Getting serious here for a second, Don Pettit’s comments must not be taken out of context in August 2022. He was speaking of the Saturn V and Apollo LM. The missing context is that NASA has moved on. The SLS is not the Saturn V, it is an upgraded variant of the shuttle system with a liquid core stage and SRB strap-ons. Orion is completely new. The industrial base supporting development and execution of those systems is alive and well.
My guess is if Pettit knew how his remarks would be taken out of context 5 years later, he likely would have refrained from making them.
“I’d go back to the moon in a nanosecond, but the problem is we don’t have the technology to do that anymore. We used to, but we destroyed that technology, and it’s a painful process to build it back again.”
Assuming he meant what you said, and was speaking of the Saturn V, I’m having a hard time understanding why they would do that. Progress is built based upon what we previously learned. There would’ve been valuable information from previous missions, even if new discoveries and technologies had been developed.
Also, interesting enough, NASA lost some of the original moon landing tapes. I know, hard to believe.
This video comes up over and over again. If Don Pettit had know his word were going to be used in memes by conspiracy theorists and flat-earthers he would have chosen his words more carefully.
Resurrecting the Saturn V is for NASA what Ford would face if asked to begin building the Model T once again. The technology is gone, the manufacturing tools and machines destroyed, the expertise of workers long ago lost.
And it makes no sense to recreate the obsolete Model T when electric vehicles are current technology.
The Saturn V was the only vehicle which carried man beyond low earth orbit. The last Saturn V was built in 1970. When the Apollo program was cancelled, the Saturn V construction and assembly facilities were shut down and disassembled. The expert workers left and went onto other jobs. Most of them are dead, now. Saturn V technology and understanding was lost.
NASA is not going to recreate ancient 50+ year-old technology. As @owlsalum notes, NASA has moved on from the Saturn V and the lunar module, building new systems.
No surprise here. A cell phone has more computing power than the entire Saturn V. NASA has always created and employed cutting-edge technology.
In 2014 NASA engineer Kelly Smith admitted that NASA has yet to solve the problem of how to safely pass through the Van Allen radiation Belt. So I’m really curious as to how they were able to protect sensitive electronics and the astronauts on previous missions over 50 years ago.
There two Van Allen radiation belts. Apollo quickly traversed the outer belt which has a much lower radiation level, while Orion EFT-1 was deliberately sent into the high radiation inner belt for considerable time.
Apollo and Orion EFT-1 had different missions. Apolo did not pass through the problematic inner belt. Orion EFT-1 was intentionally send into the inner belt to record the high radiation levels, test shielding, and to otherwise gather information.
The video you posted has been cut down and edited, with inaccurate narration and subtitles with information taken out of context as a deliberate attempt to mislead.
Gary - another reason I sincerely wondered about whether you were serious in posting the prior video featuring another astronaut was the video itself. As a video producer and editor, it appeared to me to be tongue-in-cheek at best, and probably intentionally humorous. Otherwise why include all the goofy crap edited into it? It appears it is created intentionally in that way simply for clicks, and the editor is laughing while doing it.
Perhaps you should start a “fake moon landing” thread and see if you get any traction. This stuff is off topic in this thread.
I’m not denying the moon landing, but there does seem to be a lot of things that don’t add up, or make sense, so being the inquisitive person I am, I ask questions, and don’t automatically accept everything as the gospel truth.
Because in more cases than not, asking certain types of questions is considered blasphemy, if it challenges or questions the official or mainstream narrative.
We’ve been hardening spaceborne electronics for LEO and MEO orbits for decades. I personally specialized in space environment effects at one time in my career. The techniques from parts selection to spot shielding to system redundancy we employ to successfully harden electronics against radiation effects in the VA belts and beyond is a subject much too involved for an internet chat board. Elk is correct: back to Artemis, with Artemis 1 on schedule for transport to the pad today. I’m gratified to have witnessed not only Apollo but America’s return to the Moon, this time to stay. Those of us who’ve lived long enough to see both are blessed.
Same here. Never would have believed as a kid that it wouldn’t be until the far off future year of 2022 when we would take our next baby steps to our neighboring moon. It’s not like nothing else has gone on - to be sure.
In retrospect one has an increased sense of the audacity of the original endeavor.
You’ll forgive me if I elect not to engage any further. Draw your own conclusions!
