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Post by cobra5wood on Oct 19, 2018 14:19:01 GMT -5
One of the better air museums west of the Mississippi is the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Mueseum west of Omaha, Ne. When you walk in the main entrance(2nd floor of the museum) you are greeted by an SR-71A Blackbird. There are 32 different aircraft on the main floor and my brother(ret. Air Force Major) remarked he had flown at least 6 different ones on exhibit back in the 70/80's.
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Post by wilburthegoose on Oct 19, 2018 17:25:29 GMT -5
FYI - Some people involved in the film are getting threats/curses because the film didn't actually show the placing of the US flag. No matter that the US flag was shown prominently about 30 times elsewhere (including on the lunar surface).
Some of our fellow citizens are crazy.
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Post by adaboy on Oct 20, 2018 8:10:02 GMT -5
Yep we had a blast there when I lived in Texas! Would highly recommend going there! |
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Post by gus4emo on Oct 20, 2018 14:49:20 GMT -5
I love Astronomy, Astrophysics....
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Post by Loop 7 on Oct 20, 2018 18:04:19 GMT -5
Some people involved in the film are getting threats/curses because the film didn't actually show the placing of the US flag. The flag plant is interesting. In Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys, Michael Collins (Apollo 11 CMP) writes about the flag. During discussions by power players and flight teams, an idea was floated to post a visual element representing flags from numerous nations but, in the end, the decision to plant an American flag was primarily arrived at due to the US taxpayers financing the project. Carrying the Fire is my favorite of all the Project Apollo memoirs. I also recommend Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Apollo Moon Landings by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton as it is a great baseline book in my opinion.   |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Oct 21, 2018 7:04:52 GMT -5
As an aside, the book/movie were not kind to Buzz Aldrin.
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Post by garbulky on Oct 21, 2018 19:26:24 GMT -5
As an aside, the book/movie were not kind to Buzz Aldrin. Tell me about it! Buzz is just as important as Neil! |
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Post by dksosku on Oct 22, 2018 9:54:38 GMT -5
Took my son to the movie yesterday. Watched it in IMAX. Loved it.
Agree it doesn't do justice to Buzz Aldrin.
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Post by garbulky on Oct 22, 2018 9:57:44 GMT -5
Took my son to the movie yesterday. Watched it in IMAX. Loved it. Agree it doesn't do justice to Buzz Aldrin. I'm on a wait list for one of his books at the library. Should be interesting reading.  |
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Post by geeqner on Oct 22, 2018 12:45:50 GMT -5
A few interesting pieces of trivia for some of the Geeks among us:
I'll have to look it up - read one of the memoirs by Buzz Aldrin
(did you know that he has a Ph. D in Orbital Mechanics? He can/could do good approximations in his head that normally required third-level Calculus / computer modeling.)
The "computer" that controlled navigation only had enough memory for one mode / process at a time.
-Launch and enter Earth's Orbit, then "dump" and load Trans-Lunar Injection program via Radio Telemetry
-Once they were sure that they were on-course for the moon, "dump" TLI program and download Lunar Capture
-Repeat process for return to Earth
Saturn IV Booster Stage is THE MOST POWERFUL MOTIVE FORCE EVER DEVELOPED BY MANKIND
(Modern Soyuz Engine Clusters may be more powerful, but the TOTAL force of the booster, IIRC is STILL held by Mr. Von Braun's Team's Opus Magnus.)
Most of those Consoles that look like Computer Screens were actually rear-projection slide projectors, which were sequentially / computer-controlled. They could display graphics associated with known situations / diagnostics but did not actually generate the images themselves.
Who was the bigger "Boy Scout" - Neil Armstrong or John Glenn?
If you like to read about the Apollo (and Mercury / Gemini) programs, the book by Gene Kranz "Failure is Not an Option" is a really good read, with some interesting "behind the scenes" information. He was the guy running Mission Control with the buzz-cut that you see in the old TV and film documentaries.
Either the Kennedy Space Center or Air Force Base there have a map and virtual walk-thru tour of the various launch sites and bunkers that were used for everything from the early ICBMs and stuff up to the present day.
I toured the KSC back in about 1983 and it was darned impressive then. The Saturn-V (or is it a 1-B?) was out in the open, in sections at the time and is now in a building. The "Crawler" was something REALLY impressive to see and the roadway that it ran/runs on.
I GOTTA' see this one
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Post by garbulky on Oct 22, 2018 12:56:48 GMT -5
A few interesting pieces of trivia for some of the Geeks among us: I'll have to look it up - read one of the memoirs by Buzz Aldrin (did you know that he has a Ph. D in Orbital Mechanics? He can/could do good approximations in his head that normally required third-level Calculus / computer modeling.) The "computer" that controlled navigation only had enough memory for one mode / process at a time. -Launch and enter Earth's Orbit, then "dump" and load Trans-Lunar Injection program via Radio Telemetry -Once they were sure that they were on-course for the moon, "dump" TLI program and download Lunar Capture -Repeat process for return to Earth Saturn IV Booster Stage is THE MOST POWERFUL MOTIVE FORCE EVER DEVELOPED BY MANKIND
(Modern Soyuz Engine Clusters may be more powerful, but the TOTAL force of the booster, IIRC is STILL held by Mr. Von Braun's Team's Opus Magnus.) Most of those Consoles that look like Computer Screens were actually rear-projection slide projectors, which were sequentially / computer-controlled. They could display graphics associated with known situations / diagnostics but did not actually generate the images themselves. Who was the bigger "Boy Scout" - Neil Armstrong or John Glenn? If you like to read about the Apollo (and Mercury / Gemini) programs, the book by Gene Kranz "Failure is Not an Option" is a really good read, with some interesting "behind the scenes" information. He was the guy running Mission Control with the buzz-cut that you see in the old TV and film documentaries. I GOTTA' see this one I'm halfway through failure is not an option. It gives me a lot of appreciation for ground control. I never thought that at the time, you werew going to need groudn stations all around the world to help track orbital flights, even one's in unstable countries. And that all these remote stations had to communicate with each other and that noise was often a big issue. |
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Post by geeqner on Oct 22, 2018 13:05:38 GMT -5
Yep! How else are you going to communicate with / track Astronauts and spacecraft on the opposite side of the globe in an era where Communications Satellites were not around yet or only available on a limited basis?
Once you get an understanding of how the whole Mission Control / Communications-Telemetry / Spacecraft systems work in concert - you find out that the Rocket is just "the TIP of the Iceberg".
There is SO much more behind it / directing, guiding, and monitoring it that makes it possible, and many very special and gifted people involved in the Technology Development, Implementation, and Execution. Almost ANY weakness in the chain = somebody dead or in a hopeless situation, somewhere where help will not be able to be provided...
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Post by 405x5 on Oct 22, 2018 20:25:54 GMT -5
Looking forward to putting my 18” sub to the test for this flick.
I grew up with the space program from the very beginning so I can enjoy the film while still keeping the truth in perspective. 🚀
Bill
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Post by geeqner on Oct 23, 2018 9:09:49 GMT -5
I was a little young (born in '65) to remember the FIRST "moon-shots" - but I DO remember getting-up early in order to see the missions at the tail-end of the Apollo, then Skylab programs. Then spent the next few years wondering why our country seemed to have fallen-out of a position of Leadership / lost its enthusiasm for the "Space Race".
I guess that once we "beat" the Soviets, we had little further to prove and with the economy where it was - the technology was best spent on Earth-Orbit and un-manned stuff.
There are those who argue that Space Exploration is a complete waste, and that the money is best spent helping people "On Earth" here, and now. But I think that has ALWAYS been the case, and will always continue to be so. Additionally, many fail to comprehend the technological / medical spin-offs that were and will be produced. I originally went to school for BioMedical Engineering with an EE Core. That whole field was largely a spin-off of the space program, where they were finding ways to monitor the health of the Astronauts non-invasively. Plus, I am still a bit of a "dreamer" and believe that mankind's future is "out there" (eventually) and that we have to start taking the "baby steps" - You gotta' Crawl before you Walk and WALK before you can RUN...
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Post by garbulky on Oct 23, 2018 10:52:08 GMT -5
Looking forward to putting my 18” sub to the test for this flick. I grew up with the space program from the very beginning so I can enjoy the film while still keeping the truth in perspective. 🚀 Bill I thought the score was perfect for this movie. During the launch and mooon sections the score is grand and big. Strongly considering ordering the CD on Amazon. |
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Post by Bonzo on Oct 28, 2018 13:02:09 GMT -5
Went and saw the movie yesterday. What I enjoyed most was the cinematography. Much of the action stuff was filmed sort of first person, which made it seem very real.
I'm really glad we went and saw it, as it's a very well made movie and quite riveting. The cinematography, sound score, sound track, and effects were top notch.
But, its not really a movie I will ever want to see again. Once you know the story, you know it. And its not exactly a happy story, or movie for that matter. I came out of the theater feeling very downtrodden, like the air had been sucked out of me. Not something I will purposely watch again.
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Post by Loop 7 on Oct 30, 2018 21:11:19 GMT -5
***SPOILER: The end scene - couldn't his wife give him a break? He went to the moon and returned safe. Come on lady! *** END SPOILER Reading James Hansen's book "First Man" and/or Lily Koppel's book "Astronaut Wives Club" sheds light on the the spousal dynamics.   |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Nov 12, 2018 14:10:11 GMT -5
James Hanson is a FB friend of mine (we share a passion for golf architecture). Dr Hanson truly is a great man.
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Post by Loop 7 on Nov 12, 2018 15:32:31 GMT -5
James Hanson is a FB friend of mine (we share a passion for golf architecture). Dr Hanson truly is a great man. As in course design? |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Nov 12, 2018 15:57:42 GMT -5
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