For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By joe-fbs
#1559749
Sitting with Public Service Broadcasting's Race for Space on the record player, I've just realised that it is just two weeks to the 60th anniversary of Sputnik 1. Space travel, as exciting as aircraft but a lot less accessible for now. Barely able to remember Apollo 17, fascinated by Apollo-Soyuz, Viking, Shuttle, Mir, ISS, Cassini Huygens, Curiosity, Space X, etc.

Just sharing my childish enthusiasms.

Retro, go; FIDO, go;...
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By Rob L
#1559776
I find it astounding the developments in space exploration over that time period; very akin to the first 60 years of aircraft development.

Ironically, the last few years of space development have (to me) exceeded the first few, and I can't say that about the aircraft side!

Rob
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By Rob L
#1559787
...not forgetting Pioneer and Voyager 1 + 2

I regret that the chance of my birth * missed flying in the 1930s and being more closely involved in the 1960s and 70s space programmes.


* But I am grateful that I still got the opportunity to fly, which my forebears did not.
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By joe-fbs
#1559797
"...not forgetting Pioneer and Voyager 1 + 2"

Absolutely not. Amazing machines:

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/missi ... oneer.html

Like many, I often think of Apollo, Voyager and Pioneer as humanity's greatest scientific achievements then I remember vaccination, antibiotics and sanitation. We are the most amazing random creations of a chaotic universe. All on one pale blue dot:

https://101books.net/2015/11/20/the-pale-blue-dot/
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By rats404
#1559860
I'm a big space fan, and always have been. Born in the same year that Sputnik was launched, I grew up enthralled by the launches, manned and unmanned.

I've been lucky enough to meet quite a few astronauts, and it is always a real honour to talk to them about all kinds of things. I asked one Apollo astronaut (Al Worden), "What's the hottest ship you ever flew"?

Without batting an eyelid, he replied, "F-104 - Scared the living s**t outta me"... :-)
By haggis
#1559864
Have always been fascinated by space travel. Remember well my interview with the careers officer when I left school some 54 years ago. “What are you ambitions in life?

“To be either a Caribbean pirate or a spaceman”. Got out of school before they referred me to a child physiologist.

But pride of place in my collection are

Journey into space

The red planet

The word in peril.

Yes you couldn’t beat the old steam radio to allow you imagination to run riot. Films or TV just doesn’t hack it. Set gyros and boosters Lemmy
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By kanga
#1559866
Rob L wrote:I find it astounding the developments in space exploration over that time period; very akin to the first 60 years of aircraft development.

Ironically, the last few years of space development have (to me) exceeded the first few, and I can't say that about the aircraft side!

Rob


At JAM I often point out to visitors, especially on prearranged commentated group visits, that the Gamecock (the last all-wood RAF biplane fighter) and the nearby Javelin (one of the first designed from the outset around its own radar and guided missiles) are only 30 years apart; a pilot might have flown both during a RAF career. The Javelin, which incorporated almost everything found on a contemporary fighter apart, I guess, from ESM, and still looks pretty 'modern' to the lay eye, is now 60 years old.
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By OCB
#1559882
Nice post :)

As a child of the 70s, tv was about 6 o clock news (Vietnam), football, angry men in donkey jackets, Top of the Pops - and being glued to the set whenever something about space came on.

Obviously it seemed inevitable it would continue, and even accelerate.

Then the Shuttle came along - 80s seemed exciting!!! Except people were already complaining that deep space programmes were being cut.

I was due to sit a final exam at school when Challenger happened. I was at home watching the launch. I was in shock for days I think.

At the time I was beginning to hang out at a sci fi society that was frequented by astronomers, engineers, writers etc.

At first I was astonished and angry that some with a foothold in the British "space" lobby were against manned missions.

It didn't take long for me to realise that sending squishy meat-sacks into space to do science was rarely the most efficient option. To

I was lucky enough to meet the HOTOL lot in the late 80s.I continue to wish them luck!

Rockets are fun to watch, but it appears they can never be safe to the margins I consider acceptable for adding human payload.

Ram/scram jets - possible.

Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk are the "privateers" that hopefully can advance things.

For me the only thing that would really excite me is a space elevator. I don't think we are far away at a material science level to at least try....I've even considered starting the world's most ambitious KickStarter.

If enough of us in the top 10% of the world's wealth distribution contributed 1k a year over 15 years, I honestly think that by the early 2030s we'd be listening to Aerosmith "love in an elevator"...in an elevator with the most spectacular view imaginable.

The allure of the zero-g club will probably have worn off by then though ;)

(I can but dream!)