On This Day 100 years ago..

[KvHagedorn]

mankind first experienced sustained, powered flight. The airplane was born.

http://www.first-to-fly.com/

http://www.nps.gov/wrbr/

It must have amazed those who heard of this in childhood and then watched us land on the moon in old age..

[Technoid]

it would have amazed them even more when we after that just quit......

[Dr Mordrid]

What amazed my father was that they went from the Wright Flyer to landing on the moon in his lifetime. I'll never forget the look on his face as Neil Armstong stepped down off that ladder....

Dr. Mordrid

[DukeP]

Baah.
That was all done in hollywood.
If we really did hit the moon, why arent we there, to stay??



~~DukeP~~

[Dr Mordrid]

Because the politicians are short-sighted.

Dr. Mordrid

[Brian Ellis]

Nah! the smell of all that green cheese was overpowering

[KvHagedorn]

So what would we be doing there now? Any ideas? Science and novelty and the drive for conquest take us only so far.. the truth of the matter is that the moon is a lifeless, barren rock. The only things it has to offer are minerals and low gravity, and perhaps good seeing conditions for a telescope. Even if the place was made of pure platinum, the cost to get there and back is much more than the mineral wealth could cover.

[Wulfman]

the first flight, using an engine-powered "plane" was done on 14. august 1901 by gustav weisskopf, near bridgeport, USA.

mfg
wulfman

[KvHagedorn]

Maybe so.. http://www.weisskopf.de/history.htm

[K6-III]

I disagree that the moon is not worth pursuing. It is worth pursuing not for science, but for profit. Mining Helium-3 on the moon for nuclear fusion, making giant fields of low-grade solar panels, and using the moon as a jumping-off point to the rest of the solar system via a mass driver are but a few ways to utilize the moon that way.

Colonization of the moon is not impossible either. We don't necessarily need to bring the missing resources from the Earth, but, rather, put comets in lunar orbit and use them for water extraction. We can do the same thing with some asteroids for other resources.

[UtwigMU]

Don't forget that there were two World wars and a clold war, that required flight to be developed.

WW1 - fighters and fighter bombers

between war - arms race, first big bombers and commercial airliners

WW2 - Jet fighters, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles. Both Russians and Americans took members of von Braun team and took from V2, their early ballistic missiles are derivatives of V2.

Cold war race, Commies in Space™.

Apparently China will have a lunar programme and I heard USA intends to reenter space competition.

[cjolley]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
What amazed my father was that they went from the Wright Flyer to landing on the moon in his lifetime. I'll never forget the look on his face as Neil Armstong stepped down off that ladder....

Dr. Mordrid

My Great Grandmother lived till 1974 when she was 104 years old.
Came to Oklahoma, literaly, in a Covered Wagon.
And watched man land on the moon on tv.
Amazing life.

Chuck

[Marshmallowman]

K6-III, yup its not what you can bring back, its the possibilty of creating a (nearly) self sustaining base that will open options that will only become obvious when that has happened.

You cannot see over the next hill but you know once you get there , you will know whats on the otherside.

[Dr Mordrid]

I can think of several reasons to go back to the moon;

1. perfect placement for a radio telescope since the back side of the moon would shield it from earths magnetosphere and the solar wind.

2. recent findings of water ice on its south pole and back side. Perfect for fueling manned or unmanned missions deeper out once electrolyzed.

3. optical for monitoring earth-grazing objects.

4. finish the job Apollo started.

5. the Chinese are going there sooner than a lot of people think and IMO it would be a good hedge in case their democratization & economic reform falls off the wagon.

Dr. Mordrid

[cjolley]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
1. perfect placement for a radio telescope since the back side of the moon would shield it from earths magnetosphere and the solar wind.

I don't get that one
chuck