RIP Neil Armstrong

[The Medway Handyman]

I always thought it was a great shame that "Good Luck, Mr. Gorsky" wasn't true :-)

[Graham.]

But Alan Shepard's words as he blasted off were indeed "Don't f*ck up Sheperd".

[ARWadsworth]

The best thing about these dinners is the small talk. The Apollo 11 astronauts used their own cameras for some of the shots and they never realised the full potential of copyright.

And where else can you have someone tell you that they have flown a vehicle that does 7 gallons per inch for take off and know they are telling the truth.

And when Buzz said the bit about North Korea you know why he was chosen as an astronaut.

[polygonum]

I thought he'd have been able to spell his own name:

Alan Bartlett Shepard

(Now how many typos have I managed to get into this post?)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Not surprising if he couldn't get his own name right.

[polygonum]

And I was wondering who would be the first to mention that!

[Huge]

*applause*

[Huge]

Was he into Ancient Greek weapons of war?

[Bob Eager]

Yes, it was a nice one.

[ARWadsworth]

It's in West Yorkshire

"It's life, Jim, but not as we know it".

[Steve Firth]

How many crews kill each other aboard submarines or at Arctic or Antarctic research stations? I can think of one incident and that was in a home port so doesn't meet the "isolation" requirement.

[polygonum]

Not clear how many on total - but this is one odd death...

[John Williamson]

The social dynamics inside a large crew (Over 100, normally) on a submarine are totally different to the dynamics in a small crew (Almost certainly less than 10.) such as would be the case on the Mars mission.

Even the simulation carried out by the Russians:-

't fully reproduce the situation of the real thing, as there was always the knowledge that if things got too bad, they could just walk out of the door into a breathable atmosphere.

The research stations also have a turnover each year, with an approximately known date for the supply vessel or aircraft to arrive, and it is rare for people to stay for more than a few months, so you know if it gets too bad, there's a way out. Again, the inmates can go for a walk, which wouldn't be possible on the Mars mission.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

[Tim Streater]

That approach was von Braun's preferred one, and is better provided you can maintain the time horizon -you start that way but don't expect to be able to send the Mars vehicle for 10-15 years.

The Chinese and possibly Indians (if they could get their act together) might manage it, but the Yanks are prey to stuff getting cancelled after five minutes. They managed Apollo because of an external perceived threat. But even there, once 11 had landed the public lost interest. It's a telling scene from the Apollo 13 movie where the TV networks stop covering the flight (until it goes BANG!, or course).

[Steve Firth]

John Williamson wrote: [snip]

Whenever long space missions are discussed someone always tries to make a case for "space madness". Yet there seems to be no evidence that it's a possibility. TBH being locked in a steel tube with hundreds of crew sounds worse than being locked up with a couple of handfuls of others.

Anyway do you actually have any evidence that small isolated groups inevitably break down into murdering each other?

[brass monkey]

Celebrity Big Brother (with any luck).

[Bob Eager]

Other people have problems too (giggle):

[Graham.]

I think whoever said that about their own cameras and pictures was being ironic. Every gram was accounted for, although there were some instances of smuggling, those for commercial gain were treated accordingly.

didn't know about this until just now.

[Graham.]

Pity Patrick McGoohan died, he would have sorted that lot out.