In July of 1969 I walked outside my hooch in Chu Lai, Viet Nam, looked up at the moon and marveled, knowing Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were looking back at me from there.
In the '70's the Apollo missions included "cars" for our Astronauts to use like the one above so they could explore more of the moon's surface while there. Three of 'em... from Apollo 15, 16, and 17 are still up there.
"Been there, done that"... we began to take these missions for granted and wondered how long it would be before regular service to the moon would be established for us all.
And then? We lost vision. We started looking at costs, and sorta forgot about the cost/benefit analysis.
How would our lives be different today had we not had an Apollo program?
But exciting things are happening today.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are blazing new trails.
The moon? Mars? Beyond?
It's been 50 years since anything this wonderful has been considered.
I want to go back to the moon and establish a permanent base there. From the moon we can explore asteroids and mine exotic stuff. From the moon we can more easily get to Mars.
And those three "Rovers" are sitting there... not corroding 'cause there's no atmosphere, just waiting for someone to recharge their batteries and take a spin on that surface.
Bring one back home, please.
You'll be the center of attention at any "Classic Car" show!
4 comments:
When the original is literally "out of reach" go for the replica.
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/lunar-roving-vehicle-replica-nascar-race
Coolest thing about the Rover Ed?
The mesh tires.
Too expensive for the replica?
Too fragile for a 1g gravity.
That it would be! :-)
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