Astro-Image of the Day: scenes from 40 years ago

[mckitterick]

This is sort of an archaeological post... from the Moon! These shots from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show the Apollo missions' lunar module descent stages sitting on the Moon's surface. Here's where a human first set foot on the Moon:


Click the image to see the story.

To see the landing vehicle, look for a long shadow. Here's a dramatic shot of the Apollo 14 site:


Click the image to see the story.

...and a closeup of Armstrong's first footprint ON THE MOON:


Click the image to see NASA's Apollo 40th Anniversary site.

Happy We Went to the Frakkin' Moon! day.

That's all I can type today. later!
Chris

Comments

[will-couvillier.livejournal.com]

Now this was the pic that should have been there when the call for the Footprints antho was up. Verification of the mission and validation of Man's spirit! Of course, this proof is also fabricated - ask the conspiracy guys!

[arian1.livejournal.com]

Oh I can't wait for the truthers to get a hold of this and freak out even more. I want to beat them all.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's 2 responses about loons. what's up? are they making a fuss i haven't heard about?

[tully01.livejournal.com]

Aren't they always? The one dependable thing about conspiracy theorists is that everything is proof of the conspiracy.

[jensixstones.livejournal.com]

With the anniversary of the first moon walk coming up, the conspiracy theories also make the rounds. I, for one, am fully convinced we went to the moon because I believe the Russian government would have fervently pursued proof of a fake.

[fortyozspartan.livejournal.com]

I don't think they're any more vocal than usual but for some reason CNN is giving them a soapbox.

[siro-gravity.livejournal.com]

wow. the comments on this post have sure veered toward conspiracy theories. i wonder if people are referring to the "theorists" who think we never went, or to the ones who think we went and there's something special up there that the public isn't privvy to.

i love conspiracy theories!! totally entertaining stuff, i always wonder if people really believe their theories, or if their mommies didn't give them enough attention when they were 4 years old.

speaking of the moon.
you should see it!!! not sure it's up your alley, but i totally frakkin' loved it. :)

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to write a post about why the conspiracy nuts are ... well, nuts, I can see. I've never doubted anyway, just from the simple logic (our government? organized enough to create a secret that big and hide it for that long?) But then there's my personal experience, working for the JSC from 1989-1995. I drove to work down Deke Slayton Blvd - I *sat* three seats down from him at an AIAA meeting where Vance Brandt was speaking of Apollo-Soyuz. I stood ten feet from Pete Conrad at the 25th anniversary celebration.

But the real reason I have no doubt whatsoever is named Shirley Brandt. She's pretty easy to Google, along with "NASA" or "JSC" to make sure you have the right Shirley - there are pages and pages of references to her, generally in some capacity organizing the AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics, the aerospace engineering society) or giving lectures on the history of NASA or working behind the scenes somewhere at JSC. I sat next to Shirley for a couple of years in the mid-1990s, working on the Space Station simulator (our job was to simulate the Thermal Control System). Shirley was something I rarely encountered: an older woman engineer, a generation older than I. She worked on the Apollo program. She was there. And I didn't work with Shirley for all that time without becming aware of something else that everyone who knows her must know: she is a person of absolutely unimpeachable integrity. There is no way that Shirley worked on a hoax, and perpetuated it twenty-five years later.

The JSC is, or was then, full of people who count working on Apollo as the hghlight of their professional lives. Some of them probably are accomplished liars. Many of them are good ol' boys and girls who might fib now and then but who are basically honest and uncomplicated, not the people you'd want to run a massive, complicated and sustained scam on the whole world. And some of them are like Shirley.

QED. The Eagle, it landed.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

This is awesome. Yes, you should post it.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I did!