Moon Landing Anniversary

Publison

I could find erco's July 20 th challenge, so I post this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

Sat in front of the black and white tv with the whole family. I can still see it.

yeti

...a giant leap for a jettison bag!
Humans!!!
;-)
...but somehow funny...

MikeDYur

Publison wrote: »

I could find erco's July 20 th challenge, so I post this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

Sat in front of the black and white tv with the whole family. I can still see it.

Same here, unbelievable, amazing and proud we're my thoughts at the time. If we landed there again, It would have the same effect on me.

jones

I watched it too, with similar reactions.

It's also worth remembering that today is the 40th anniversary of the landing of Viking 1 on Mars.

Publison

Old enough to remember that one also.

erco

jones wrote: »

It's also worth remembering that today is the 40th anniversary of the landing of Viking 1 on Mars.

I was 15 and glued to the daily newspaper updates in 1976. They made two significant errors that I vividly recall. The first was the landing date, which was originally supposed to be July 4, 1976 (bicentennial). Anybody remember the other one, a tech bungle? No Googling now!

MikeDYur

Did it have to do with the solar panels collecting dust, and not providing the necessary power to keep the batteries charged?

jones

I wouldn't call the landing date an error, since the Viking orbiter provided a better look a the proposed landing site and it was too rocky, so they spent some time to find an alternative. As for other errors, are you referring to the results from the experiments that seemed to indicate the presence of life when there wasn't any? Something about some sort of superoxidant? I was 23 and in the military at that time, and I can't say I was glued to the papers so you no doubt remember more.

I think I also recall a mistake made much later after Viking 1 was renamed "Mutch Memorial Station" when a bad command sequence caused a loss of communication because of some antenna pointing problem.

erco

The robot arm for soil sampling appeared to be inoperative for a while when they tried to use it. Doom & gloom & panic. Finally someone went back and read the manual. There was a locking pin in place for the voyage which was designed to fall out ONLY with a specific combination of moves. After then did it, it worked perfectly. RTfM! (f=friggin')

http://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/26/archives/viking-soil-scoop-back-in-condition-to-take-samples-new-radio.html?_r=0

MikeDYur

NASA recognises Viking 1.

Publison

MikeDYur wrote: »

NASA recognises Viking 1.

Looks like my back yard!

Buck Rogers

Publison wrote: »

MikeDYur wrote: »

NASA recognises Viking 1.

Looks like my back yard!

I agree. However Curiosity just confirmed her first birthday, and asked if she could go home now.

Reason being is that the Mojave location where she landed looked almost similar.

MikeDYur

Publison wrote: »

Looks like my back yard!

Almost the same here, could be defined in greyscale.

jones

erco wrote: »

The robot arm for soil sampling appeared to be inoperative for a while when they tried to use it. Doom & gloom & panic. Finally someone went back and read the manual. There was a locking pin in place for the voyage which was designed to fall out ONLY with a specific combination of moves. After then did it, it worked perfectly. RTfM! (f=friggin')

http://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/26/archives/viking-soil-scoop-back-in-condition-to-take-samples-new-radio.html?_r=0

Yep, I forgot about that one. Could've been worse, like the imperial/metric screwup that doomed the Mars Climate Orbiter.

erco

Don't order this unless you are a diehard fan: http://www.banggood.com/DIY-3D-Puzzle-Stainless-Steel-Assembled-Model-Lunar-Module-Silver-Color-p-1052828.html

See also http://www.banggood.com/DIY-3D-Puzzle-Stainless-Steel-Assembled-Model-Mars-Rover-Silver-Color-p-1053074.html

MikeDYur

erco wrote: »

Don't order this unless you are a diehard fan:

I'm a big fan of both, by reading the comments, it will probably have it's frustration factor. But the price is nice, and it might pay to buy two of each, just in case. The wife may have to make room in her curio cabinets, we got to keep the earth dust of of them.