Geoff 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿18h 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 Hersey14h 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 threadGeoff 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿14h ago
@n1xnx *facepalm*
The thing that annoys me the most about this kind of reporting is it shows zero respect for the achievements of the Apollo era.
Show threadCluster Fcku10h ago
@_thegeoff @n1xnx This Artemis-ii is a totally sexed up dress rehearsal for a remake of the Apollo landing. I mean sure, impressive, but doing this 50/60 years ago was far far more impressive. And no they're not going around the moon to "take images of the far side". You don't need humans for that. This trip is a systems test, that includes funding & public acceptance, risk assessments, radiation hardness, MS outlook, and the bathroom.
Show threadGeoff 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
@clusterfcku @n1xnx Ha! Both amusing, and 100% correct!
6:58pmMastodon for Android
Show threadSteve Hersey10h ago

@_thegeoff @clusterfcku
I feel the need to make a snarky reference to "the wisdom of the ancients" here, where "the ancients" means "the original Apollo project organization."

What a sorry lot we are if we cannot manage a repeat performance, with all the improved tech we've managed in the meantime.

Show threadGeoff 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿10h ago
@n1xnx @clusterfcku The other thing to take into account is the Cold War, Apollo was effectively a military and propaganda exercise, and deaths were more politically tolerable. Today's missions are far, far more risk averse (and probably for the better, in the long term).
Show threadSteve Hersey10h ago
@_thegeoff @clusterfcku
Agreed.
One more reason to accept a slower, more expensive program that doesn't kill astronauts along the way. (It's not *all* inefficiency and exploitation by contractors.)