The space launchings aren't putting food on your table.

[criptix]

I found my next project:
http://www.diyspaceexploration.com/how-to-build-your-own-personal-satellite/

Why did they always say you need to be a rocket scientist? 

All these anti science fundamentalist here you go build your own satellite

[Spendulus]

...clip...

Please explain to us, then, what exactly those huge moon rockets DID.

What did Apollo 8 do?  Where did it go?
Did Apollo 13 actually have three guys in it?
What actually happened to Grissom and his companions?
What was the actual path of the Apollo 16 vehicle?  Start with low earth orbit, and then the transfer to lunar orbit, and the supposed landing and return. 
Where did the "Moon rocks" come from, if guys did not go to the Moon and bring them back?

Sorry dude but the rockets travel in an arc and go into the ocean and the moon rocks are just petrified wood.

Sure, and the little cones that came ploughing into the air on parachutes, that had guys in them, that were picked up by helicopters and taken to ships, those guys were from.....

?

[BADecker]

...clip...

Please explain to us, then, what exactly those huge moon rockets DID.

What did Apollo 8 do?  Where did it go?
Did Apollo 13 actually have three guys in it?
What actually happened to Grissom and his companions?
What was the actual path of the Apollo 16 vehicle?  Start with low earth orbit, and then the transfer to lunar orbit, and the supposed landing and return. 
Where did the "Moon rocks" come from, if guys did not go to the Moon and bring them back?

Sorry dude but the rockets travel in an arc and go into the ocean and the moon rocks are just petrified wood.

Sure, and the little cones that came ploughing into the air on parachutes, that had guys in them, that were picked up by helicopters and taken to ships, those guys were from.....

?

... wouldn't have been there if we hadn't wasted all that time and money on stupid moon shots, that didn't go anywhere, but were designed to deceive the people, just so NASA could get some more money.

It worked well the first time, let's do it again with the new generation that was never told all that stuff that the old generation must have forgotten by now. After all, we need to get our money.

[Spendulus]

...clip...

Please explain to us, then, what exactly those huge moon rockets DID.

What did Apollo 8 do?  Where did it go?
Did Apollo 13 actually have three guys in it?
What actually happened to Grissom and his companions?
What was the actual path of the Apollo 16 vehicle?  Start with low earth orbit, and then the transfer to lunar orbit, and the supposed landing and return. 
Where did the "Moon rocks" come from, if guys did not go to the Moon and bring them back?

Sorry dude but the rockets travel in an arc and go into the ocean and the moon rocks are just petrified wood.

Sure, and the little cones that came ploughing into the air on parachutes, that had guys in them, that were picked up by helicopters and taken to ships, those guys were from.....

?

... wouldn't have been there if we hadn't wasted all that time and money on stupid moon shots, that didn't go anywhere, but were designed to deceive the people, just so NASA could get some more money.

It worked well the first time, let's do it again with the new generation that was never told all that stuff that the old generation must have forgotten by now. After all, we need to get our money.

So....now where did the Moon Rocks come from?  You know, rocks that any geologist can look at, or which you and I can look at under a high power microscope, and immediately recognize features that are not possible for a rock made on Earth to have?

Where exactly did those rocks come from, and how?  Did the Apollo astronauts stay in LEO, and robot probes go to the Moon and bring them back?

I think if you want to believe in the conspiracy theory, you have the responsibility of working it all out so that it makes sense.  To do this you'd have to learn a great deal about space science and the Apollo program instead of just wallowing in ignorance.

The Apollo program is one of the most detailed things in the modern era.  Every transcript, film photograph, audio, everything is available and on the web. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqUXdpbtLCs

Amateur radio hobbyists pointed their equipment toward the Moon and picked up the conversations.  How did that happen?

Have fun trying to figure it all out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi1WoZzeXWs

[bryant.coleman]

It surprises me to see so many of the educated posters here arguing against the space missions. So far, the space missions have created trillions of USD in profits for the human civilization (through various inventions) when compared to the total cost of a few hundred billion USD. In future also, space missions will prove extremely useful to the human civilization. Imagine what would happen if some inhabitable exoplanet is found near the solar system. The overpopulation problem of the earth can be resolved if it happens. Or imagine the scenario in which some complex mineral is found in a remote corner of our universe, which can provide an infinite source of electricity. 

[Spendulus]

It surprises me to see so many of the educated posters here arguing against the space missions. So far, the space missions have created trillions of USD in profits for the human civilization (through various inventions) when compared to the total cost of a few hundred billion USD. In future also, space missions will prove extremely useful to the human civilization. Imagine what would happen if some inhabitable exoplanet is found near the solar system. The overpopulation problem of the earth can be resolved if it happens. Or imagine the scenario in which some complex mineral is found in a remote corner of our universe, which can provide an infinite source of electricity. 

Actually, in a way, the very incredulous of the critics is proof and evidence of why the missions should not just continue but expand.  People that just shake their head in dumb disbelief, saying...

"There's no way man can do that!  It's impossible! <<blah blah blah>>"

We need to stretch the limits of the envelope more, and have more people disbelieving that things that were done through science and engineering couldn't possibly have been done.

[pattu1]

The problem is most of these launchings are funded by governments.
If the private sector found a way to explore space and make profits out of it, most people wouldn't be complaining.

[BADecker]

...clip...

Please explain to us, then, what exactly those huge moon rockets DID.

What did Apollo 8 do?  Where did it go?
Did Apollo 13 actually have three guys in it?
What actually happened to Grissom and his companions?
What was the actual path of the Apollo 16 vehicle?  Start with low earth orbit, and then the transfer to lunar orbit, and the supposed landing and return. 
Where did the "Moon rocks" come from, if guys did not go to the Moon and bring them back?

Sorry dude but the rockets travel in an arc and go into the ocean and the moon rocks are just petrified wood.

Sure, and the little cones that came ploughing into the air on parachutes, that had guys in them, that were picked up by helicopters and taken to ships, those guys were from.....

?

... wouldn't have been there if we hadn't wasted all that time and money on stupid moon shots, that didn't go anywhere, but were designed to deceive the people, just so NASA could get some more money.

It worked well the first time, let's do it again with the new generation that was never told all that stuff that the old generation must have forgotten by now. After all, we need to get our money.

So....now where did the Moon Rocks come from?  You know, rocks that any geologist can look at, or which you and I can look at under a high power microscope, and immediately recognize features that are not possible for a rock made on Earth to have?

Where exactly did those rocks come from, and how?  Did the Apollo astronauts stay in LEO, and robot probes go to the Moon and bring them back?

If nobody went to the moon, how would we know what moon rocks were supposed to look like? Ever heard of metorites? In addition, not every geological formation on earth has been discovered. Earth is that large.

I think if you want to believe in the conspiracy theory, you have the responsibility of working it all out so that it makes sense.  To do this you'd have to learn a great deal about space science and the Apollo program instead of just wallowing in ignorance.

The Apollo program is one of the most detailed things in the modern era.  Every transcript, film photograph, audio, everything is available and on the web. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqUXdpbtLCs

And lots of them have been shown to have been faked.

Amateur radio hobbyists pointed their equipment toward the Moon and picked up the conversations.  How did that happen?

Have fun trying to figure it all out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi1WoZzeXWs

What's to figure? You never heard of bouncing radio signals off the atmosphere? The set-up for this would be easy for someone with NASA funds.

[pandher]

I say decrease aid to africa and increase space budget

[BADecker]

I say decrease aid to africa and increase space budget

Really can't do this. Should increase funds to Africa and to the space program. Here's why. We need all the funds spending we can get, within certain parameters.

We have a debt money system. All important funds are borrowed from the banks. Even (especially?) government funds. Then, one way or another, after they have done their job, the funds are used to pay the interest on all the loans the banks have lent over the years.

If we didn't have any borrowing for things like Africa, the space program, the wars, medical BS, etc., then we wouldn't have enough money to pay back the loans to the banks, and the banks would foreclose on the world.

At the very least, borrowing for all those programs so that we have funds to pay the interest, keeps the nations stable for the moment. At some point the banking Ponzi will collapse. Are we ready for it? Is Bitcoin strong enough to take over?

[Biomech]

I need to know what the point of spending thousands of US dollars on space trips is meant for. I don't know what we've accomplished and found beneficial to society and the overall growth of human living by having money and such being tossed for the government to send random men up into space. I don't understand why space travel is so necessary. Please tell me how the moon launchings weren't fake, or needed for the human race.

The point is research, without research we would still be living in the dark ages. There are uses beyond "putting guy in space",  satellite network provides you with GPS, tv.  If you are wondering about taxes you might as well wonder whats the point of spending thousands of US dollars on mass surveillance 

Research is necessary but only when there's a point. I have yet to be given one beneficial thing society got out of these launchings. Please tell me what we got out them.

It's probably been covered, but I just discovered the thread.

You want one thing, or a few thousand? I'll give you just one for now.

The device you're reading this on. the technology that it was developed from was a direct line of descent from the Apolo project.

Humanity NEEDS to grow up. One world is not enough. We have an open ended reproductive strategy and will eventually overpopulate this planet to the point of extinction of our species. This is inevitable if we do not find REAL solutions. One of those solutions is to colonize near space, and eventually, deep (interstellar space). Granted, "Flag and Footprint" missions are essentially pointless, but that was really a long time ago. I was 9 months old the first time that was  done. What we discovered there, political imperatives aside, is that the moon isn't a real good target.

But Mars is. It has everything we need to establish an offworld home, and it's low gravity makes it an ideal launch point for bigger and longer missions.

While I disagree with the "tax supported" model, I think that there is little in our history with as much importance as the exploration and development of extraterrestrial space.

[Spendulus]

.... "Flag and Footprint" missions are essentially pointless, but that was really a long time ago. I was 9 months old the first time that was  done. What we discovered there, political imperatives aside, is that the moon isn't a real good target.
....

But even this is poorly understood as you see when for example, otherwise intelligent people on this forum, such as Galdur, argue that we should "do it again," and that our space programs are inferior to those of yesterday, where we put men on the Moon.   A long and complex strategy with indirect benefits, many of which appear decades later, is not exactly easy to comprehend.

The truth is that today's space programs are so far advanced over those of the Apollo era that it is barely comprehensive - and few people know it.

Just one example - we have mapped Mars, and the Moon, down to every rock the size of a football.  (LRO, MRO).  In the era of Apollo, this would have been laughed at.  The very idea of a digital 3d map did not exist.  Large computers may have had 4,096 bytes of memory, which did not support conceptualization of the potential of computers with 32 GB of memory and so forth.

Also remember that for the Moon, when we talk about mapping it "from orbit," there is no problem with flying the spacecraft down closer to the surface than jets fly on earth.  There is no atmosphere, so this is not an issue at all.

[galdur]

Space may be the final frontier
But it's made in a Hollywood basement
Cobain can you hear the spheres
Singing songs off station to station
And Alderon's not far away
It's Californication

---Red Hot Chili Peppers

[notbatman]

Space is science-fiction.

[Spendulus]

Space may be the final frontier
But it's made in a Hollywood basement
Cobain can you hear the spheres
Singing songs off station to station
And Alderon's not far away
It's Californication

---Red Hot Chili Peppers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo

This old music video by Peter Schilling captures the divergent views discussed in this thread....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Hs2AQwDgA

[notbatman]

Space may be the final frontier
But it's made in a Hollywood basement
Cobain can you hear the spheres
Singing songs off station to station
And Alderon's not far away
It's Californication

---Red Hot Chili Peppers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo

Space Oddity performed by Commander Chris Hadfield.

Can you watch this and honest say this isn't a professional actor/performer on a set with a production crew?

This old music video by Peter Schilling captures the divergent views discussed in this thread....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Hs2AQwDgA

[Spendulus]

Space may be the final frontier
But it's made in a Hollywood basement
Cobain can you hear the spheres
Singing songs off station to station
And Alderon's not far away
It's Californication

---Red Hot Chili Peppers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo

Space Oddity performed by Commander Chris Hadfield.

Can you watch this and honest say this isn't a professional actor/performer on a set with a production crew?

This old music video by Peter Schilling captures the divergent views discussed in this thread....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Hs2AQwDgA

Huh?  Hatfield has been doing music a long time.  Along with being a fighter pilot, astronaut and having other talents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hadfield

[ridery99]

I see your point. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we developed all that technology for the practical purposes? Think of how much money and time we could save if we didn't waste any of the money on stupid space stuff.

Columbus should have burn his ships too so there would not be USA in existence now 

[BADecker]

I see your point. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we developed all that technology for the practical purposes? Think of how much money and time we could save if we didn't waste any of the money on stupid space stuff.

Columbus should have burn his ships too so there would not be USA in existence now 

From https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091020131529AAoowc3 (Who discovered America before Columbus?):

Best Answer:  Well, Columbus never actually found America. He did find Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico, Cuba and South America. Leif Ericson discovered Greenland and Newfoundland in 1003. In 1497, John Cabot also landed in Newfoundland. Ponce de Leon was the first in Mainland USA (Florida) where in 1513 he discovered what would become St. Augustine, Florida. The Spanish were the first to legitimately colonize in North America in St. Augustine, founded by Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565. There were prior settlements that failed, mainly Pensacola which was founded by Tristán de Luna y Arellano in 1559, but was destroyed by a hurricane in 1561. The first English Speaking settlement was Jamestown, founded by Captain Edward Maria Wingfield in 1607. This is where Capt. John Smith and Pocahontas became legend. Jamestown is also the first place that Freemasons met on the North American Continent.

From http://www.history.com/news/the-viking-explorer-who-beat-columbus-to-america (The Viking Explorer Who Beat Columbus to America):

Nearly 500 years before the birth of Christopher Columbus, a band of European sailors left their homeland behind in search of a new world. Their high-prowed Viking ship sliced through the cobalt waters of the Atlantic Ocean as winds billowed the boat’s enormous single sail. After traversing unfamiliar waters, the Norsemen aboard the wooden ship spied a new land, dropped anchor and went ashore. Half a millennium before Columbus “discovered” America, those Viking feet may have been the first European ones to ever have touched North American soil.

...

After crossing the Atlantic, the Vikings encountered a rocky, barren land in present-day Canada. Eriksson bestowed upon the land a name as boring as the surroundings—Helluland, Norwegian for “Stone Slab Land.” Researchers believe this location could possibly have been Baffin Island. The Norsemen then voyaged south to a timber-rich location they called Markland (Forestland), most likely in present-day Labrador, before finally setting up a base camp likely on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland.

...

[mtnsaa]

The practical purposes are not very clear, but mankind has to aim higher and learn from the universe to enter a new age. Space travel is very very new, so there is a lot to learn. And remember that a lot of inventions and new technology, especially for computers was actually developed in space missions, so just think about that. It's just like asking why there are scientists working on weird experiments, well sometimes that can be applied for something else completely, but research must be done without a particular goal in mind, it's just for the benefit of all mankind.