The Real Story Of Apollo 17… And Why We Never Went Back To The Moon.

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The Real Story Of Apollo 17… And Why We Never Went Back To The Moon.

"On December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 touched down on the Moon. This was not only our final Moon landing, but the last time we left low Earth orbit. With the successful launch of the Orion capsule, NASA is finally poised to go further again. So it’s important to remember how we got to the Moon — and why we stopped going."

On December 14th, 1972, Cernan became the last human to step on the Moon’s surface:

07 00 00 47: “Bob, this is Gene, and I’m on the surface and as I take man’s last steps from the surface, back home, for some time to come, but we believe not too long into the future. I’d like to Just list what I believe history will record that America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus Littrow, we leave as we come and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17.”

In the forty-[four] years since those words were spoken, nobody has stepped on the Moon. The levels of federal spending which NASA had received before 1966 had become untenable to a public which had become financially wary, particularly as they experienced a major oil crisis in 1973, which shifted the nation’s priorities. Spending in space was something that could be done, but with far more fiscal constraints than ever before, limiting NASA to research and scientific missions in the coming years. Such programs included the development of the Skylab program in 1973, and the Space Shuttle program, as well as a number of robotic probes and satellites.

Apollo 17.

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Apollo 17.

Forty-four years ago today was the last time since man kind has put his foot on the moon. While we still have the International Space Station and probes to Mars, it's been nearly a half century since mankind has been on the moon, reflecting changing priorities and the diminished interest in having man on the moon.

December 14, 2016 8 AM Update

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Enjoy the warm weather around 31 degrees, because for the next few days it’s only going to get colder but sunnier. One degree on Friday morning. Next Wednesday is First Day of Winter. There is a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. It will certainly feel like that for the next week.

Walked down to the express bus today. I was a bit concerned when the bus didn’t show up by 8:26 AM, but it was there just a few minutes late. I didn’t check the real-time bus info until after the 8:26 time, and that point they had no information on the location. The driver, running late, probably didn’t type his ID into the GPS system for the bus that provides the Real Times Bus Info.

Today will be sunny, with temperatures declining to the twenties by later afternoon into the evening. The polar vortex is going to start to bear down upon us, as they would call normal winter weather that has long hit Albany from time to time. West wind 7 to 10 mph. Mild compared to what is coming. A year ago, we had rain and a high of 61 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 1901. 12.5 inches of snow fell back in 1956.

I swear I’m going to get a winter coat for casual use finally. This winter is going to be quite cold and my old Carhartt’s zipper is totally broken. I will need a warm coat for winter camping, that is if we finally get a decent weekend without the threat of storms and not so frigid. My hope is to get out camping Christmas Day through the Monday after Christmas. I’m leaning towards camping in a local state forest, or maybe I’ll head up to the Adirondacks.

The sun will set at 4:22 pm with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 15 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 9 hours and 4 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 28 seconds over yesterday. The decline in daylight is rapidly shortening, as we get ready to throw the sun into reverse, as the days get longer, as we approach the first day of summer after the winter solstice.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 17 degrees at 6am. Five degrees below normal. An even colder as the day progresses. Southwest wind 6 to 11 mph. Again not so bad but picking up as the night progresses.  Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2015, it got down to 42 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of -8 occurred back in 1874.

As previously noted, next Wednesday is First Day of Winter when the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm. On that day in 2015, we had rain and temperatures between 48 and 33 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1957.

Today in 1972, Eugene Cernan is the last person ever to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extravehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission. After several manned missions to the moon, it was decided in an increasingly tight fiscal environment, that manned space missions were no long affordable or necessary in the public interest. It’s been 44 years since the last man has walked on the moon.

Tomorrow marks the 49th anniversary of the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River in West Virginia. A massive suspension bridge, it’s suspension eye bars which were used instead of steel rope lacked redundancy and when one eye bar failed the bridge went critical and all spans went plunging into the ice filled Ohio River, killing 45 people stuck in rush hour traffic.  More about that on the blog tomorrow.

 

December 14, 2016 morning

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Good morning! Happy Hump Day. 17 days until New Years Evening and a week and a half until Christmas. Kind of a dark start to our morning with sunrise not until 7:18. 

Mostly cloudy and 33 degrees now. Some sun in the morning, more clouds later with colder air pushing in and gradually declining temperatures in the mid 20s by evening then only 16 degrees come tomorrow morning.

Much colder tomorrow with temperatures expected to only decline with a low around one degree come Friday morning. More sun on Thursday and Friday but a cold north wind combined with low mercury will make for some rather cold weather. Warming up for the snow storm on Saturday and rain on Sunday, highs around 40 for Sunday as the arctic blast pushes north. 

December 13, 2016 Night

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Well, good evening. How was your day? Mine was good, I had dinner at the Asian Tea House bistro with the parents then went out to Capital Lights in the Park. Definitely got a lot more lights there in the park then years past. Makes me want to walk over to the park and down to the Lake House and walk around the lake to photograph them.

Cloudy and 36 degrees now in Delmar. Light breeze from the south. Went for my evening walk around the block and it’s not a bad evening out there. Full cold moon is not visible behind the clouds. Shoveled around the driveway to clean up a bit around my truck, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the landlord had plowed the driveway. A low around 27 is expected tonight. Much colder tomorrow night, so I’m glad I did my evening walk today. 

I was hoping to tape the PBS Newshour but that was not to be, as the power strip that the DTV converter box was plugged in was unplugged. Tomorrow I’ll catch the News Hour. Tonight I’ll just listen to the BBC News as I go to bed on New England Public Radio. 

If we are lucky with the sun by 1 pm tomorrow, we may reach 30. But otherwise look for a cold temperature with that arctic blast coming in with temperatures dropping to 15 by evening. Sunrise tomorrow is at 7:17 AM in Albany. 

A few special days to look forward to in the coming weeks include Valentines Day is in 9 weeks, Spring is in 14 weeks, Average High is 50 is in 15 weeks, Tax Day is in 18 weeks, Average High is 70 is in 22 weeks and Independence Day is in 29 weeks.