Neil Armstrong Died Today At Age 82

First Man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong has passed away today at the age of 85.

Commander of the famous Apollo Eleven mission in July 1969, he and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin spent three hours out on the lunar surface.  Most famous for his quote "one giant leap for mankind."

I for one wish him Godspeed.


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Ref.
1. comiclog.nbcnews.com.com. "Astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on moon, dies at age 82" by NBC News. August 25, 2012. (http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/25/13478643-astronaut-neil-armstrong-first-man-to-walk-on-moon-dies-at-age-82?chromedomain=usnews).

Forty-One Years Ago...

Forty-One Years Ago...

Forty-one years ago humans took their first step on another world and our universe changed. I was NINE years old when this took place. I am FIFTY years old today as I write this blog. And I feel like we have not done a damn thing since.

There was the space truck (i.e the Space Shuttle). Then EVENTUALLY, there was a orbital space station for the space truck to go too. Along the way, we lost two of those dump trucks and on the last one, I lost a former Air Force ROTC classmate who was the commander of that ill-fated mission. I remember I was in a light sleep that morning when I heard the sonic booms and I thought, "Uh oh. Some poor SOB out of Clovis (New Mexico) is going to get their ass chewed out when they return to base.

Forty-One years have passed...and I feel like we still haven't done a damn thing but spin our wheels so to speak. One study after another study. Just enough for the politicians to get through another election cycle and NASA not to do anything really important as far as Manned Space Flight goes.

I fear now that I will not live long enough to see Man land on Mars. I really, really hate that feeling. I really hope that I am wrong on that.

Forty-One Years Ago...

Red Rover Going for Google Lunar X Prize

Carnegie Mellon/Raytheon team planning lunar robot rover mission to the Apollo 11 landing site while in pursuit of the $20 Million dollar Google Lunar X Prize contest. There are 16 other teams in the running for the Google Lunar X Prize. The winning team has to be able to launch a rocket and payload to the moon. Land there. Then have it move at least 1,640 feet (i.e. 500 meters) and then beam back to earth high definition views.

Articles from Space.com from last October(October 30, 2009) and today (April 29, 2009) about the "Red Rover" planned mission to the moon and in the process, it will photograph the Apollo 11 landing site with HD cameras.

"Red Rover" takes it's name from Mr. Red Whittaker who is a Carnegie Mellon University roboticist who led his team to victory in the DARPA 2007 Grand Challenge.  The main mission for Red Rover for scouting and prospecting, and mining.  All the sorts of things that are needed for human return to the moon.

From the latest Space.com article, reporter Jeremy Hsu states that Raytheon and other partner institutions have already poured over $3 million into the project.  

Image is from the lunar rover webpage. 

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Ref. Red Rover ( http://www.lunarrover.org/).

Space.com from October 30, 2008 & April 29, 2009. (http://www.space.com/news/081030-astrobotic-lunar-exploration.html) & (http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/090428-tw-glxp-astrobotic.html).