The US and Japan agree to work to put the first Japanese astronaut on the moon, accompanied by an American astronaut, as the longtime allies develop a partnership aimed at countering China https://t.co/ENfH2Dq5pH via @bpolitics @JenniferJJacobs @nancook @IsabelRTokyo
— Robert Jameson (@rhjameson) May 23, 2022
A little hopeful nostalgia, for us Boomer nerds…
ETA: Just for Yutsano (theme from a fantastic anime about a Japanese academy for potential astronauts)…
Site Update May 23: Speculation & Update (!)
Yutsano
No Twin Spica? I am disappoint.
raven
For the 1 millionth time., I was in Sydney on R&R when we landed on the moon and they were “over the moon about it” because of their tracking station. A hilarious scene from “The Dish”.
https://youtu.be/f4yP1uyGg58
JAFD
In udder news (as they say in the dairy business …)
https://gothamist.com/news/the-last-public-payphone-in-nyc-has-been-removed-from-midtown
dmsilev
Obligatory grump that NASA’s TO THE MOON project was hobbled by the Senate, most notably former Budget Committee Chair Richard Shelby, which forced the agency to adopt a design that was basically “shovel pork at Space Shuttle contractors” without much else to recommend it.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
I’m looking forward to seeing the US return to the moon. I remember 10 years ago people were making fun of Newt Ginrich for wanting to establish an American moon base (not defending Newtie Boy, exactly, but it’s interesting looking back that returning to the Moon seemed like it was looked down upon
Relatedly, I’ve often wondered if the Space Race could’ve went on a little longer if the Soviets had managed to get their Moon program on track. I remember reading they were having problems getting their main launch vehicle work without having huge gyrations and tearing itself apart in flight. Every time they’d solve one problem, something else would pop up.
If they had found a solution, the sky could’ve been the limit literally. In the later years of the program, they’d developed a lander that was capable of doubling as a temporary base that was capable of supporting 2 or 3 cosmonauts for at least 45 days on the surface of the moon. IIIRC, it was a one stage lander that had the return capsule up top. Could’ve been a huge coup and one-upped the US, possibly preventing us from winding down the Apollo program to avoid losing face.
Mike in NC
I recall back when Newt Gingrich boasted about building a base on the moon before the end of his second term. As if!
debbie
Damn, I miss West Wing:
https://twitter.com/richardmarx/status/1528774251188146176?s=20&t=RUSfYcioz2niPTLnKDqtzw
cain
I keep wanting to add “Alice” – and make it a common refrain from Honeymooners.
cain
‘@Goku – our sociopathic pals will be all yelling about going to the moon when inflation is high etc etc.
But doing great things means that we get to create new technology. Plastics, microwave and a host of other things got created because doing big things.
zhena gogolia
Tomorrow is Maru’s birthday!
Ohio Mom
JAFD May 23, 2022 at 6:34 PM
In udder news (as they say in the dairy business …)
https://gothamist.com/news/the-last-public-payphone-in-nyc-has-been-removed-from-midtown
Oh my! Another piece of my youth, gone! I remember when the phone booths each had a phone book hanging down on a steel contraption that you could use to swivel the book up so you could page through it.
I’ve been in a morbid mood lately, this just adds to it.
Yutsano
The main reason I want more space is that the innovations that have come from space make us and our planet better. I agree with Goku, actual competition for space brought out our human ingenuity on both sides of the world. I would really like if the PRC* fills that void, although they tend to thieve over innovate.
*suck it up CCP. Taiwan ain’t coming back even at the end of a gun.
SiubhanDuinne
According to my ARENJB (Annoying Right-Wing Nut Job Brother), every so-called “moon landing” to date has been faked. No reason to think this one will be any different.
Also according to my ARWNJB, the reason there is an acute baby formula shortage is that so many men are transitioning into women, getting pregnant, and using up the available supply.
Major Major Major Major
Good, now build a base. We actually grew plants in regolith recently so we’re obviously thinking about it. With all the attention given to mars you’d think more people would talk about moon bases… it’s easy mode.
Kropacetic
‘@SiubhanDuinne
I wonder if a moon landing is sonething someone could see with, say, a telescope?
SpaceUnit
I used to be excited about the space program and the thought of going back to the moon. Moon bases, etc. Now I just wish they’d leave it alone.
They’re only going to fuck it up.
Baud
I thought Elon Musk bought the moon.
Jerzy Russian
‘@Kropacetic May 23, 2022 at 7:24 PM
“I wonder if a moon landing is sonething someone could see with, say, a telescope?”
I know of a person who bounces laser beams off of the corner cubes left by the Apollo astronauts. This is the basis of lunar laser ranging. I doubt you could see the flags, etc. from Earth, but I bet those could be seen from lunar orbit (assuming one has enough space in one’s head to believe the landings have been fakes while accepting the existence of lunar satellites).
WaterGirl
‘@Baud
Musk started to buy the moon, then backed out.
Jinchi
‘@Kropacetic “I wonder if a moon landing is sonething someone could see with, say, a telescope?”
Not according to this: https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/how-to-see-all-six-apollo-moon-landing-sites/
“As you’re well aware, no telescope on Earth can see the leftover descent stages of the Apollo Lunar Modules or anything else Apollo-related. Not even the Hubble Space Telescope can discern evidence of the Apollo landings. The laws of optics define its limits.”
Layer8Problem
‘@Ohio Mom: “I remember when the phone booths each had a phone book
hanging down on a steel contraption that you could use to swivel the
book up so you could page through it.”
The other evening I saw Natasha Lyonne rip a phone book out of a
phone booth in 1980s Manhattan while time traveling in Russian Doll,
and was thinking to myself “didn’t phone booths have those steel things around the phone books to keep that from happening?”
Jinchi
George W Bush’s widely ridiculed “Mission to Mars” was the one plan of his that I was actually rooting for. Budgeted at several trillion dollars, it was declared absurdly expensive.
So instead he decided to spend that money in Iraq.
Baud
‘@Jinchi
Mission Accomplished!
zhena gogolia
‘@Layer8Problem: Yes, yes they did.
Just got an excellent essay from John via the e-mail list.
kalakal
‘@Kropacetic you couldn’t see them from here but NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken some pretty nifty pics of the Apollo sites
https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/how-to-see-all-six-apollo-moon-landing-sites/
NotMax
‘@Baud
Lyrics rewrite in order?
The Moon belongs to Elon Musk
The best things in life ain’t free…
prostratedragon
From 1969, Jimmy Webb’s “Everybody Gets to Go to the Moon,” The Three Degrees (as heard in The French Connection)
lowtechcyclist
I really expected that some up-and-coming power would have been to the moon well before now. Japan I’d have figured for late 1980s to early 1990s; China would have been the obvious candidate so far this century.
I’m surprised that Japan doesn’t just try to do this by themselves. They certainly have more resources and tech to throw at this in the 2020s than the U.S. did in the 1960s.
Besides which, they can skip a lot of stuff. No need for any equivalent of our Ranger and Surveyor programs; the moon is already mapped. And they can skip right past the Mercury program stage as well.