Reminds me of that scene from Men In Black when the alien kidnaps the female doctor and carries her back to the ship: "It's a long trip, I will need a snack".
That one person would get pretty boring after a while. And what is your emotional insurance policy should she perish?
I would only do it if I could bring 5 male friends and 5 female friends. This, too, would bore me probably before we landed, but at least there would be a variety of human presence.
Its the fact that they could address the very real (and I do mean very real) possibility that they would not be coming back in such a clear and dignified manner that differentiates the space program then and now.
They did their best to keep from dying of course, but I somehow doubt they'd have grounded the program for years of congressional whinging had it occurred.
In short they seem like a whole different kind of person. The people who are going to win the race to mars (and eventually reap the near limitless mineral wealth the solar system has to offer) are going to be the people who are most prepared to accept death on the way.
There is no "race" to Mars. It will still be there if we wait a couple of decades. There is no long twilight struggle against Communism to justify a multi-billion dollar PR-friendly defense contractor slush fund.
I question the notion that we'll ever tap the "limitless mineral wealth" in an efficient manner (we still have to take it back home for it to be useful, that costs energy, energy is dear while rocks are cheap), but supposing somebody did, is there any incentive to be first to the party? What are they going to do, grab the infinite wealth and leave nothing for the rest of us?
Anybody with a few million can launch a satellite these days, regardless of what their nation's space program was like in 1960. Let China (or India, or Kenya, or whomever) get to it a few months early and then private industry will commoditize access. (And the value of rocks will plummet as the supply shock hits. Whee.)
In the meanwhile, we can spend the billions saved on things that won't be there tomorrow. "Children in Africa" are just one example.
We've no time to sharpen the axe, there's far too much wood to cut.
Its the most important race ever run. Its not against soviets or chinese, its against ourselves and our limited resources.
There's something else that won't be here tomorrow as well. All of the resources we have today. We might have centuries to go do the space thing later. We might not.
Right now I think maybe we could use some hope and few heroes that don't play with rubber balls for a living.
I do believe this is the first time I've ever disagreed with Patio. Much respect, brother.
I can't see any way that going to the Moon or Mars is going to help with the real issues we will have in the next 20 to 50 years.
It's not like I dislike the idea of going to Mars (I have a well thumbed copy of Zubrin's "The Case for Mars") - but at this moment in time, do I think it is a sensible thing to do? Sadly, absolutely not.
It might give us the hope and belief that we are able to deal with the real issues in the next 20 to 50 years. You don't hear "If we can send a man to the moon, why can't we do X" anymore, because most people today don't remember that we were once able to send a man to the moon. They don't have that expectation that anything is possible if we just focus intently on it and decide to get it done.
That's not what the he meant. The Apollo Project inspired people to go into sciences and engineering to an extent that nothing since has done. That effect is, after four decades, ebbing away.
I don't know. Dying sucks no matter where it happens but once you come to terms with that I think it would be kind of neat. I can't imagine they didn't have some kind of suicide pill to avoid an unpleasant death (probably couldn't be a pill but some kind of syringe or something). So they wouldn't suffocate.
Assuming that's true I think drifting to sleep underneath the Earth in the same way people on earth drift to sleep underneath the moon would be pretty darn awesome.
This 'suicide pill' is a myth. The moon-astronauts (e.g. Buzz Aldrin) have been asked on several occasions and denied its existence.
I remember an interview with Aldrin where he was asked how he would have spent his last moments in case he got stranded on the moon, and he answered he'd be trying to get the engine working :)
Not to be morbid or anything, but the only painful part of suffocation is excess carbon dioxide. In a pure nitrogen atmosphere you'd be in a good mood for a couple of minutes, then lose consciousness and never wake up.
I have no idea if that sort of thing was available on the moon missions, but it would probably the most convenient option if you've got nitrogen available.
He comes to the conclusion nitrogen would be the most humane (euphoria, then painless death). Apparantly it won't get used because those states that still use the death penalty find this way of leaving the temporary for the infinite a bit too easy on the convicted... (forward to 45:30 in the video).
How about alone in your apartment, in a city of millions of people, non of whom you know and not one even knows or cares that you exist. Your death will go undiscovered for days or weeks and even when discovered, not a single person will care beyond the inconvenience you've caused them. That would a far lonelier place to die.
Yes, but how many people get to die with all of human civilization completely within their view?
These men would have had very little to no hope of a rescue, but they would have had plenty of air left to choose when they wanted to die. I can think of no more beautiful sight at death than your entire world and species.
“It was said that when they were in use, astronaut candidates would be asked to get in one. After fifteen minutes or so, the candidate was asked how long they thought they had been in. If the candidate was not hysterical and guessed anything under an hour, they passed!”
It is actually cheaper to keep sending supplies to Mars to keep you alive, than to send enough to lift off and return.
I'd probably do it myself now; certainly would if were 60 years old.