The Last Moonwalker... Gene Cernan

Saw that on the news today. We just lost John Glenn on Dec. 8th. Hopefully we'll start making our own space flights again soon.

I agree, Greg. I know we still have a lot of activity with all the brave astronauts on the International Space Station but there was something particularly special about having a person literally stand on another "world." I think we'll see a similar reboot of enthusiasm once the race to Mars gets underway in earnest...

"I think we'll see a similar reboot of enthusiasm once the race to Mars gets underway in earnest..."


Hopefully so. It would be nice to see NASA back in full operation. Yep, I know there are other "companies" involved in the exploration, but I guess it's the commercialization (lack of a better word for now) of the space program that I dislike.

http://www.businessinsider.com/space-travel-per-seat-cost-soyuz-2016-9

That was an interesting article, Greg. It's ironic how quickly Russia managed to see the advantages of capitalism and the laws of supply and demand!

As for Commander Cernan, my tribute to him was in the form of a NASA photograph and an accompanying haiku

~Richard
www.reevephotos.com

I saw an interview with him when he spoke about piloting the Lunar Module on Apollo 10, which was a rehearsal for Apollo 11, including everything except the final descent to the lunar surface, that is, the un-docking from the Command Module and going into orbit around the moon. He said that if he was tempted to do the descent and land on the moon, to claim the glory, NASA had deliberately not fuelled the Lunar Module on Apollo 10 enough to make the descent, to deter him (whoever was the Apollo 10 pilot), so he could only go into orbit, and fly over the moon's surface, then re-dock with the Command Module. As it happened, Neil Armstrong landed the Lunar Module with 17 seconds of fuel left.

Condolences to his family.

It was because of men like him, willing to take huge risks in the infancy of our space program, that it was able to do what it did and continues to do today with our brave men and women working on the International Space Station (ISS).

So sorry to see another one of our early astronauts gone. I've had the honor of being in the presence of three of them and having conversations with two of them.

Back in the 60's and 70's we had great hopes for the future of space travel and even colonization of the moon by the turn of the century. IMO politics killed a lot of that enthusiasm.

It's unfortunate that the general public has little or no idea of how much we owe to our space program and therefore think of it as throwing (taxpayer) money away.

Bill Tomsa

http;//billtomsa.blogspot.com/

Yes, Peter all astronauts are a fearless breed in my opinion, made form rare stuff

Bill, I agree. It was an exciting time. The ISS is still doing great stuff, but the old adage of "familiarity breeds contempt" seems to apply to this - we became nonchalant once we'd achieved the Apollo goals. I have had many conversations about "wasting taxpayers money" without realizing what a tiny spend of GDP it actually is, and how this has pushed forward pure science and practical applications - and not just Teflon.

It is, of course, better that we are collaborating in space rather than making it all about prestige for one nation through a pointless race, but the Space Race was exciting, nonetheless!

~Richard
www.reevephotos.com