You might like the lovely poem by Patricia Collins, wife of Michael Collins, Gemini 10 and Apollo 11, about her feelings for a man who goes into space. I copied it into my notebook of special poems.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/05/03/patricia-collins-wrote-poi gnantly-about-being-astronaut-wife/tCrKU0SGaZoC7aOBo0tnWK/story.html
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When I read your post, I thought, OK, they haven't set foot on the Moon, but they have set boot on the Moon. then I thought, what if future visitors find a bare footprint on the Moon? Could be human, could be bigfoot.
shareHow odd and presumptuous that you actually beLIEve that.
Explain exactly in detail how they got past the radiation belt that NASA is now saying is preventing a manned mission to mars.
Here is a reply from James Van Allen: My question to you, Professor Van Allen, is this. I have read that you have "denounced" the conspiracy theorists' claims that radiation in the Van Allen belts would have killed the astronauts. I have also seen a quote from you about what utter nonsense the Fox special was. Could you please, if possible, point me to any sources in print or on the web where you have been extensively quoted? If there are none that you know of, and it wouldn't be too much trouble, I would appreciate it if you could reply with a brief statement on the subject. In all my recent studies about the moon-conspiracy theories, the cornerstone of most arguments appears to be that radiation is what makes interplanetary space travel impossible. I feel that there is no person better qualified to debunk this absurd claim (and no one more likely to be taken seriously) than you. Of course, some conspiracists will say that you are in on the conspiracy yourself, but we can never hope actually to convince them.
Professor Van Allen's response:
Dear Mr. Lambert,
In reply to your e-mail, I send you the following copy of a response that I wrote to another inquiry about 2 months ago --
Ø The radiation belts of the Earth do, indeed, pose important constraints on the safety of human space flight.
Ø The very energetic (tens to hundreds of MeV) protons in the inner radiation belt are the most dangerous and most difficult to shield against. Specifically, prolonged flights (i.e., ones of many months' duration) of humans or other animals in orbits about the Earth must be conducted at altitudes less than about 250 miles in order to avoid significant radiation exposure.
Ø A person in the cabin of a space shuttle in a circular equatorial orbit in the most intense region of the inner radiation belt, at an altitude of about 1000 miles, would be subjected to a fatal dosage of radiation in about one week.
Ø However, the outbound and inbound trajectories of the Apollo spacecraft cut through the outer portions of the inner belt and because of their high speed spent only about 15 minutes in traversing the region and less than 2 hours in traversing the much less penetrating radiation in the outer radiation belt. The resulting radiation exposure for the round trip was less than 1% of a fatal dosage - a very minor risk among the far greater other risks of such flights. I made such estimates in the early 1960s and so informed NASA engineers who were planning the Apollo flights. These estimates are still reliable.
Ø The recent Fox TV show, which I saw, is an ingenious and entertaining assemblage of nonsense. The claim that radiation exposure during the Apollo missions would have been fatal to the astronauts is only one example of such nonsense.
James A. Van Allen
I have been having a convo with mp usmc srt on the Neil Armstrong board and others have on the Jim Lovell board, he seems to be a crank and crackpot who doesn't understand science, history or logic.
shareCould you translate into English please? Although I am fairly certain it will still make no sense!
shareTo A Husband Who Must Seek The Stars
Patricia Collins for Michael Collins -- Gemini 10, Apollo 11
In your eyes the first glad token
As when first our love we proved,
So your mind to mine has spoken
Just as if your lips had moved.
You are saying, Yes, I know
That the lure of space beguiles,
You are pleading, Let me go,
Not unwilling, but with smiles.
Can you love me and still choose
Whispers that I cannot hear?
Late to love, how can I bear to lose
Content for some inconstant sphere?
Tell me how you see my role --
To stay, to wait, yet yearn to go --
Where's the comfort for my soul?
You, my love, have helped me know.
I'll be unafraid, undaunted,
Yes, of course. I need not face
Any peril or be haunted
By the hazards you embrace.
I could have sought by wit or wile
Your bright dream to dim, and yet
If I'd swayed you with a smile
My reward would be regret.
So, for once you shall not hear
Of the tears unbidden welling,
Or the nighttime stabs of fear,
These, this time, are not for telling.
Take my silence though intended,
Fill it with the joy you feel,
Take my courage, now pretended --
You, my love, will make it real.
Thanks, Hollywood.
And to the moon conspiracy nut...the moon is a dead rock with no atmosphere. There isn't much to learn there that we haven't learned already. It could only be useful as a waystation to Mars, but I believe NASA has realized that colonizing the moon as a waystation would be far more difficult than creating a spacestation to build the spacecraft headed to Mars and accomplish nearly the same task.
There is potential to colonize Mars, because natural elements and materials can be converted into water, oxygen, and other things plants and humans need. There's no possibility for that on the moon.
I'm amazed that you're one of these people that thinks we've never been to the moon at all...not just that the Apollo 11 mission was faked so we could beat the Soviets and then unceremoniously land on the moon for real later. No, you think that all six moon missions were faked...that's just, stunning.
So I guess you didn't see the report on cnn that NASA says in order to send a manned crew to Mars they must first figure out how to get past the radiation belt safely.
They're even holding a contest for people to help them find the answer.
So now people are asking how did we go to the moon then and why won't the spacesuit work that we used for the moon.
So you can keep making stuff up as you go or do your research.
Not to mention had we gone to the moon we would be using it as a practice base for mars missions.
Also NASA has come out and said they now agree with other scientists from around the world and think the moon has some measurable amount of gravity.
So you're just making it up as you go.
So who's the real conspiracy "nut" here?
The person that has done the research and has presented evidence or the one that is making it up as he goes and throwing around words like "conspiracy" to try and qualify his flawed arguments and statements.
Also NASA has come out and said they now agree with other scientists from around the world and think the moon has some measurable amount of gravity.The moon does have gravity. No one has ever claimed it didn't. It has 1/6 the gravity as earth. That's why the astronauts could walk around and drive the moon rover and everything else.
Why is it Armstrong has NEVER once given an interview view on the moon landings?He has
Links to disinformation sites is not proof of anything.
How do you know what the gravity ratios are on the moon?
Please explain exactly in detail without citing N.A.S.A. how you came to such assumptions.
Everyone has a right to their own opinions, but not their own facts.
If you've decided that every news source is a "disinformation site" then there's no hope for you. And what are you saying anyway? Are those not interviews with Neil Armstrong? Do you feel they are fake interviews? Or that's not Armstrong? What?
I'd tell you to simply Google "gravity on the moon" to find many independent sources of information on the subject that don't rely on NASA's input, but you probably think Google is a disinformation broadcaster. What is your argument anyway? That there is no gravity on the moon?
The good news is there are medical treatments for people with your condition.
It is not the (Van Allen) radiation belts that NASA is worried about and the contest has to do with. It is the exposure to cosmic radiation over the six month journey each way for a trip to Mars. This exposure would be for the entire time of the trip and not just the time getting through the Van Allen belts. The trip to the moon was four days each way, so there was no where near the level of exposure that a trip to Mars would entail.
shareWhat an odd and completely presumptuous thing to say and actually beLIEve. Explain exactly in detail what lead you to such assumptions.
Without citing N.A.S.A.
Quit reposting this all over the place. Have original thoughts.
Furthermore, you're not the only one around here who gets to ask questions. I asked you a god damn question and I expect an answer. Man up Marine. I know they didn't train you to act this way.
So I repeat: What is your problem with the Armstrong interviews I posted above? Do you believe them to be fake, lies, not Armstrong, what? You claim he never gave an interview about his moon voyage when in fact he gave many interviews. Explain yourself? Do you believe them all fake?
You don't have to read or respond to them.
This isn't a blog. A conversation is supposed to take place. You asked a question, I gave an answer. I asked you a question. Do you have answers?
shareYou have yet to "answer" anything.
You have given your own opinions.
Everyone has a right to their own opinions, but not their own facts.
Have a better day.
I replied to your assertions that Armstrong never gave an interview about his moon voyage. I provided you with actual interviews he gave on the subject. You said they are "disinformation". Will you please clarify that statement? What about these interviews make you not believe them? This is your moment. I'm blind and you can make me see. Show to me what you see.
shareebright99,
The guy was a troll or an uneducated fool with a closed mind or just plain lacking in the capacity to believe our great achievement being possible.
And it is one of Mankind's greatest achievements.
Not least because it showed what Potential lies within us when we put our minds to getting something done that by any standards is almost impossible to attain from Whoa to go in just 9 years.
Imagine if the nations of the entire Planet got together to solve problems versus work against each other to create them as we seem to do more and more these days...
...What things would be ours to change the very destiny of Galaxy!
I know he's either a troll or a kook, but it's interesting to converse with these kind of folks. You open the door and ask them to lay it all out and they run away. Notice that he did that in this thread. He rattles off his 6 or 8 copy/paste statements that he makes all over the imdb and then he runs away.
share