

I was on temporary duty aboard a submarine rescue ship, which I really hated. It was no different than going to sea in a tugboat. We hit a storm coming back, and I don't think there was anyone on that ship that wasn't sick.

Well, anyhow, on arrival back to my home port of Key West, I was told that myself and several others were getting an early out, and were to report immediately to the barracks for "separations". I wasn't supposed to get out until February of 1970, so that was a huge surprise.
:banana:

It was a happy time, but also a little scary, because I now had to figure out what I wanted to do the rest of my life.

For those who think it was all a scam, just think of how many people were involved and have gone to their grave since then, without writing a book, going to the tabloids, or better yet Radar.com to reveal "the real story".

And, if it was a scam, wouldn't that alone, be worthy of celebrating?
:beer:

[Joe Walsh]

Here is a time line for the Apollo program leading up to the moon landing.

Note that there was a significant delay and thousands of changes made after the horrible deaths of Apollo one.
When they restarted in October of 1968 in a period of only 9 months they tested all the new technology for the moon landing with 5 missions and successfully completed the landing. They actually circled the moon in the lander at 45000 feet! I believe they made sure the boys did not have enough fuel to attempt a landing. :)
Considering how long it takes us to do anything today, that is simply amazing. The engineers and flight support were incredible and the crews had balls of steel!!!!!
Watch "when we left the earth". Those guys are amazing!
My two favorite quotes were:
During a gemini mission they launched an icbm towards the capsule to evaluate tracking missles from space. When the missle was approaching, one of the astronauts said "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea" :)

When the first Saturn V was launched they could only put two guys in at a time. The third guy (I believe it was Borman) was looking around and noticed the crowds and tech folks were so much farther away then they were on any previous launch. When he asked about it he was told that it was for safety reasons with the more powerful rocket.


Apollo 1 - Ended in tragedy January 27, 1967.
Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White, Roger B. Chaffee were killed in a command module fire on the launch pad during a launch simulation at the Kennedy Space Center . Originally known as Apollo 204 and scheduled for launch February 21, 1967, the mission would have been the first manned Apollo mission. The tragedy prompted NASA to suspend Saturn 1B launches for almost a year and led to a major redesign of the Apollo Command Module (CM).


My Dad worked at IBM, when they were one of the lead contractors for the Saturn V system.
Grissom, White and Chaffee visited the IBM labs on a NASA 'PR' trip.
My Dad and my sister (she was the oldest in our family) got to meet them and my sister has all of their autographs from the visit.
A short time later they lost their lives in that awful, pure oxygen capsule fire.
Brave men....R.I.P.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1

[SC Cheesehead]

I had the opportunit to visit the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake a few years back. Fascinating history of the space program, and they've got the only remaining Saturn V rocket on display at Rocket Park. I highly recommend it as a stop for anyone who gets out Houston-way.

http://www.spacecenter.org/

[UAW 588]

I totally agree.
Why arent they building a moon station by now?
No need to. The grays have a base on the dark side of the moon. They told our goverment to forget about the moon and stay the heck away from it. So I've been told. Look up Richard C. Hogland for the whole bizzar story. Same guy that goes in detail about the face on Mars.

[Motorhead350]

I don't believe it happened either, no air on the moon yet the flag can fly. :rolleyes:

40 years ago was the heyday for muscle cars though and probably one of the worse times for music... except for Iggy and The Stooges.

[Pops]

[quote=Motorhead350;785564]I don't believe it happened either, no air on the moon yet the flag can fly. :rolleyes:

40 years ago was the heyday for muscle cars though and probably one of the worse times for music... except for Iggy and The Stooges.[/qu

Guess you did not read all of the article Dom. It stated they put arms on the pole to hold the flag out! I am also one of the young ones that watched it unfold on TV! You are also living in the best times of your life but think that you belong in the past. There are no better times than now.

[LIGHTNIN1]

Yeah, it was on Myth Busters last night. joking
I watched it then and am watching on tv now. By what the astronauts described it was almost toaster tech. at the time. I think they each had a prybar and visegrips if needed.

[cruzer]

The technology that resulted in the development of the cardiac pacemaker was orig
inally invented for use on the moon missions--I'm alive today because of a pacemaker. The micro-surgery that saves so many lives is also a direct product of the space program. There are many thousands of us alive and healthy because of technology from the program. Oh, by the way, my daughter was a protege of Commander Dick Scobee who died in the Challanger disaster--he was real, he was intellegent, he was a true explorer, and yes, man walked on the Moon--the skeptics believe that thousands of people have kept the deception secret for all these years-- be real. unless you lived thru the actual experience, you have no idea what happened--only idiots try to rewrite history when they weren't even alive at the time--long live NASA !!!

[Pops]

The technology that resulted in the development of the cardiac pacemaker was orig
inally invented for use on the moon missions--I'm alive today because of a pacemaker. The micro-surgery that saves so many lives is also a direct product of the space program. There are many thousands of us alive and healthy because of technology from the program. Oh, by the way, my daughter was a protege of Commander Dick Scobee who died in the Challanger disaster--he was real, he was intellegent, he was a true explorer, and yes, man walked on the Moon--the skeptics believe that thousands of people have kept the deception secret for all these years-- be real. unless you lived thru the actual experience, you have no idea what happened--only idiots try to rewrite history when they weren't even alive at the time--long live NASA !!!

Well said!!!:beer:

[SC Cheesehead]

Amen to that, Maury and John!

[Mike Poore]

Concerning the frivolity of the space station, it's my understanding that when, not if, the mission to Mars, and back, occurs, it will be from there, or one based on the moon. No, in my opinion, the program is not a waste and when you consider the loss of life during the exploration, though tragic, it's an astonishingly small number, considering the risk. Compare it to the heroes who died testing military and to some extent, civilian experimental aircraft, and the number is dwarfed.
Picking and choosing which efforts have the best pay-offs is a luxury afforded those with brilliant hindsight, but all the data when analyzed, goes into the whole, not just the wildly successful ones, like Hubble. Speaking of Hubble, let's not forget the problems that Hubble encountered, and most importantly, it was the "good for nothing" space shuttle that went up and repaired it, bringing us the most astonishing discoveries in the history of mankind.
Like Maury and I have said; we can't even start to name the benefits of the space program.

BTW, I love to listen to Richard C. on Art Bell's "Coast to Coast" the guy's a hoot. :)

[Motorhead350]

Well if it's on TV it must have been real. :rolleyes:

Times must be better with Hybrid cars and autotune as a trend for music as suppose to Chevy's with factory 454 engines and the only form of music you could really buy was on vinyl. I'm glad to be in 2009 and not 1969, but 1959 would have been a different story.

[Marauderjack]

I watched every minute of it 40 years ago and still contend we don't have the technology today to do it....much less back then!!!:shake:

The reverse thrusters of the Eagle didn't even kick up any "Moon dust" yet when they walked around it looked like flour.......there should have been a 20 foot deep crater where they landed and a dust cloud thousands of feet into the lunar atmosphere!!:eek:

Mysteriously the original video is LOST and wouldn't you think Hubble could take a photo of the flag they supposedly left up there??:rolleyes:

At an extreme LOW POINT in NASA history they pulled off a Moon shot....Hmmmm!!:shake:

Makes me sick the amount of money they are spending on shuttle trips to the "Space Station" too.......Grrrrrrrr:argue: :mad2:

My $.02 FWIW!!:cool:

BTW....I'm zipping my FLAME SUIT.....have at it!!!:flamer:

[Krytin]

As far as technology goes..
I had a nice "behind the glass/ropes" tour of the Johnson Space Center from a Shuttle /Space Station Specialist friend of my brother down in Houston a couple of years back.
We got to sit at the consoles in the original "Houston Control" used for the Saturn/Lunar program - I even got to look inside of/take pictures of the "technology"! I got to look inside the Space Station Mudules still under construction that were soon to be launched/assembled in space.

The Apolo technology was scary simple but the interesting info was that the fastest/highest tech CPU/chip used on the shuttle program is an IBM 386!
Anything more sophisticated is prone to data coruption from cosmic radiation. They even have to watch when they use the laptops based on their position to the sun/solar activity.
Could we send a mission to another planet or the Moon? Could we do it again today?

No.

Not for lack of technology but for lack of the quality of personel to do what needs to be done.

Anybody good enough to do it is either too old or dead!

[Mike Poore]

For those conspiracy theorists who contend the lunar landing was a hoax consider this:
Some of you know I'm a Ham Radio operator. We knew the transmitting frequencies because one of the hams figured it out from calculating the antenna length(s). We, meaning, hams from all over the world, were able to monitor the transmissions from the lunar surface in real time, with simple antennas and ham gear. Perhaps there were guys in a studio, faking it; but there was someone on the moon transmitting very clear strong signals back to earth, and I heard them, along with thousands of other hams, world over.

[jerrym3]

40 years ago, I celebrated my 2nd wedding anniversary. I also bought a used 1964 Ford Galaxie. (Still have the same wife and car.)

Watched the landing on a small black/white TV at my in-law's house.

[04MRADR]

:cool: I remember it vividly. The world was affixed to the USA and what we accomplished. We had officially won the space race with the Russians. There was a great show on the History channel last night from 9:00 to 11:00 PM where they used archival films of Walter Cronkite (rest his soul) on the news and used actors to reinact astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins. Very well done. I was 23 years old in 1969 and the world was rivited to their televisions. People stayed up all night watching. As a kid in the 50s the science fiction bug bit me bad and so many sci fi movies about man going to the moon and then it happened. Its a shame it stopped with Appollo and we didn't go further say for MARS. Darn government budget deficits really hurt the space program. And let's never forget those who died. Grissom, White and Chaffee in a Gemini capsule in a launch pad fire before we went to the moon and the many space shuttle astronauts who perished. They were all so brave.




Forty (40) years ago .... the first man walked on the Moon. I am just a little surprised that it didn't even get mentioned here yesterday. Could be that about half the membership here wasn't even born when this happened. Could be that space travel is now considered a normal -- everyday occurrence. Back in the '60's, it was anything but normal .... and my hat is off to the engineers, designers, technicians who made it happen and to the men who rode the rocket to the edge and back through the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

Last night on Turner Classic Movies, I watched the 1989 documentary of the Apollo missions entitled "For All Mankind". It had lots of home movie footage taken by the astronauts aboard the space flights and on the Moon. This is the first time that I have seen much of this video. Wow .... just Wow.

I was only 18 years old when Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon. I remember it all. :up:

[Bluerauder]

As a kid in the 50s the science fiction bug bit me bad and so many sci fi movies about man going to the moon ....

Yeah, we had Martians all over the place and flying saucers too in the '50s. :D It was not unusual to hear jets breaking the sound barrier over our house and shakes the dishes and glasses in the china cabinet. We didn't have aliens ..... we knew where they came from -- Martians from Mars. We didn't have UFOs either 'cause all Martians came in flying saucers. Mars was the "Angry Red Planet" and we were gonna go there to find out what Pizzed them off. :rofl: It wasn't until much later that I figured out that the real threat was from Uranus. These Anuses are everywhere now. ;) Much more dangerous than Martians ever were.

On another note, the space program even had an impact on car design with the names of some of the new models and even the body design with rocket fins, fake intakes, bullet shaped taillights, chrome body molding, grillwork, etc.

[KillJoy]

I was not around. The first space thing I recall is the Callanger Accident. :(

However, the Moon landing was THE greatest even of mankind.... even to this day...

<period>

KillJoy

[SC Cheesehead]

I was not around. The first space thing I recall is the Callanger Accident. :(

However, the Moon landing was THE greatest even of mankind.... even to this day...

<period>

KillJoy

Stevo,

100% on target, my friend. :up:

[Aren Jay]

I watched it on TV.

[Leadfoot281]

I was not around. The first space thing I recall is the Callanger Accident. :(

However, the Moon landing was THE greatest event of mankind.... even to this day...

<period>

KillJoy

Ditto!!!!!!!

[Motorhead350]

However, the Moon landing was THE greatest event of mankind.... even to this day...

<period>

KillJoy

Or biggest lie.

I still really don't know what to believe really.

:confused:

[Mac-MerC]

I'll believe it when they go again

[LIGHTNIN1]

We lived on a large acreage and jets flying over breaking sound barrier was normal. I had not thought of that in a while.

[GreekGod]

...For those of you old enough to remember them, the engineers that sent man to the moon, used slide rules, also known colloquially as a slipstick, is a mechanical analog computer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer). Before the advent of the pocket calculator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator), it was the most commonly used calculation tool in science (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science) and engineering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering). The use of slide rules continued to grow through the 1950s and 1960s even as digital computing devices (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer) were being gradually introduced; but around 1974 the electronic scientific calculator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_calculator) made it largely obsolete and most suppliers exited the business.

re:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliderule

NASA is rightfully criticized for using the lives of astronauts in the promotion of their budget. At this point, further human space travel (to Mars, or the moon) is not a mission that has any real value, in light of the much reduced expense of un-manned exploration.

________________________

[Krytin]

...For those of you old enough to remember them, the engineers that sent man to the moon, used slide rules, also known colloquially as a slipstick, is a mechanical analog computer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer). Before the advent of the pocket calculator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator), it was the most commonly used calculation tool in science (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science) and engineering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering). The use of slide rules continued to grow through the 1950s and 1960s even as digital computing devices (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer) were being gradually introduced; but around 1974 the electronic scientific calculator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_calculator) made it largely obsolete and most suppliers exited the business.



I rember those - I still have one!
I'm pretty sure I don't remember how to use it anymore.

[CBT]

I rember those - I still have one!
I'm pretty sure I don't remember how to use it anymore.

The day I forget how to use my slipstick will be a very very very very very very very very very very very very sad day.

[SC Cheesehead]

I rember those - I still have one!
I'm pretty sure I don't remember how to use it anymore.

I still use mine occasionally, makes a great back scratcher...:D

[Bluerauder]

...For those of you old enough to remember them, the engineers that sent man to the moon, used slide rules[SIZE=2], also known col[COLOR=Black]loquially as a slipstick ....

Yep, I used a sliderule through high school and into college. In about 1970, Monroe calculators came in to our engineering department with a desktop calculator that could add, subtract, multiply AND divide. It was about the size of the original computer monitors and cost about $3,000.

Used to do most of my heavy duty calculations during Junior & Senior year on a PDP-11 magnetic tape computer in the 5th floor lab. Used it on a "timeshare basis" and programmed in Basic or Fortran IV on punch tape. Remember that?

Five years later I had a TI-56 programmable calculator that could perform up to 99 pre-programmed steps..... and could do powers, roots and logs. I think it cost about $150.00 back then -- really money in '75.

Now I have a $19.95 TI calculator that puts all of them to shame. Even the accessory scientific calculator on the computer is a step up.

If I had that stuff in '68-'72, I probably could have finished college in 2-years. ;)

[GreekGod]

One of our math teachers had a ~6' long sliderule hanging in the front of the class, for demo/teaching purposes. I still have my 49 scale 'rule in my desk drawer. My (then young) daughter found it one day, and said "what's this?".

Mr. Poltrock told the class (back in '67?), that the slide rule was faster than a TI calculator, and proceeded to prove it. Of course, it takes longer to enter the numbers on the keypad, than to just slide the rule on the C-D (?) scales to multiply 2 numbers.

______________________________ ____________________

[SC Cheesehead]

Yep, I used a sliderule through high school and into college. In about 1970, Monroe calculators came in to our engineering department with a desktop calculator that could add, subtract, multiply AND divide. It was about the size of the original computer monitors and cost about $3,000.

Used to do most of my heavy duty calculations during Junior & Senior year on a PDP-11 magnetic tape computer in the 5th floor lab. Used it on a "timeshare basis" and programmed in Basic or Fortran IV on punch tape. Remember that?

Five years later I had a Hewlett Packard TI-56 programmable calculator that could perform up to 99 pre-programmed steps..... and could do powers, roots and logs. I think it cost about $150.00 back then -- really money in '75.

Now I have a $19.95 TI calculator that puts all of them to shame. Even the accessory scientific computer on the computer is a step up.

If I had that stuff in '68-'72, I probably could have finished college in 2-years. ;)


And if remember right, those rascals sucked batteries dry in nothing flat if you didn't shut them down right after performing a calculation. I carried a handful of 9V batteries with me all the time.

Big +1 on the TI ;)

[Bluerauder]

My TI-56 was rechargeable with a power pack. No 9 volt batteries. Still have it and the original box up in my closet. Maybe I should donate it to the Smithsonian? ;)

[Ladyhawke]

I was not around. The first space thing I recall is the Callanger Accident. :(

However, the Moon landing was THE greatest even of mankind.... even to this day...

<period>

KillJoy

I wasn't around either for the moon landing. But I remember the Challenger explosion, Jan 28, 1986. I was a sophomore in high school. We had gathered in the cafeteria and was watching it on TV. My chemistry teacher had applied for Christa McAuliffe's position.

All of the astronauts are very brave. God bless them. :flag:

[oldekid]

All of the astronauts are very brave. God bless them. :flag:That, is what it's all about.

Thank you Ladyhawke.

[Krytin]

The day I forget how to use my slipstick will be a very very very very very very very very very very very very sad day.


Wait. You'll be old and decrepid someday too!
The slipstick doesn't respond well to old age! :lol:

[Haggis]

Wait. You'll be old and decrepid someday too!
The slipstick doesn't respond well to old age! :lol:

That is why they invented Vigara, just ask Hugh Hefner how well it works. Oh, and CBT too.

[jonroe]

Yep, I used a sliderule through high school and into college. In about 1970, Monroe calculators came in to our engineering department with a desktop calculator that could add, subtract, multiply AND divide. It was about the size of the original computer monitors and cost about $3,000.

Used to do most of my heavy duty calculations during Junior & Senior year on a PDP-11 magnetic tape computer in the 5th floor lab. Used it on a "timeshare basis" and programmed in Basic or Fortran IV on punch tape. Remember that?

Five years later I had a TI-56 programmable calculator that could perform up to 99 pre-programmed steps..... and could do powers, roots and logs. I think it cost about $150.00 back then -- really money in '75.

Now I have a $19.95 TI calculator that puts all of them to shame. Even the accessory scientific calculator on the computer is a step up.

If I had that stuff in '68-'72, I probably could have finished college in 2-years. ;)

Charlie,

I worked all summer in 1973 to save up enough for the first HP-35 calculator. It cost me $312! which was a fortune then for a kid to spend. Later I stepped up to the HP-55. I did use a slide rule prior to 1973.

Jon