One giant double entry for mankind

(sci.space.history added)

John Dean noted that:
Become jaded by the volume of Neil Armstrong interviews out there?
No?
Seriously?
OK:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...moon-exclusive

http://tinyurl.com/bsy8g5h

"Armstrong [...] said it was "sad" that the current US government's
ambitions for Nasa were so reduced compared with the achievements of
the 1960s."

I think this kinda shows that even astronauts don't always understand
the Big Picture. Well, at least one of the Big Pictures.

Consider:
1) NASA is still full of lots of dreams (such as Landau & Strange's
plan to reach an asteroid in 2034; Sci Am Dec 2011)
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.space.history/browse_frm/thread/20e96c34129dc07f/9016ea1c4eafaea0
or http://tinyurl.com/NasaPads


2) the huge effort to achieve Apollo lunar landings was unsustainable
by just about any society (and the effects of that were showing
*before* Apollo 11, as often discussed in ssh),

and 3) that huge effort left little that was permanent (again, frequent
topic in ssh) ... taking smaller steps is going to get us farther in
the long run.

Elon Musk is out to prove that true with both electric vehicles and
launch vehicles.

That said, I still admire Neil Armstrong, and I think he does have an
important place in history. I'm just glad that the White House didn't
go haring off in the direction he was advising.

/dps


--
Who, me? And what lacuna?

On Thu, 24 May 2012 09:55:49 -0700, Snidely
wrote:


That said, I still admire Neil Armstrong, and I think he does have an
important place in history. I'm just glad that the White House didn't
go haring off in the direction he was advising.


I don't recall ever seeing "haring" used in a sentence before. It's a
nice term -- thanks for making me aware of it.
--

"Big Wheel Keep on Turnin'" -- Creedence Clearwater Revival