3 ms·

Actually, Apollo program was a show of oneupmanship after Russians' successes. Sending actual humans was not necessary for successful mission but it was necessa

Actually, Apollo program was a show of oneupmanship after Russians' successes. Sending actual humans was not necessary for successful mission but it was necessary to show superiority and bind USSR's resources. USSR has already landed a robotic mission (Luna 9) couple of years before and sent pictures from the Moon (https://www.space.com/35116-luna-9.html https://www.space.com/35116-luna-9.html) From purely technical standpoint it would be much easier to develop comparable robotic mission. Most of R&D was to develop stuff that would not be necessary for robotic mission. That of course, is only purely technical standpoint. Sending a bundle of motors, sensors and wires to Moon is nowhere as rewarding and prestigious as sending actual humans.

xiphias2 7y ago
From the link you sent it seems that Luna 9 didn't come back, that's why I wrote going and returning spaceship. From the movie about the Apollo mission it seemed that the humans had to learn a lot of real engineering and physical training as well, and just being able to push a ,,go back'' button wouldn't have been enough for the mission to be successful. Also sending a human without being able to return at least theoretically wouldn't have been ethical.
- lmilcin 7y ago
  Well, yes, it did not come back. But it also took a tiny fraction of Apollo development costs. I think I read an article that described that humans were given tasks that would normally be given to computers just to keep them occupied. For some task it was just convenient as humans were already on board. Some tasks were given so that astronauts were in control of their lives, otherwise they could just as well be performed from the ground. If you think about it, there is only 2s round trip time for signal from Earth to Moon. If the only thing astronauts do is sit in the cockpit, flip switches, type commands and maybe handle some kind of steering, the same thing could just as well be performed from Earth. There could of course be possibility for communication disruption but at the same time, with no actual people on board, less fallout from possible problems.
  - JoeAltmaier 7y ago
    Hm, 2 second delay loop earth-moon is unforgivably slow to perform landing procedures. Heck you can't ride a bicycle with anything longer than 0.1sec or so?
    - lmilcin 7y ago
      I would not say it is unforgivably slow. When it comes to landing things like keeping attitude and slowing down for touchdown are easily automated. Keeping attitude is what all rockets are designed to do. Slowing down for touchdown is also quite simple when you get precise distance to ground measurement and a human on Earth can point a relatively flat piece of ground to land on. SpaceX booster landings are difficult because of couple extra requirements. First, it is in Earth gravity and dense atmosphere and from high speed. Second, boosters are very long necessitating perfect stability at landing. Third, they use what is called "suicide burn" which means that boosters basically coast until almost end where they break very hard with basically nil margin for error. But this is in the name of efficiency because every kg of fuel saved on landing as many, many more that could not be taken to orbit. In other words, booster landing is very dynamic process. Compared to that landing on Moon surface were pretty simple and with relatively large margin for error. Landing on Moon surface could be done without large dynamic component like suicide burn. The craft can leisurely hover over the surface and touchdown with barely any speed. This is comparable to cheap quadcopter landing --keep your attitude straight, descend slowly loosing speed until it is zero at zero distance to ground.
      - JoeAltmaier 6y ago
        The first moon landing, they had 15 seconds of fuel remaining.

xiphias2 7y ago

From the link you sent it seems that Luna 9 didn't come back, that's why I wrote going and returning spaceship. From the movie about the Apollo mission it seemed that the humans had to learn a lot of real engineering and physical training as well, and just being able to push a ,,go back'' button wouldn't have been enough for the mission to be successful. Also sending a human without being able to return at least theoretically wouldn't have been ethical.

lmilcin 7y ago
Well, yes, it did not come back. But it also took a tiny fraction of Apollo development costs. I think I read an article that described that humans were given tasks that would normally be given to computers just to keep them occupied. For some task it was just convenient as humans were already on board. Some tasks were given so that astronauts were in control of their lives, otherwise they could just as well be performed from the ground. If you think about it, there is only 2s round trip time for signal from Earth to Moon. If the only thing astronauts do is sit in the cockpit, flip switches, type commands and maybe handle some kind of steering, the same thing could just as well be performed from Earth. There could of course be possibility for communication disruption but at the same time, with no actual people on board, less fallout from possible problems.
- JoeAltmaier 7y ago
  Hm, 2 second delay loop earth-moon is unforgivably slow to perform landing procedures. Heck you can't ride a bicycle with anything longer than 0.1sec or so?
  - lmilcin 7y ago
    I would not say it is unforgivably slow. When it comes to landing things like keeping attitude and slowing down for touchdown are easily automated. Keeping attitude is what all rockets are designed to do. Slowing down for touchdown is also quite simple when you get precise distance to ground measurement and a human on Earth can point a relatively flat piece of ground to land on. SpaceX booster landings are difficult because of couple extra requirements. First, it is in Earth gravity and dense atmosphere and from high speed. Second, boosters are very long necessitating perfect stability at landing. Third, they use what is called "suicide burn" which means that boosters basically coast until almost end where they break very hard with basically nil margin for error. But this is in the name of efficiency because every kg of fuel saved on landing as many, many more that could not be taken to orbit. In other words, booster landing is very dynamic process. Compared to that landing on Moon surface were pretty simple and with relatively large margin for error. Landing on Moon surface could be done without large dynamic component like suicide burn. The craft can leisurely hover over the surface and touchdown with barely any speed. This is comparable to cheap quadcopter landing --keep your attitude straight, descend slowly loosing speed until it is zero at zero distance to ground.
    - JoeAltmaier 6y ago
      The first moon landing, they had 15 seconds of fuel remaining.