How Awesome Was NASA Back In The Day?

Seeing how massive the Saturn V is in person is amazing. NASA is a must visit if you are in Houston.

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How Awesome Was NASA Back In The Day?

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Putin awesome

I went to the JFK librate this week. Got to see an exhibit about how badly he wanted to put a man on the moon before the Russians. Really cool stuff.

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The first launch of the Saturn V rocket was in Nov of 1967. One year later, they sent men around the moon in one. Six months after that, they sent men to land on the moon in one.

We went from testing the most complex machine ever built to make sure it would work to landing human beings on the moon in a year and a half. It took only six and a half years to go from the entire theoretical system on paper to "one small step."

To put it into perspective, its been three years since the last space shuttle flight. The shuttles successor, the SLS, is scheduled to test launch in 2017, six years after the last shuttle launch. The SLS will mostly be based off of existing technology and designed using the most powerful computers in history.

The Saturn V was designed from scratch by a bunch of guys with slide rules and onion skin paper.

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The technology of the 60's amazes me. They really came up with a lot of revolutionary scientific and mechanical advances, and did everything on slide rules.


If you think about Sputnik being the first Satellite in 1957 and the Jupiter C in 58 as the first scientific (American) satellite. Then before that years of testing leftover V-2 Nazi rockets on both sides.

The tech was so basic up until 1960. Then the advancements that came in the decade are remarkable. It's like the Wright brothers first flying in 1903 and then having the Stealth Bomber in 1923. The tech just advanced so fast.

What we have now is basically what we had then. Biggest changes are in satellites and exploration vehicles. NASA was so complacent with the Shuttle that there was really no new leaps in rocket design from 1976 until present time.
Shame they never could make a two stage shuttle, or one that could fly to the moon and then come back.

I thought I should post so my avi is in here.
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You know there are a few TD posters who work for NASA, all as contractors I think.

Didn't you see Capricorn One? Falwell and OJ said that moon landing was fake and happened on MGM back lot CIA built

I've been with NASA as a contractor since 1997. From 1997-2002 I was at JSC, since then I've been up here at MSFC.

I've seen the greatest of NASA in construction of ISS in cooperation with International Partners. I've seen shuttles launch from KSC in the day and at night. I've seen the shuttle burn thru the atmosphere and been rocked out of bed at a Titusville hotel by the sonic booms. I've felt them bounce of my chest while standing at the SSPF (Space Station Processing Facility). I've personally been in the US Lab during testing and ground checkout.

It's still pretty awesome....but this administration isn't the only one to blame. The safety community is ultra conservative. It's a culture, a mindset. And that mindset hinders NASA's greatness from going past LEO (Low Earth Orbit).

Spaceflight is inherently dangerous. There has to be some risk acceptance. Without some risk assessments and acceptance...we'll remain in LEO for manned spaceflight in my personal opinion.

NASA is so awesome.

I have two shuttle-launch experiences that I didn't plan on but always left a mark on me.

The first, I was in 7th grade on an overnight field trip to Jekyll island on the southernmost coastal region of Georgia. We learned about biology and ecosystems, and the night we stayed, they took us out to the beach in the black of night and had us watch the shuttle launch from 100s of miles away. It lit up the southern sky from canaveral and it was like someone lit a flare on the beach. It was so awesome considering it was decently far away and VERY visible.

The 2nd time was in college. We were in Hollywood Florida for a night before getting on a Caribbean cruise out of Miami. This time it was to the north and we were having beer and pizza on the Hollywood boardwalk in the late afternoon/early evening and we could see it created one of those airplane like smoke/vapor trails straight up in the air. Again, from a long long distance away. Those things and the energy they create, and the viewing distance that is possible, was testament enough to me that they are the greatest man made creations ever

NASA

Yeah NASA was pretty fricking awesome. Their computers were about as powerful as my smartphone and they still accomplished what they did.