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TIL The last person on the moon was Eugene Cernan as Commander of Apollo 17 in December 1972, the final Apollo lunar landing. His final words on the moon were, "We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17."
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![r/funny - Astronaut talking about pooping in Space. [x-post from /r/space]](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/lzIrBafj0NsXOTthQUl-M1vrEHVBzpVRVDChFhAc1gM.jpg)
"For me, the most ironic token of [the first human moon landing] is the plaque signed by President Richard M. Nixon that Apollo 11 took to the moon. It reads, ‘We came in peace for all Mankind.’ As the United States was dropping seven and a half megatons of conventional explosives on small nations in Southeast Asia, we congratulated ourselves on our humanity. We would harm no one on a lifeless rock." -Carl Sagan
I wonder how peace advertising works so well when you're contributing to war... people won't really notice any damage as long as you say you're peaceful
People did notice. The anti war movement was kind of a big deal. Students were murdered by the national guard over it.
Frankly the anti war movement was a good thing but they blamed the soldiers not the leaders far too often.
Of course it was a good thing, the US had no right to fight in Vietnam and 2 million civilians died due to US invasion.
The anti war movement absolutely blamed the politicians more than anybody else, but that doesn't mean giving the people actually doing the killing a free pass. Those who give orders and those who follow them both bear responsibility for what occurred. There were numerous atrocities, from My Lai to agent orange and the countless bombing of civilian centers in the north. Like it or not, US soldiers were killing babies and the guerrillas had no shortage of popular support.
You are responsible for what you do and what you join. Draftees had plenty of options, from extensive legal exemptions and conscientious objector status to fleeing the country, going to prison (as a last resort, it was never an executable offense during Vietnam) or even joking a radical group or hippie commune (and thus hiding). Following orders is no excuse. It was a choice with consequences, and some chose to travel around the world to murder Vietnamese on behalf of their government.
He also said "Wow! The moon is flat!"
Wasn't he also famous for saying "that's no moon"?
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how do you get so filthy on the moon?
Not sure if it can make you dirty, but the dust/particles from rocks on the moon is actually very destructive. Without an atmosphere creating wind or oceans, there's no erosion at all. I'm pretty sure it causes some serious problems for the suits after a while and can seriously harm the skin if it gets tracked inside.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/phys.org/news/2008-09-nasa-dirty-secret-moon.amp
Well you could always roll around in it, that'd probably do it.
The band Public Service Broadcasting uses publicly accessible broadcasts and transmissions in place of lyrics. Their album The Race For Space is themed around, predictably, the space race. The final song on the album, Tomorrow, concludes with this poignant quote. [there is also a hidden track after it]
I blame it all on Cernan. Since we haven't had peace and hope for all mankind, we haven't returned to the moon.
Schmitt is the last living member from Apollo 17. Perhaps Cernan's curse will abate once God has sped the illustrious crew of Apollo 17 to their everlasting rest.
Hey heroes, we hope you all die soon so we can put a superstition aside and overshadow your accomplishments. Thx!
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Who, god?
Yup. Nailed it
It's hard to have reverence for anything anyone says while stepping onto or off of the moon or any planets we wind up going to in the future because now we know that they've sat there and practiced their quote in the mirror at home and while in the car on the way to work.
Neil Armstrong's "one small step" might not have been spontaneous, but at least he was the first. Now everyone knows that their quote will be preserved for all mankind for the rest of human history. I wish a guy would just step onto the surface of Mars and say "Christ, what a fuckin' dump," or "let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown" instead of some quasi-noble soliloquy about the endurance of the human spirit and breaching new frontiers.
I would rather it be organic and not a pop culture reference
Pete Conrad's (Apollo 12) first words upon landing on the Moon were "Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me." Conrad had made a bet with a reporter that he would say those words, and he was also poking fun at the fact that he was somewhat shorter than Armstrong.
Buzz's first words on the Lunar surface were "Looks like the secondary strut had some thermal effects here, Neil."
Jack Schmitt's were "Why don't you come over here and let me deploy your antenna?"
Armstrong screwed up his line. He meant to say "One small step for a man," and forgetting that one crucial letter made the whole thing self contradictory.
Picky, picky, picky. Non-rehearsed lines are forgettable, rehearsed lines "sound fake." Let these people have their moment.
Didn't he die because of moon monsters?
"Holy shit.. the Earth IS flat. Wait... are those.... chemtrails????"
I thought it was harrison schmidt ?
Depends on your definition of "last". Schmitt stepped out of the lander after Cernan did, making him the 12th out of 12 guys to set foot on the Moon. But when they were done he got back in first, making Cernan the final guy to be outside on the Moon.
NASA knows what happened there.
They know why we must never return to that god-forsaken rock.
My mom went to school with a Skylab/Shuttle Astronaut. It was so cool to meet and talk to him. Not quite as cool as the moon but still amazing for a kid at the time.
Now we shall nuke it! Show North Korea a thing or two about crazy!
Why all the religious stuff? I don't understand the need to include that shit. It really does just take the poignancy out of the achievement and the moment.
Because other people are not the same as you.
I think that is the point of u/wowlocat . Why should those funded by a government and all people's tax money, feel the need to appeal or appease one group only. Save it for church.
So so true. I'm also offended it was in English! Why should those funded by a government with no official language and all people's tax money, not just English speakers, feel the need to appeal or appease one group only. Save it for your class on Shakespeare.
Your point is cute, but there is the real issue of practicality. The majority of states do have English as their official language. English is far and way the most common language spoken at home in the United States. The astronauts also communicate in their own language - I'm sure the way cosmonauts do in their language, and other 'space travelers' do in their respective language.
Adding a religious element is extraneous. It is comical in it's juxtaposition with some of the heights of scientific accomplishment. It provides nothing. It's on par with an astronaut giving a shout out to....quilters or Chihuahua owners.
Found the anti-theist.
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No shuttle went to the moon. The shuttle program came later. There are links to the lander and command module here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17
Neither did NASA. You got it all confused with the Nazi lizardmen.
It's funded by a secular government with money from theists and atheists alike, nothing about it should connote religion. And yes, while your at work for a secular government, nothing about your god should come out of your mouth. Save it for off hours like all the other things you probably can't say at work.
What value is there in going back to the moon?
We need to have the ability to travel from planet to planet if we want to have control of our future. It's the next step and we should really still be practicing.
I never really knew why we did moon stuff so thanks for that^
It's interesting that we can't.
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It's a good question that did spur discussion. It's really cool but the reasons to go back are not necessarily obvious.
It doesnt cost billions to make...
Why can't our president be this poetic and well-spoken? I can't imagine trumps last words on the moon. But I bet his approval rating would be an all-time high