Veteran Astronaut Jim Lovell: 'Back to the Moon, On to Mars'

space.com ^ | 12/25/03 | Jim Banke

[KevinDavis]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- It's been 35 years since the Christmas voyage of Apollo 8, marking the first time humans had circled the Moon.

Now one of the astronauts from that historic flight wonders who will be the next human to return to the Moon, or perhaps become the first to step on Mars, and is doing what he can to keep inspiring the next generation of explorers.

Jim Lovell is a veteran of four spaceflights -- two during project Gemini and two during Apollo. And while his voice is familiar from the dramatic reading of Genesis during Apollo 8, it's his adventure as commander of Apollo 13 that has made him more well known in recent years thanks to the Ron Howard film.

[Old Student]

Not only do I want on this ping list, I want on to whatever organization will actually DO something constructive to get us back into space! I've not had any luck in finding it myself.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ping

[Old Student]

I bet to differ (which is much more polite than my first reaction). We have the technology. We have had it for years. The Saturn rockets weren't the best way to get there, just the "easiest" to build with what we knew about it then. We know more now, and can build more, better, faster, now. We just have to get enough people and appropriate leadership and get everyone pointed in the same direction.

[Old Student]

There is no lack of bright young people with can-do attitudes. Maybe we should start a competition with the Chinese. NASA is not the only possibility for developing such a system. And the war on terror is so that people CAN look up to the stars, and dream, and make dreams come true.

[Old Student]

beg. beg. beg. learn to proofread, you goof!

[RightWhale]

I don't believe we went to the moon

If that is so, you have a BIG surprise coming.

[cars for sale]

respectfully............meaning ???

[Batrachian]

"Somehow the USPS got over their uptightness at the time."

It was NASA that was uptight about it, not the Post Office. Two different agencies. You don't think the Post Office ran our space program, do you?

[xp38]

No although sometimes it seems that way. :)

[Mark was here]

I bet to differ (which is much more polite than my first reaction). We have the technology. We have had it for years. The Saturn rockets weren't the best way to get there, just the "easiest" to build with what we knew about it then. We know more now, and can build more, better, faster, now. We just have to get enough people and appropriate leadership and get everyone pointed in the same direction.

We don't have enough people and the appropriate leadership committed to a space program, that is why I said we do not have the technology. No doubt we had the technology to get to the moon, Book smarts is only part of the game.

Any space craft built form now on would have to have three bathrooms to comply with local building codes, 2 for the women and one for the men.

If would have to repair the ozone layer as it passed thru it, and of course it could not blast off on an Ozone Action Day.

The tool shops that built the Saturn no longer exist.

On the History Channel there was a piece on how Boeing built their massive plant in the Northwest. They could not build a new plant there of that scale, because we do not have the technology to do so, sure they could do the concrete and steel part, but could they do it with out crushing a worm?

We are loosing the ability to do simple things here on earth, it is going to cost more to paint the Mackinaw Bridge than to build it.

Sorry to say, but the whole notion is ridiculous. Let me keep my money. Those who want to go out in space can throw their money in the pot and good luck.

[JoeSchem]

We no longer have the technology to go to the moon. There is no way to economically do it at zero risk to anybody or to the environment.

As I recall, the last time we went to the Moon, it wasn't very economical and the risk was somewhat higher than zero.

[Mark was here]

As I recall, the last time we went to the Moon, it wasn't very economical and the risk was somewhat higher than zero.

Yep we had the technology that would work within the constraints.

We no longer have the technology to overcome the constraints imposed by the environmentalists.

The last Shuttle blew up because the foam used to insulate some tanks was not the best material for the job. Why was the best material not used?

Environmental constraints.

[Old Student]

You keep saying "can't." This is called a self-fullfilling prophesy. Stop that! If you try, you may well fail. If you do not try, you guarantee failure! Stop it!!! None of the knowledge we had then is lost, and we've added much to it. In 1960, 43 years ago, we did not yet know if men could survive in space, in low gravity, under the kind of acceleration needed to leave the earth. Now we know. There are other things we still don't know, but failure to try is the only guarantee of failure.

http://www.prometheus-music.com/space.html

listen to the mp3 of #3, Fire in the Sky.

Then listen to the mp3 of #16, Legends.

Quit whining, and make a choice. Failure to make a choice IS a choice.

Do you know what you get when you teach a baby not to try?