Geoff 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿1d ago
If I was on Artemis I'd spend the 40 minute radio blackout rigging all the clocks, logs, instrumentts etc to show that 6 hours had passed, then refuse to comment on what I'd seen on the far side.
This is probably why I'm not allowed on the Artemis.
Show threadSteve Hersey20h ago

@_thegeoff
I keep hearing reporters say that "no human eye has seen the far side before."

Umm, wait a minute there.

The Apollo program featured TEN (correction: NINE) missions that orbited the Moon. Do these folks seriously mean to say that in all of those lunar missions, the crewmember left in Moon orbit during the mission NEVER ONCE LOOKED OUT THE CSM WINDOW while passing over the far side?

That seems rather unlikely...

Show threadEd Davies18h ago

@n1xnx NINE, even if you count 13 which didn't orbit the Moon as such though it did pass over the far side, of course.

8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.

7 & 9 were both Earth orbit only. 7 testing the CSM in Earth orbit, 9 testing the LM similarly.

@_thegeoff

Show threadSteve Hersey
@edavies @_thegeoff
Yeah, I was inadvertently counting the first orbital lander test in my quick tally. That one was Earth orbit...
Apr 6 at 6:38pmWeb
Show threadBill Ricker13h ago

@n1xnx
With LOS on the backside, it raises the question whether the DSN is correctly named; more like Slightly-Deep-Space-Network AMIRIGHT?

Long term we may need TDRS-Lunar units in orbit around Luna — polar orbit constellation, with relay all around? possibly several on highly elliptical orbits slantwise so that one is always seeing backside orbits and earth, and another could see low power transmitters on front side ground ?

Show threadSteve Hersey13h ago

@BRicker
Finally, a good use for those pest-begotten Starlink sats.

Jokes aside, yes, we definitely need such a network.