Foo - Forget the TDF! Listen to the moon landing!

All this week the nasa.gov website (http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo11_radio/) is broadcasting in real time the original radio communications of Apollo flight 11, the first moon landing. Currently, they are 40+ hours into the flight, with 70+ hours to go. What you hear are long stretches of silence, then long blocks of technical talk, systems checking, plus some humor. While eating lunch the astronauts were making fun of the names of their meals by referencing the gov/mil description - Salad. Mixed. Salmon. Good. At one point Houston control asks what the noise in the background is. Answer: Buzz Aldrin singing.

Extremely awesome.

Explody Pup lent me his copy of the tapes he made when we landed on his planet. I will not share them though.

It's pretty cool. Gives me chills actually.

Still watching the TDF though :)

Live, from 1969!

It's Lunaaaaday niiiiiight!

Oh my god... Is it weird that I have a little anticipation anxiety?

I just listened to a "general drift report" where they periodically account for directional drift of the space craft over the course of a few dozen thousand miles. Houston then calculates engine bursts to correct the course. All done by slide rule (on board) and 60's era computers.

I just listened to a "general drift report" where they periodically account for directional drift of the space craft over the course of a few dozen thousand miles. Houston then calculates engine bursts to correct the course. All done by slide rule (on board) and 60's era computers.

There's a model in Denver of the drafting board and drafting tools used to design the only rocket that has ever brought a human to the moon.

Listening to the recording of the travels of the first men to set foot on the moon and listening to Kennedy's speech, given nearly 7 years before, this is one of the things that truly makes me proud of my country.

JFK's speech

I get a little misty eyed when he says, "we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

My favorite astrophysicist talks about the Saturn V.

Neil Degrass Tyson

The Apollo 11 Launch

Oh my god... Is it weird that I have a little anticipation anxiety?
So I take it you'll be listening to the final hour?

Just for fun, I'm going to record the last few hours of audio leading up to and including the dramatic off course landing, the first step, then edit and transfer it to CD for listening in the car.

OMG. You guys are such nerds.






I love it. :thumb:

You know, on the moon, I'd only weigh <30 lbs, and that would help my climbing.

I hear the air is thinner there, and they only have MTBs.

Whoah.

You know, on the moon, I'd only weigh <30 lbs, and that would help my climbing.

I hear the air is thinner there, and they only have MTBs.

Whoah.

But what about the 300 degrees F in the sun and -300 degrees in the shade? The suit alone (with portable air conditioning and heating unit on your back) adds over 100 lbs.

OMG. You guys are such nerds.






I love it. :thumb:

OK, lookit you, besides calling us nerds, do you have anything spacey, mooney to add to this thread? That would be nifty.

They're doing the laser experiment right now.

So I take it you'll be listening to the final countdown?Doo doo dooo-doo, duh-duh doot doot doo!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7e/The_Final_Countdown_single.jpg/200px-The_Final_Countdown_single.jpg

YouTube - Europe - The Final Countdown

(It's nice that I specifically uncheck "embed media" and it does so anyway. :rolleyes:)

i went to the NASM! very cool....john glenn's space suit, yuri gagarin's space suit, the lunar module, moonrocks...

Grr... it's not playing the audio on my Mac...

Grr... it's not playing the audio on my Mac...

there's nothing going on right now, just static.

I'm not even getting static. It says it needs Windows Media Player -- which I have, as a standalone player, but it doesn't exist as a plugin for Mac -- which is what the site is asking for.

There are other ways of streaming audio, so dammit, why didn't they pick something more universal..

OK, lookit you, besides calling us nerds, do you have anything spacey, mooney to add to this thread? That would be nifty.

Hmm...well, I visited Space Camp when I was a kid and got to walk through a mock-up of the ISS. Does that count?

I haven't gotten the feed to work on my Mac yet. Too tired now to mess with it. I'll try tomorrow morning.

Doo doo dooo-doo, duh-duh doot doot doo!

h ttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7e/The_Final_Countdown_single.jpg/200px-The_Final_Countdown_single.jpg

YouTube - Europe - The Final Countdown (h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZkllM8znx4)


Sigh... I walked you right through that door, didn't I.

please. stop. that. song. refrain. in. my. head.

Hmm...well, I visited Space Camp when I was a kid and got to walk through a mock-up of the ISS. Does that count?

I haven't gotten the feed to work on my Mac yet. Too tired now to mess with it. I'll try tomorrow morning.

Pics or it didn't happen re Space Camp.

Hmm, you're not alone with reporting MAC problems. Perhaps MAC just isn't cool enough for the moon landing. :innocent:

Either that or the rebroadcast only plays back on technology from that era :twitchy:

please. stop. that. song. refrain. in. my. head.We're leaving together, but still it's farewell.

Muahaha.

booya!

Pics or it didn't happen re Space Camp.

Hmm, you're not alone with reporting MAC problems. Perhaps MAC just isn't cool enough for the moon landing. :innocent:

Either that or the rebroadcast only plays back on technology from that era :twitchy:

That one. ^^^ :p

I'd be happy if they put it on the NASA cable channel, which I somehow get on my TV. But noooooo....

booya!

+1