Welcome back!

The O should be fine, but that’s dependent on the key players staying relatively healthy, obviously. Same with the pass rush, really. Gregory and/or Chubb will probably get dinged at some point, but hopefully it’s not season ending, and if true, they will bring it, imo. Baron Browning is a star in the making, and Nick Bonitto has much promise as a pass rusher. Don’t worry about the ILB’s, they will be fine, health permitting.

I’m putting 9 wins as the floor, and how healthy they are will determine their ceiling, in my view. However, one thing I can probably promise without seeing them yet when the bullets are real is that no matter what, they won’t be boring. So we got that going for us.

Thanks will have to keep an eye on Browning.

I just have a weird feeling about this season, at the worst I think it could be a 1995 type of year, actually think next year will be better for some reason but maybe as we get into the season it will change.

China has passed the USA in space technology

Happy birthday, Gene!

Broncos: 6-11.

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There's an UP-side to that (quasi)-fact: One Less Conspiracy Theory!

United States already released detailed images of the moon's surface, with footprints and equipment left by Apollo missions:
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NASA and others hoped that, among other things, this would end rumors the moon landings were faked.

But conspiracy believers are tougher than that - they simply claimed the photos were faked too.


And that's where the Chinese came in. Recently they completed a comprehensive mapping of the lunar
surface. It is SO detailed, that it's images confirmed - inadvertantly confirmed - the leftover equipment
from Apollo missions - thereby proving we landed on the moon. Six times.
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It is exciting to think that Artemis is close to doing it's unmanned shake out return to orbit the moon. I have been waiting since I was 5 to see men walk on the moon again. I was just old enough to remember watching Apollo 17 on TV, they actually showed a lot of it during the day since it was the last Apollo mission.

Time to get out of Low Earth Orbit. Something none of the other private groups have been able to do yet.

What's your take on the Bronco season Buff?

Happy B-Day Gene!

OP, if you are not watching the Apple show For All Mankind you are missing out. You boy has a role in season 1.

They ****ing killed him off. I hate that show. I get the concept and I think Brannon Braga from STTNG is running the show but the way they let it play out was flawed.

All that said I watched every ****ing episode and found some things to like about it. It should have been called One Giant Leap. LOL

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Okay, me too ... moon landings are among the most memorable events ever for me. But what are the practical incentives we've identified to get back in the moon landing business? Artemis is gonna do an unmanned dry run? Oh maaaaaan!!. Why don't they make it entertaining for us - sign up a couppla chimpanzees and give then mazes and puzzles to do?

Speaking of low-Earth orbit ... the only human beings ever to go beyond low-Earth are the 24 (27?) Apollo astronauts right? 18 in missions that landed on the moon, and 6 (9?) in missions that did not? The Van-Allen belts apparently presented far less danger than some had feared.


I just checked some Artemis facts, and it's gonna land on the poles???

B-Steven, I've seen enough crazy horror movies in my day, I don't need one in real life!

Is it just me, or is this one scary sight?


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If SpaceX can land a rocket on the moon and then have it return to Earth and land again that would be awesome.

Steven,

I think that the Bronco's current situation is akin to NASA in early 1981.

The glory of the Apollo/Manning/Elway days has faded and seems a distant memory to those who lived through it and a new generation is growing up who is too young to remember it at all.

Now we need a new group to carry the torch. Werner von Braun and Chris Kraft are NOT coming through that door!

Fortunately, a new program is on the pad and almost ready to fly. And like John Young before him, Russell Wilson has been there before and proved his mettle.

The new program is exciting and has huge potential....but if we are honest, there is also a chance of failure because some of the subsystems (inside LB, right OT) have been supplied by the lowest bidder.

My hope is that Nathaniel Hackett proves to be the flight director --- the Kranz or Lunney --- that we all hope he will be.

I just finished Season 2 after starting a few weeks ago, holy crap what a show

The reason behind the Polar landings are the hopes to find enough of an Ice cache that they can build a base there to process the ice into water then separate it into rocket fuel. The plan is sound but it has taken well over 10 years to get this far. The way the government allows NASA to spend money we won't see a base that can process water in my life time.

The thing NASA refused to do back during Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo was all up flight testing. Even the shuttle was flown from a 747 so the pilots could work through the landing before committing to launch.

They didn't want to do Apollo 9's trip around the moon but feared the Russian's, who turns out were way behind us at that point, would be us to lunar orbit. That was as close a test to tomorrow's all up launch and mission as they got in the past. Even though Mercury, and Gemini proved capsules in low Earth orbit they still tested the 3 man Apollo capsule in low earth orbit before sending men up in Apollo7.

We have so much better tech than in the 60's and the cost of the lift vehicle is so much that it makes sense to send an unmanned craft all the way to the moon. Many of the low earth orbit Apollo missions used the smaller Saturn 1-B rocket, which needed a huge scaffold in order for the command module to reach the gantry used by the full stack Saturn V.

I hope everything goes well and we commit to the program and kids like I was fall in love with the space mission and choose to do other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard.

I also think the commitment to returning men to the moon and even Mars would be something to close this hideous divide in our country that has happened over the last 5 plus years.

I do think at some point we need to put a comms satellite around the moon so we have comms when capsules are on the dark side. We can make them so small now it would be dumb not to have a couple.

Exciting times again.

You didn't think I was going to miss that quote, did you?

As far as flight testing goes, I'm always struck by that ejection Armstrong was forced to make from that ridiculous looking Lunar lander practice vehicle just a few weeks before Apollo 11's launch.

And I've read that the Eagle's lunar landing was the closest-to-tragedy moment in the entire 11 mission.... is that true?


Mars - How will they carry enough fuel for the return trip? If they're worried about making extra fuel on a destination as close as the moon, where does that leave our would-be martians? Liquid is so heavy, and solid fuel can't be light can it?

And where are they going to find people who can retain their sanity 6 months out and 6 months back?



Yes exciting! How does Friday look for Artemis? They said there was a launch window on Friday, if they can figure out how to cool down that engine for fueling.


"When capsules are on the dark side"
I well remember Michael Collins' position back in 1969 ... as "the loneliest man in the history of mankind." There should be poems written about his and other #-3 Apollo astronaut's positions there.

Yep Apollo 11's landing probably wouldn't have happened if Neil wasn't the pilot.

It's been probably 15 years since I read the book on the X-15 program but Neil had a near catastrophic incident in his X-15 bouncing off the atmosphere and had to nose dive. He had to ignore his instruments and trust his training to land it back at Edwards. He was close to being scraped off the Rose Bowl.

When they were landing Apollo 11 I believe all but maybe Pete Conrad would have bailed out and aborted the landing when they went beyond the no return point in the midst of boulder field. There were issues with the landing computer because Buzz left the guidance computer on (which they didn't need at that point) so they landed long, outside of the intended LZ. Then after shutdown they weren't sure if the Eagle was on a boulder which would have caused gases to build up and explode or the ascent stage to blow up during liftoff. That is why if you listen to the loops or read the log after touch down it took them time to decide if it was safe to stay and do the walk.

As far as making rocket fuel on the moon they have a long way to go, I am no chemist but I don't think seperating hydrogen from water is that hard, but liquid Oxygen is cold so getting that stuff there like tanks and habitats are going to take time. Refueling is going to be hard too unless they decide to launch full tanks into orbit or send to Mars ahead of time from the Moon. At least launching from the Moon is easier than from Earth due to gravity.

6 months in space is nothing, that is why they keep people in the space station for such long deployments. The hardest part is dealing with being on the surface and being suited and dust getting everywhere.

I don't see why they can't launch Friday, that engine has flown before. If they can't get it down to temp then it will probably be an extended down time for repair.

Happy belated Gene.