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Old 14th February 2026 | 08:12
  #108 (permalink)  
B Fraser
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From: Biffins Bridge
There is some (small) merit in that article however there are some almighty whoppers, especially regarding Apollo 13. The trajectory was flown in 1968 with Apollo 8 (Lovell, Anders, Bormann and I didn't need to open a book to recite that) and was always a pre-planned "get you home" option for all subsequent flights. The joke on Apollo 8 was that the capsule would perform a single partial orbit at a height of 60 miles (IIRC) on the far side however nobody knew if there was a 61 mile high mountain in the way. Artemis II will perform the same flight albeit some 4,000 miles above the far side surface which was planned to be in full sunlight given the original launch date. The CM pilots on the Apollo missions (Collins etc.) only saw parts of the far side as the near side was lit. The flight will be the first time human eyes have seen vast areas of the moon. You cannot do that from your back yard or perhaps the author lives next door to the JWST.

I included a slot on Artemis II on my last STEM talk. If you have a globe then find something that is the equivalent size of the western Sahara or 2,000 miles across. Then measure a length of cord some 9.6 times the circumference of the globe. Find a willing volunteer to extend the cord to the full length distance and place the moon sized object at that point. You will see the true extent of what is being flown. It's stunning.

I would take that flight in a heartbeat and if Nasa are looking for a backup astronaut, they can call me. I suspect that I will be number 999,999 on a million long list. Those are four very fortunate people who will undergo a journey that the rest of mankind can only dream about.

I suspect the author of the text in the last post is greener than Kermit the frog.
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