Gen. Chuck Yeager Speaks Out Against Return To The Moon

khsl tv ^ | 02/04/10 | Jerry Olenyn

[Rooivalk]

I don't know what you are getting at but it was the gritty determination of EVERY worker to make it happen

We were determined to win and everybody in my section was onboard

America was going to plant our flag on the moon FIRST and that was the driving force.
And nothing was going to stop us. We will get back to that spirit.

[BitWielder1]

Except for the innovation part, you could say the same about massive govt programs to build pyramids in remote deserts, or dig massive ditches and then fill them in.

Doing something that has not been done before stimulates innovation. Digging ditches does not. Unless it's on the moon.

We got a huge technological boost from the first wave of the space program. The benefits from a new wave may not be quite as spectacular but I still hope to keep it going.

Mining in space will be more about not having to carry building materials out of earths gravity well than to find something exotic to bring back.

[tanknetter]

Agreed. Riding an X-1 etc in the atmosphere is hardly ‘space exploration’. Me thinks it is sour grapes, or maybe grapes of wrath.

Not the X-1, but maybe the NF-104. The X-15 pilots (of which Yeager was not one) got Astronaut Wings for some of their flights.

Yeager was an old NACA guy. Also VERY competitive. He was the old hand out at Muroc/Edwards when the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts were the young bucks ("college boys") and I'm sure that he's resentful that their degrees got them rides into space. At the time of John Glenn's return to space I thought it would be neat to put Yeager into the seat next to him. So long as they were dumped out into Discovery's cargo bay with pugel sticks for the first micro-gravity deathmatch.

I'd also note, perhaps most importantly, that Buzz Aldrin is against a NASA-led return to the Moon as well. He wants private industry to do it.

[SunkenCiv]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_M2-F1

A NASA C-47 was used for all of the aero tows. The first was on August 16, 1963. The M2-F1 had recently been equipped with an ejection seat and small rockets - referred to by the test team as “instant L/D”[2] - in the tail to extend the landing flare for about 5 seconds if needed, and Thompson prepared for the flight with a few more tows behind the Pontiac.

Forward visibility in the M2-F1 was very limited on tow, requiring Thompson to fly about 20 feet (6.1 m) higher than the C-47 so he could see the plane through the nose window. Towing speed was about 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) .

The C-47 took the craft to an altitude of 12,000 feet (3,700 m) where free flights back to Rogers Dry Lake began. Pilot for the first series of flights of the M2-F1 was NASA research pilot Milt Thompson. Typical glide flights with the M2-F1 lasted about two minutes and reached speeds of 110 to 120 miles per hour (180 to 190 km/h)

Tow release was at 12,000 feet (3,700 m) The lifting body descended at an average rate of about 3,600 feet-per-minute (1,100 m/min). At 1,000 feet (300 m) above the ground, the nose was lowered to increase speed to about 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) , flare was at 200 feet (61 m) from a 20 degree dive. The landing was smooth, and the lifting body program was on its way.