Apollo 11 50 year anniversary

Started by Legend, Jul 14, 2019, 04:34 AM

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Legend

I'll use this thread to help guide everyone through this. Personally I'm hoping I can find a youtube channel that is streaming everything with an exact 50 year delay. Launch is on the 16th and landing is on the 20th.


The Apollo program was crazy. If a writer included something like that in a book, humans managing to land on the moon with 1960s tech and then staying home for 50 years, the writer would be ridiculed for such an unrealistic event. I imagine future generations growing up with colonies on the moon will be shocked just how early the first landing was. If we are lucky the next landing will be within a decade and the gap will only be 50 years.



Before spending a week focused on the past, I'd like to look at the future. Currently there are lots of amazing developments happening within the field of space exploration. NASA is on the verge of returning humans to the Moon. Artemis 1 is scheduled to launch next year (but 2021 seems more likely) and will send an uncrewed Orion capsule into lunar orbit. The rocket and capsule are almost finished.


Artemis 2 is set to repeat the mission but with humans aboard. This could be launched in 2022. At that point, humans will return to lunar orbit for the first time since Apollo. From there a million more things are needed to land on the surface, but NASA is working towards a firm 2024 date. Their new administrator Jim Bridenstine is doing good so far so only time will tell if operations will continue to be delayed at every opportunity or if the target date will only slip a small amount.

Meanwhile the private company SpaceX has similar timetables and ambitions. Their Starship suborbital hopper is currently set to make its first full hop on Tuesday. This vehicle is a testbed for their new raptor engine, arguably the most advanced engine to ever reach a test stand.


Commercial flights of the Starship system are currently scheduled for 2021. A lunar flyby is currently scheduled for 2023. A lunar landing is not currently scheduled but by all accounts it is targeting a similar date to NASA, so around 2024.



Blue Origin is also working on a lander.

Legend

I'll be asleep but the launch is tomorrow in ~ 7 hours.

Also I highly recommend watching Apollo 11 the movie. Amazing footage going into the launch.

Legend


Legend


Legend

Today is the day! Party!

Legend