Why We Did Not Land on Moon Again
Only 7 years after U.S. President John F. Kennedy appear the U.Due south. would transport humans to the moon within a decade, the mighty Saturn V, the largest car to e'er wing, rose majestically off the ground on Nov nine, 1967, on an unmanned examination flying. Ii years later, Kennedy'due south dream was fulfilled, with i small step on the lunar surface, in the greatest technical achievement in human being history.
Now, half a century later, today's rockets struggle to accomplish the same task.
The success of the Apollo Moon Program lay largely in a massive beast strength endeavor, where the government funded roughly 400,000 people from across the entire U.Due south. to ensure the Americans trounce the Russians to the moon. Considering they were building an enormous system that was entirely new from the footing upwardly, on a ridiculously brusk timescale, it is amazing the rockets performed as well every bit they did.
True, there were two accidents — a fire on the launch pad of Apollo 1 that took the lives of three astronauts; and an exploding oxygen tank on Apollo 13 that crippled the mission, but those astronauts were able to return safely to the Globe thanks to even more teamwork.
All the numbers around the Saturn V rocket are phenomenal:
- Standing 36 storeys, twice every bit loftier as Niagara Falls.
- Weighing ii.8 one thousand thousand kilograms (6.2 1000000 pounds).
- Producing 34.v one thousand thousand newtons of thrust (7.5 million pounds) from its first-stage engines.
In all, NASA flew 13 Saturn V rockets, and all of them did their job of delivering 24 humans to the moon — with 12 of those humans walking on the surface — as well every bit lifting the first American infinite station, Skylab into Orbit.
Considering of the tight timetable, the first flight, known as Apollo 4, was an "all up" test, where the entire rocket was flown with everything in place. This is risky, considering the contrasted parts of the rocket were congenital in unlike parts of the state and had never operated together every bit a single unit. Remarkably, the first flight was a total success.
The space race of the 1960s was a fourth dimension when taking chances was the norm — chances that would never be taken today. Fifty-fifty though the second test flight of the rocket did have bug with huge vibrations, parts shaking loose and engines shutting downward prematurely, it was decided that on its third time in space, in that location would be humans on lath and they would become all the mode to the moon.
Apollo 8 is often considered the most daring mission because it was the first time man beings left the gravitational pull of the World and committed themselves to some other heavenly trunk. It was also the beginning time humanity saw itself as a single living entity with the famous "Earthrise" picture taken from the moon.
Never, in the history of technology has there been such inventiveness, innovation, daring, and remarkable achievements in such a short time as the moon missions. Information technology is astonishing what can be accomplished with almost unlimited funds, an enormous workforce, and willingness to have huge risks. And of course those risks paid off when Neil Armstrong and Fizz Aldrin touched downwards on the moon for the first time … with only seconds of fuel remaining in the tanks.
Of form, those weather don't exist today. The NASA workforce is one-10th of what it used to be and funds are limited. The terminal 45 years have been spent edifice space shuttles and the International Space Station, which is why nosotros don't have the technology to take people back to the moon.
Another giant rocket that volition rival the Saturn V, called the SLS, is under construction, which could take astronauts beyond the moon, perhaps to Mars. Simply it is tremendously expensive and backside schedule, with its first flight at present pushed dorsum to 2020.
The other contender is the Falcon 9 Heavy, being built by the private corporation SpaceX. It is scheduled to fly inside the next few months, but a contempo test of new engines resulted in an explosion, and the visitor's founder, billionaire Elon Musk, says there is a proficient chance the rocket will not make it on the kickoff try.
Anyone who was around during the heady days of the moon program was convinced that half a century later we would be taking family holidays on the moon, setting off from an orbiting space hotel.
Oh, well.
Information technology is unlikely at that place will exist a time like that again.
Leaving the World is not like shooting fish in a barrel, even with fifty years of feel. But that doesn't mean we should stop trying.
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Source: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/blog/50-years-ago-we-flew-to-the-moon-here-s-why-we-can-t-do-that-today-1.4397053