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And then there were five. Moon walkers still living are Harrison Schmitt, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, David Scott, and Charlie Duke. Is there any chance we'll hav

And then there were five. Moon walkers still living are Harrison Schmitt, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, David Scott, and Charlie Duke. Is there any chance we'll have another person on the moon before these guys are gone. They're all in their 80's now.

rainbowmverse 9y ago
There are feats of engineering in orbit that make the Apollo program look like a bunch of rocks in slingshots. One of them has had humans on board for close to 20 years. I like to think people who've set foot on the moon are able to see all we've done in space, all we're doing, all we're about to do, and see the moon landings as just one small but significant thing in context of the beadth of human achievement.
- ColinWright 9y ago
  The ones I've spoken to lament the fact that no one has gone beyond low Earth orbit since 1972. They yearn to go out, and to learn on longer missions the things that are currently being learned on the #ISS, and more. The ones I've spoken to think it's wrong that so much is being done within 400 km of the Earth's surface, when they went so much further. The ones I've spoken to acknowledge that the #ISS is a wonderful thing, and that excellent work is being done. But it's clear that they think there's more to do, and we're not doing it.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    Who are the ones you've spoken to?
    - ColinWright 9y ago
      Moon-walkers: Alan Bean and Charlie Duke. Other Moon orbiters: Jim Lovell, Tom Stafford, Fred Haise, Al Worden, and Ken (TK) Mattingly. Of those, I've had an extensive conversation with TK, moderate conversation with Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, some conversation with Alan Bean, and listened to talks and Q'n'A sessions with all of them. Most were pretty moderate in the words they used, but in most cases you could hear between the spoken lines the frustration, and the yearning to see flights beyond LEO. In the longer, more personal conversations their feelings were obvious when the topic came up, supporting the impression obtained from the more moderate, public statements.
      - jacquesm 9y ago
        Wow, that's some esteemed company you're keeping.
- MachinShinn- 9y ago
  How is the ISS at all impressive? Low Earth Orbit, relative to the distance of the moon is a joke. LEO might as well be part of our atmosphere...
jballanc 9y ago
When you view the moon landings as a technological advance, it seems a bit sad that we've not progressed (for some value of "progressed") further in these original pioneers' lifetimes. However if you view the moon landings as an exploratory advance, it's a small miracle that we're already talking of going back. Yes, the moon landings may be our modern-day Roanoke Colony, but look at what's come of that colony's original foray in the generations since!
krapp 9y ago
>Is there any chance we'll have another person on the moon before these guys are gone. Yes, but it probably won't be an American. We only went to the moon to prove something to the Soviets, now the rest of the world has something to prove to the US.
- yeukhon 9y ago
  China might be the next. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/07/china-prepares-moon-landing/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/07/china-prepares-mo... But 2036... I wonder why does it take so long?
  - rlanday 9y ago
    The Apollo Program set a clear goal (“landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth”) and a clear timeline (“before this decade is out”). The US was strongly motivated to execute on this since it was losing the Space Race at the time. Right now, no nation really has a clear goal (e.g. the US can’t even decide if it wants to send people back to the moon or go straight to Mars), a clear timeline (a manned mission to Mars is perpetually 20 years away for the US; a similar phenomenon also seems to be going on for anyone returning to the moon), or a clear motive. The US beat every other country to the moon by at least ~50 years, so all China doing a manned lunar mission proves at this point is that their technology and space capabilities are no more than 50 or 60 years behind the US’s. I think the US (either NASA or a private company) will be the first nation to land a person on Mars, although it might be a while before it happens; if at some point it looks like another nation is going to beat us, we might actually develop some motivation at that point.
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    They've basically got to replicate the Apollo program, and the head start they got by reusing Russian tech is less helpful as Russia itself was never able to put a man on the moon.
MereInterest 9y ago
It looks like the trend is following the 50th percentile prediction that xkcd gave a few years ago. https://xkcd.com/893/ https://xkcd.com/893/
curlcntr 9y ago
Hope so. Met and chatted with Al Worden while on a NASA tour a few years back. Really cool experience. (although was Apollo 15 command module pilot so went to the moon, didn't walk on it).
peter303 9y ago
I expect China about 2030. They are slow and methodical. Their stated priority is their third generation space station It will be six modules or a quarter of ISS. Perhaps they doing as visionairies suggested in the 1950s: get a decent space station before going to the Moon. In the long run it will be cheaper for multiple missions.

rainbowmverse 9y ago

There are feats of engineering in orbit that make the Apollo program look like a bunch of rocks in slingshots. One of them has had humans on board for close to 20 years. I like to think people who've set foot on the moon are able to see all we've done in space, all we're doing, all we're about to do, and see the moon landings as just one small but significant thing in context of the beadth of human achievement.

ColinWright 9y ago
The ones I've spoken to lament the fact that no one has gone beyond low Earth orbit since 1972. They yearn to go out, and to learn on longer missions the things that are currently being learned on the #ISS, and more. The ones I've spoken to think it's wrong that so much is being done within 400 km of the Earth's surface, when they went so much further. The ones I've spoken to acknowledge that the #ISS is a wonderful thing, and that excellent work is being done. But it's clear that they think there's more to do, and we're not doing it.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Who are the ones you've spoken to?
  - ColinWright 9y ago
    Moon-walkers: Alan Bean and Charlie Duke. Other Moon orbiters: Jim Lovell, Tom Stafford, Fred Haise, Al Worden, and Ken (TK) Mattingly. Of those, I've had an extensive conversation with TK, moderate conversation with Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, some conversation with Alan Bean, and listened to talks and Q'n'A sessions with all of them. Most were pretty moderate in the words they used, but in most cases you could hear between the spoken lines the frustration, and the yearning to see flights beyond LEO. In the longer, more personal conversations their feelings were obvious when the topic came up, supporting the impression obtained from the more moderate, public statements.
    - jacquesm 9y ago
      Wow, that's some esteemed company you're keeping.
MachinShinn- 9y ago
How is the ISS at all impressive? Low Earth Orbit, relative to the distance of the moon is a joke. LEO might as well be part of our atmosphere...

jballanc 9y ago

When you view the moon landings as a technological advance, it seems a bit sad that we've not progressed (for some value of "progressed") further in these original pioneers' lifetimes. However if you view the moon landings as an exploratory advance, it's a small miracle that we're already talking of going back. Yes, the moon landings may be our modern-day Roanoke Colony, but look at what's come of that colony's original foray in the generations since!

krapp 9y ago

>Is there any chance we'll have another person on the moon before these guys are gone. Yes, but it probably won't be an American. We only went to the moon to prove something to the Soviets, now the rest of the world has something to prove to the US.

yeukhon 9y ago
China might be the next. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/07/china-prepares-moon-landing/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/07/china-prepares-mo... But 2036... I wonder why does it take so long?
- rlanday 9y ago
  The Apollo Program set a clear goal (“landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth”) and a clear timeline (“before this decade is out”). The US was strongly motivated to execute on this since it was losing the Space Race at the time. Right now, no nation really has a clear goal (e.g. the US can’t even decide if it wants to send people back to the moon or go straight to Mars), a clear timeline (a manned mission to Mars is perpetually 20 years away for the US; a similar phenomenon also seems to be going on for anyone returning to the moon), or a clear motive. The US beat every other country to the moon by at least ~50 years, so all China doing a manned lunar mission proves at this point is that their technology and space capabilities are no more than 50 or 60 years behind the US’s. I think the US (either NASA or a private company) will be the first nation to land a person on Mars, although it might be a while before it happens; if at some point it looks like another nation is going to beat us, we might actually develop some motivation at that point.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  They've basically got to replicate the Apollo program, and the head start they got by reusing Russian tech is less helpful as Russia itself was never able to put a man on the moon.

MereInterest 9y ago

It looks like the trend is following the 50th percentile prediction that xkcd gave a few years ago. https://xkcd.com/893/ https://xkcd.com/893/

curlcntr 9y ago

Hope so. Met and chatted with Al Worden while on a NASA tour a few years back. Really cool experience. (although was Apollo 15 command module pilot so went to the moon, didn't walk on it).

peter303 9y ago

I expect China about 2030. They are slow and methodical. Their stated priority is their third generation space station It will be six modules or a quarter of ISS. Perhaps they doing as visionairies suggested in the 1950s: get a decent space station before going to the Moon. In the long run it will be cheaper for multiple missions.