Apollo 11 50th Anniversary

[burkhard]

(07-24-2019 01:40 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  ok, here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7hQKIKoVHc&t=94s

Nice!

Regarding Your comments on YouTube about lots of big cars in the parking lot.
Yes, that is so, but they were probably mostly hauling 6, 7, or more people as families were bigger too. Today, the big cars would be replaced by bigger / heavier SUVs hauling a couple with zero kids, but a couple of designer mutts, so-called "labradoodles" or the like.

I was just 3 when this happened and in New Jersey, far from Florida. My parents say they forced me to stay awake for it, but I have no memory of it sadly.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(07-24-2019 01:40 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  ok, here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7hQKIKoVHc&t=94s

Thanks for posting that! Although - I think - I qualify as a "rocket scientist", I have never seen a rocket launch in real life. And even if I ever get the chance I doubt it will be such a big one.

Regards
Max

[Dan]

(07-24-2019 01:40 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  ok, here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7hQKIKoVHc&t=94s

Wow, thanks. You can sense the excitement, even without sound. Beautiful day for it, and a huge turnout. Very bright, that Saturn V sure was powerful. The big wide American cars with V8 engines are great too, before the 1970's oil crisis reduced the demand for large cars.

[toml_12953]

(07-24-2019 03:45 AM)Dan Wrote:  

(07-23-2019 10:31 AM)toml_12953 Wrote:  That was the most impressive man-made spectacle I'll ever see.

You may see it again, NASA's Artemis program is aiming to return to the moon by 2024.

Yeah, but I won't be in Florida to see it in person.

[Don Shepherd]

(07-25-2019 02:07 AM)Dan Wrote:  Wow, thanks. You can sense the excitement, even without sound. Beautiful day for it, and a huge turnout. Very bright, that Saturn V sure was powerful. The big wide American cars with V8 engines are great too, before the 1970's oil crisis reduced the demand for large cars.

One of the things I remember about that day was the friendliness and helpfulness of the people. The guy in the car next to me really helped me out of a difficult situation. About two hours before launch I accidentally locked my keys in my car, with my camera on the front seat! The fellow with the floppy hat knew how to force the window down a bit and thread a coat hangar through the top of the window and hook the end around the lock plunger button and pull it up, unlocking the door. What a relief! You can't do that with modern cars.

They estimated that over a million people attended the launch, and not one of them had their head buried in a cellphone screen. It was truly America at its best.

[Thomas Okken]

(07-25-2019 11:17 AM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  They estimated that over a million people attended the launch, and not one of them had their head buried in a cellphone screen. It was truly America at its best.

That would have been difficult, given that cell phones were still decades away. But what is this griping about those things all about anyway? If it's OK to talk to people who are nearby but not to people who are elsewhere, then surely old-fashioned telephones and even more old-fashioned mail are also evil. If reading books or the news on one's phone is bad, then what about people reading physical newspapers or books in public? Is playing a game on one's phone worse than playing solitaire with a physical deck of cards? Or (my personal favorite) is doing crossword puzzles on one's phone worse than doing them on paper?

[Katie Wasserman]

Don, very cool!

I was 12 and away at summer camp then and we all piled into an auditorium to watch the launch (and landing) on tv, wishing I could have been there in person to see it.

The Apollo 11 CNN documentary is excellent, I've seen it 4 times already and catch some small detail I missed each time. I especially like the audio clip during LEM descent "1202 alarm ... we're go on that flight ... if it doens't reoccur we'll be go". Of course it does occur again.

listen to audio -- make sure you've got stero speakers -- at 2:20 was even clearer in the film.

[Don Shepherd]

(07-25-2019 11:41 AM)Katie Wasserman Wrote:  Don, very cool!

I was 12 and away at summer camp then and we all piled into an auditorium to watch the launch (and landing) on tv, wishing I could have been there in person to see it.

The Apollo 11 CNN documentary is excellent, I've seen it 4 times already and catch some small detail I missed each time. I especially like the audio clip during LEM descent "1202 alarm ... we're go on that flight ... if it doens't reoccur we'll be go". Of course it does occur again.

listen to audio -- make sure you've got stero speakers -- at 2:20 was even clearer in the film.

I like Gene Kranz's "ok, keep the chatter down in this room." He was "de man."

[Don Shepherd]

(07-25-2019 11:34 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  But what is this griping about those things all about anyway?

Thomas, I think it has to do with socialization. For all the talk about "social media," we've created a world where a large number of its inhabitants are anything but social, engrossed in their little screen and oblivious to those around them. I used to like to walk around my old college campus, saying "hi" to those I encounter, but earbuds and screens eliminate conversations, they don't even hear me say "hi." These days I take daily walks on hiking trails in the parks of my city, and most people on trails don't wear earbuds and aren't engrossed in their screens because the trails are uneven and you've got to pay attention to where you step.

I like talking to people live; smart phones inhibit that. I also prefer paying $17/month for my cell phone for seniors (no text) versus my daughter's "data plan" for $150/month.

[burkhard]

(07-25-2019 02:07 AM)Dan Wrote:  

(07-24-2019 01:40 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  ok, here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7hQKIKoVHc&t=94s

Wow, thanks. You can sense the excitement, even without sound. Beautiful day for it, and a huge turnout. Very bright, that Saturn V sure was powerful. The big wide American cars with V8 engines are great too, before the 1970's oil crisis reduced the demand for large cars.

Cars in the USA are bigger/heavier than ever. We just call them SUVs, Pickups, and Crossovers. When I was a suburban kid in the 1970s, I only knew one friend whose father had a truck of some sort. Now they are the norm in nearly every family, not the exception. Even the car models produced today are *huge* compared to their 1960s counterparts. Compare a 2019 Camaro or Corvette to their 1969 counterparts. Or even worse, a modern VW "Beetle" (pseudo-Beetle to me) with its earlier counterpart–it's 2× the mass! The ubiquitous station wagon of 50 years ago became a much larger minivan or (more likely today) an SUV. Sure large sedans and wagons are passé, but don't be fooled; they have been replaced by larger vehicles, not smaller.

[burkhard]

(07-25-2019 12:38 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  I like talking to people live; smart phones inhibit that. I also prefer paying $17/month for my cell phone for seniors (no text) versus my daughter's "data plan" for $150/month.

Wow, you must have a fancy one! The burner old flip phones my wife and I use each cost $75 per year. I think there is a way to text clumsily, but don't ask me how.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

I just saw that Chris Kraft (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_C._Kraft_Jr.), one of the protagonists of the NASA moon program, died just one day after the 50th anniversary. That is certainly not a coincidence. He was a very important organiser in the backround who is seldom shown in all those documentaries.

And yes, the smartphone - and sohisticated microelectronics in general - are usually said to be spinoffs of the space program. But that is not true. We would have all that without the space race as well. Maybe two years later.

Regards
Max

[mfleming]

(07-25-2019 06:15 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  I just saw that Chris Kraft (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_C._Kraft_Jr.), one of the protagonists of the NASA moon program, died just one day after the 50th anniversary.

A great man, from all I've seen of him in documentaries. I'm sure I'd like a manager like him.

Quote:And yes, the smartphone - and sohisticated microelectronics in general - are usually said to be spinoffs of the space program. But that is not true. We would have all that without the space race as well. Maybe two years later.

Tang. Only space program spinoff I ever heard of at the time. Nasty stuff!

[DavidM]

(07-26-2019 01:48 AM)mfleming Wrote:  Tang. Only space program spinoff I ever heard of at the time. Nasty stuff!

Tang, and Space Food Sticks, and pens that had pressurized ink cartridges so they could write in a 0g environment. Ahh, those days. I was 8 years old at the time, and remember being fascinated by everything related to the space program. My brother created a "space club" and gave all prospective members a test that had to be passed in order to join. Much to his dismay, I passed.

[burkhard]

(07-26-2019 03:45 AM)DavidM Wrote:  

(07-26-2019 01:48 AM)mfleming Wrote:  Tang. Only space program spinoff I ever heard of at the time. Nasty stuff!

Tang, and Space Food Sticks, and pens that had pressurized ink cartridges so they could write in a 0g environment. Ahh, those days. I was 8 years old at the time, and remember being fascinated by everything related to the space program. My brother created a "space club" and gave all prospective members a test that had to be passed in order to join. Much to his dismay, I passed.

Tang is delicious! I remember the space pens advertised in comic books.
As for "Space Food Sticks", I had an idea of what was being spoken of, but didn't realized it was a product offered commercially in supermarket under that name.

It's not too late to get yours; it's only money. See the following link:
Buy me now! Fresh as the day it came from the Soylent Green factory.

[toml_12953]

(07-26-2019 03:45 AM)DavidM Wrote:  

(07-26-2019 01:48 AM)mfleming Wrote:  Tang. Only space program spinoff I ever heard of at the time. Nasty stuff!

Tang, and Space Food Sticks, and pens that had pressurized ink cartridges so they could write in a 0g environment. Ahh, those days. I was 8 years old at the time, and remember being fascinated by everything related to the space program. My brother created a "space club" and gave all prospective members a test that had to be passed in order to join. Much to his dismay, I passed.

Yes, the USA spent millions on the pressurized pen technology. When we docked with the Russian Soyuz, we discovered that the Russian Cosmonauts just used pencils.
As for Tang and Space food sticks, I loved 'em! Anything the Astronauts did was golden in my mind. Tang was good and chocolate Space Food Sticks were tremendous!

[cdmackay]

(07-26-2019 07:06 PM)toml_12953 Wrote:  Yes, the USA spent millions on the pressurized pen technology. When we docked with the Russian Soyuz, we discovered that the Russian Cosmonauts just used pencils.

It's a nice story, but it is just a joke.

Both the US & Russians used pencils initially, and both switched later to pressurised pens to avoid the problems with graphite pencils, notably bits breaking off (large and small) and floating around in the free-fall environment [note I didn't say weightless ].

You probably knew that already

[toml_12953]

(07-28-2019 11:01 PM)cdmackay Wrote:  It's a nice story, but it is just a joke.

You probably knew that already

Actually, I didn't! So I was taken in by an urban myth? Heh heh. Not the first time. Thanks for enlightening me!

[Thomas Okken]

(07-28-2019 11:01 PM)cdmackay Wrote:  floating around in the free-fall environment [note I didn't say weightless ].

But they're the same thing. Weight is what happens when something resists the force of gravity, which in freefall by definition does not happen. Now a massless environment, that would be something else.

[Wes Loewer]

(07-29-2019 04:41 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  

(07-28-2019 11:01 PM)cdmackay Wrote:  floating around in the free-fall environment [note I didn't say weightless ].

But they're the same thing. Weight is what happens when something resists the force of gravity, which in freefall by definition does not happen. Now a massless environment, that would be something else.

I've heard that the term "weight" means different things in different countries. American textbooks usually define weight as the force of gravity. In some countries, weight is this resistance to the force of gravity as you described.

For example, say a 100 kg man is in an elevator accelerating upward at a=2m/s^2 on a planet where g=10m/s^2. American textbooks would describe the weight of the man as the force of gravity W=Fg=1000N, while some countries would describe his weight as the normal force W=Fn=1200N. American textbooks often refer to this normal force as the "apparent weight" as in "your real weight is 1000N but it would feel like you weigh 1200N."