Astronauts hailed as heroes 50 years after historic moon landing

[rooster59]

Astronauts hailed as heroes 50 years after historic moon landing

By Joey Roulette

 

Buzz Aldrin applauds during a ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, U.S., July 20, 2019. REUTERS/Joey Roulette

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Capping a week of celebrations over the historic Apollo 11 mission, Vice President Mike Pence joined astronaut Buzz Aldrin on Saturday at the launch pad in Florida that sent the moonwalker and his two crew mates to space for humankind's first steps on the lunar surface 50 years ago.

 

Pence joined NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon behind his fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing that enthralled people around the world in 1969.

 

"If Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins are not heroes, then there are no heroes," Pence told a crowd of dozens of space industry executives and NASA staff in the Operations and Checkout building, the 58-foot-tall (18 meters) chamber that once housed the Apollo 11 command module for testing. "We honor these men today, and America will always honor our Apollo astronauts."

 

Armstrong, the first man on the moon, died in 2012 at age 82. Collins, the command module pilot who stayed in lunar orbit while Aldrin and Armstrong hopped around the lunar surface collecting samples, did not attend the ceremony. Aldrin is 89 and Collins 88.

 

"Apollo 11 is the only event in the 20th century that stands a chance of being widely remembered in the 30th century," Pence said.

 

The building is now home to NASA's Orion crew capsule, the spacecraft designed to carry astronauts back to the moon by 2024 in what Bridenstine calls the Artemis program, named after the Greek goddess and twin sister of Apollo. The capsule on deck for the program's first operational mission in 2022 was sitting beside the stage.

 

"The Orion is in the same cell as where Apollo was stacked 50 years ago. So we've come full circle," said Glenn Chin, deputy manager at the Orion productions operations office.

 

Pence, chairing the White House's National Space Council, announced in March an accelerated schedule for NASA to return astronauts to the moon by 2024, halving the U.S. space agency's previous timeline to get there by 2028 and requesting from Congress a $1.6 billion boost to NASA's fiscal 2020 budget request.

 

"The American space program is coming back. It's coming back with a vengeance," Bridenstine said at Saturday's ceremony. "We all love Apollo. But in the Artemis program we go to the moon sustainably, and this time we have a very diverse, highly qualified astronaut corps that includes women."

 

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday indicated he was not interested in a mission going back to the moon, despite his administration's plans for it. Trump instead repeated his interest in a NASA mission that would take astronauts directly to Mars, a vastly more challenging and costly endeavor.

 

"To get to Mars, you have to land on the moon, they say. Any way of going directly without landing on the moon? Is that a possibility?" the Republican president asked Bridenstine during an event in the White House Oval Office.

 

Bridenstine responded, "Well, we need to use the moon as a proving ground, because when we go to Mars, we're going to have to be there for a long period of time, so we need to learn how to live and work on another world." But Collins, attending the event, said he favored going directly to Mars.

 

The Artemis program's objective is to conduct a series of manned and unmanned missions to the moon, using its surface as a proving ground for technologies that could lay the ground work for the longer and more complex missions to Mars as soon as 2033, Bridenstine has said.

 

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Will Dunham)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-21

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[LomSak27]

Well Michael Collins is still alive, according to his wiki bio, as he was not here I assume he is in not the best of health. Back in my torrenting days I downloaded In The Shadow of the Moon, I dug it up and watched it yesterday. He was a joy to listen to.  Best of wishes. 

[fforest1]

Yes Stanley Kubrick thought the moon landings were one of mankinds greatest achievements...

[thequietman]

5 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

Yes Stanley Kubrick thought the moon landings were one of mankinds greatest achievements...

 

5 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

Yes Stanley Kubrick thought the moon landings were one of mankinds greatest achievements...

But, did they really ? ????

[ezzra]

For years now we have been told about many heroism acts and many people who were called heros for the simplest and human acts, and often the word "hero" is taken or given lightly, now those Apollo 11 guys new that their chances to come back alive were none to slim and this is whey they have signed many autographs to be sold so their families will have some money to fall back on true story, Now these guys are the true heros, these and others who go into the unknown be it wars andor hostile environment to do the right thing for menkind and but for those kind of people that our world is a better place for all of us... 

[Tug]

True hero’s and honorable  men I do disagree with Ezra’s comment that their chances were slim to none making it back it was dangerous to be sure but they knew they had a very good chance of making it back,now flight#13 they had a slim to none chance but the team beat the odds

[pegman]

They were certainly heroes to my 12 year old self. How amazing that was.

[keemapoot]

1 minute ago, pegman said:

They were certainly heroes to my 12 year old self. How amazing that was.

I'm a couple years older than you, and yes, same here. An interesting story - I was cruising on Ali-Express last year and saw these NASA Apollo 11 flight jackets (wind breakers) that had the logos and were amazingly authentic and I thought they might be fun so bought a couple for gifts for family and friends in the US. When I visited the states last year, I was wearing one of the jackets and went into a 7-11. It was amazing the reactions. I had guys salute me, treat me like a movie star or something, one guy asked "wow are you a real astronaut, were you on the moon mission" and of course, I explained it was just a fan jacket. I also realized that I must look older than I am, unfortunately...

 

These guys are truly adored across the heartland of the country.

[bert bloggs]

But we all know its fiction and that it was all shot on a film set ,and that the earth is flat and Dianne Abbott does have a brain ,now where did i leave my tinfoil hat?

[Thailand]

Incredible journey these guys made and like many remember it well.

 

Slightly off topic, but I am all in favor of Trump being shot in to space.

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

33 minutes ago, Thailand said:

...Slightly off topic, but I am all in favor of Trump being shot in to space.

Slighty off topic but no worries his schedule will be freed up to make the trip after 2024.  

[rabas]

3 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

Well Michael Collins is still alive, according to his wiki bio, as he was not here I assume he is in not the best of health. Back in my torrenting days I downloaded In The Shadow of the Moon, I dug it up and watched it yesterday. He was a joy to listen to.  Best of wishes. 

Collins was at the White House yesterday. Images were widely available internationally but not on most MSM. Aldrin looked stronger but left the White House in a wheel chair.

 

I was 19 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.  Hero means different things but most all those who accomplished this were 'real people', big egos, brutally honest individuals, making decisions most of us would not dare consider. One controller said when you disagreed with the controllers they would instantly "tell you what was wrong with your mother".  Pre PC. I really wonder if we have what it takes to pull off something so bold today.

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

14 minutes ago, sevenhills said:

Yes, made in a Hollywood studio. No one has or ever will go to the moon.

Here's how Buzz Aldrin deals with thaivisa kooks and keyboard warriors.

 

 

[Rimmer]

A troll post removed

[the guest]

When it comes to this planet, there is nothing Mankind has ever added value to. Instead the we choose to destroy everything in its path. Better to start learning to walk, before trying to run. 

 

 

[Basil B]

2 hours ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

Slighty off topic but no worries his schedule will be freed up to make the trip after 2024.  

Actually January 2020... he will probably want to get a way as quick as possible and for as long as possible before all the subpoenas start dropping through his letter box... 

[Basil B]

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Pence, chairing the White House's National Space Council, announced in March an accelerated schedule for NASA to return astronauts to the moon by 2024, halving the U.S. space agency's previous timeline to get there by 2028 and requesting from Congress a $1.6 billion boost to NASA's fiscal 2020 budget request.

What is the point of spending $Billions for what is just a flag waving exercise???

The first moon landing was a great achievement, today we have better technology but it will still cost $Billions and without any real purpose just a waste of money and still a risk to those taking part that can not be justified.   

[LomSak27]

18 hours ago, rabas said:

Collins was at the White House yesterday. Images were widely available internationally but not on most MSM. Aldrin looked stronger but left the White House in a wheel chair.

 

21 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Armstrong, the first man on the moon, died in 2012 at age 82. Collins, the command module pilot who stayed in lunar orbit while Aldrin and Armstrong hopped around the lunar surface collecting samples, did not attend the ceremony. Aldrin is 89 and Collins 88.

But then they said he was there at another event  ... "during an event in the White House Oval Office."

 

AT least he is still alive. meanwhile in the dead zone

 

21 hours ago, fforest1 said:

Yes Stanley Kubrick thought the moon landings were one of mankinds greatest achievements...

 

Why would anyone give a rats hind quarters to know what Stanley Kubrick thoughts about the moon landing?  

[freebyrd]

On 7/21/2019 at 11:19 AM, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

Here's how Buzz Aldrin deals with thaivisa kooks and keyboard warriors.

 

 

Good on Buzz Aldrin. Did the sound cut because this insulting youngster was screaming and crying after being punched by a real man?

[billd766]

On 7/21/2019 at 11:19 AM, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

Here's how Buzz Aldrin deals with thaivisa kooks and keyboard warriors.

 

 

And that video clip was a setup. How strange that there just "happened" to be a video crew standing around doing nothing.

 

Buzz Aldrin repeatedly walked away from the fat gutted child who does not seem to understand that NO means NO and in the end he was provoked beyond reason. Good for Buzz Aldrin.

[Laughing Gravy]

I have read and researched this for many years and I have to say from my conclusion, it was a hoax. 

 

One question to ask is why have we never replicated it in 50 years. It is one of those incidents in time, that is now considered history, like Shakespeare never writing all them plays. Science knows it but it seems that we have come to far, to change the official verdict.

[Sujo]

On 7/21/2019 at 3:17 PM, Basil B said:

What is the point of spending $Billions for what is just a flag waving exercise???

The first moon landing was a great achievement, today we have better technology but it will still cost $Billions and without any real purpose just a waste of money and still a risk to those taking part that can not be justified.   

I think you miss the side effects of the success. Sire it didnt really gain much from the landing. No green aliens etc.

But it did show what can be done when a team works together to do the impossible. It lifts the spirits of a nation and the world to work in positive ways to overcome impossible odds.

 

In other words, it brought the world together as a positive and as a result other things can be achieved that may have been considered beyond our capabilities.

 

Just think of the Wright brothers. What they did in itself was nothing great or useful at the time. But what that one act spawned in such a short time is incredible

[Stargeezr]

Minature stuff, like cell phones, and other electronic devices come to mind of how the space race changed things on earth. Pouring money into countries on earth, would have been a waste as well.  Going directly to Mars will have risks and some failures, but it will likely happen. I still think the previous astronauts were very brave.

Geezer