Any Other "Space Nuts" Out There?

[withnail]

One of my hobbies it to research anything to do with space. Some of my earliest memories are of the Apollo Moon Landings, which totally fascinated me. My main areas of interest are between the start of the Space Race in 1957, to the last use of the Apollo hardware, with the link up with the Russians in 1975.
I just wondered if any other forum members shared my interest? If so, please either post or PM with any favourite books or links.

 

[lordnoble]

Well, I love CMEs and look for the Aurora Borealis whenever there is an Earth-directed CME. I've only seen it twice in 10 years.
I do get emails from spaceweather.com whenever there is a CME.
Other than that, no. I'm not a Space Nut.
-Jason

 

[ohin3]

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/

 

[cyndi]

My parents immunized me against the addiction. They were part of the military meteorology team that helped get the space shuttle home to FL. I grew up with Cape Canaveral being pretty commonplace and have family friends who are literal "rocket scientists." As a result, I think it's cool and amazing but I don't carry the addiction.

 

[markw4mms]

Yep, you can count me in among the space nuts here. My grandfather, and dad both worked at Cape Canaveral back in the '60's, so I get it honestly.

 

[chero]

love anthing et or ufo
https://www.facebook.com/LatestUFOSightings

 

[chero]

withnail,after all these years why didn't they go back to the moon?

 

[hobie1dog]

Love deep space photos, the endlessness is mind boggling. I wanna visit all the estimated 800 Billion Galaxies when I cross back over to The Other Side

 

[weezell]

withnail,Live just outside of Wapakoneta,Ohio.It is the birthplace of Neil Armstrong and home of the Neil Armstrong Space Museum.Believe they still have a real moon rock there.

 

[philip]

Well, it's after the time period you mentioned, but this has intrigued me since it began:
The Hubble Space Telescope

 

[jchaplick]

not space but i enjoy all things planes, especially fighter jets

 

[chestercopperpot]

I grew up in the shadow of Purdue University, which is where a lot of astronauts graduated from including Neil Armstrong. Eventually when I was a Purdue student I studied in Grissom Hall, named after Gus Grissom who died in a NASA accident in 1967.
Neil Armstrong is a very private person and never used his fame as the first person on the moon, but occasionally he would return to Purdue to give guest lectures or to attend homecoming games. I count myself lucky to have seen him in person.

 

[spartan]

We never went back to the moon because the aliens threatend mankind not to **** with them anymore.
Or we can't freaking afford it cuz we can't balance a budget for crap.

 

[philip]

From the Earth to the Moon

 

[cacooper]

I was born 1959, at the beginning of the space program. I watched nearly every launch. Stayed up all night long watching the Apollo 11 landing over and over. I'll never forget that night. Ever.
I was never prouder to be an American during that time. But, I frankly haven't felt that way since.
The 6 moon landings are the greatest achievement ever accomplished by mankind. All of the Apollo astronauts, from Armstrong to Cernin are true Americans heroes. Gutsy bunch of guys. The risk of instantaneous death was ever-present during every mission, yet they made it look so easy. Even Apollo 13 amazingly made it back safe. Truly an incredible era. I'm glad I was able to witness it firsthand, live, as it happened.
And now, in the enlightened New Millenium, the American space program is cancelled. Unbelievable. Sadly, there's not much to get excited about space-wise any more. Un-manned missions are interesting, just not as thrilling.
Just remember, we did vote for change after all.
CACooper

 

[withnail]

Nice to see that I am not alone in my obsession interest in the exploration of space. Thank you for those links people posted, I shall be checking out the ones I haven't see before this afternoon One of my favourite sites on the subject of the amazing Apollo Landings is the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. It has the complete transcripts of all communications whilst they astronauts were on the Moon, along with additional information provided by the astronauts themselves.
The reason we haven't been back? Cost and Risk. There is simply not enough public support, especially in the current economic climate. We, in general, are also a lot less willing to accept risk these days. If NASA proposed a manned mission with the same level of risk these days, they would be stopped in their tracks. Those who went to the Moon were indeed brave explorers.

 

[vroomfondel]

Does being the biggest Star Trek nerd count? If yes, count me in; if not, count me in anyways

 

[withnail]

The Space Race led to an explosion in all sorts of Science Fiction so, yes, in a way Star Trek does count!
Although I do prefer to watch the original footage as it is so amazing. Another of my favourite sites is http://www.spacecraftfilms.com/ the only trouble is; Import duty and Shipping tends to double the cost of their DVDs

 

[admin]

I am immensely enjoying the audio book, "The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos" by Brian Green.

It's really cool, but sometimes I have to rewind and repeat stuff 3 - 4 times before I get it.
Check out this concept though -

In one of the theories that you describe, there are universes not only apart from ours but identical to it, moment-by-moment. This staggering idea is the result of an amazingly simple argument. Would you explain?
In any finite region of space, matter can only arrange itself in a finite number of configurations, just as a deck of cards can be arranged in only finitely many different orders. If you shuffle the deck infinitely many times, the card orderings must necessarily repeat. Similarly, in an infinite expanse of space, particle arrangements must repeat too—there just aren't enough different particle configurations to go around. And if the particles in a given region of space the size of ours are arranged identically to how they are arranged here, then reality in that region will be identical to reality here. Except that maybe we'd be seeing the Jets and the Bears in the Super Bowl.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703956604576109891641757806.html
The Colbert Report
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[vroomfondel]

And if the particles in a given region of space the size of ours are arranged identically to how they are arranged here, then reality in that region will be identical to reality here. Except that maybe we'd be seeing the Jets and the Bears in the Super Bowl.

Now that's a great example of life imitating art as shown in the Star Trek TOS "Mirror Universe" episodes. Everything is the same, except evil (and maybe bearded) :D
I tried understanding the theoretical effects of traveling at light speed through Stephen Hawking's books, but always got lost halfway through. I only started grasping the "time debt" concept when it was used in Dan Simmon's Hyperion books.