Two remarkable dates

[stranger]

Congratulation, gentlemen!
50 years ago humans from Earth stepped onto the Moon.
Let's remember another remarkable anniversary of this year. 500 years ago, 19 September 1519, Magellan sailed from Spain to begin first circumnavigation.

[Cody]

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

[Yah-Ta-Hey]

Yes, 2 great dates.
Sadly when the astronauts left the moon, they left behind mankind's legacy: discarded vehicles, space junk, litter ,photos. In the future, we will not be known as the species who conquered space but as the species who polluted space.

[Cody]

Two songs...

Blasting, billowing, bursting forth
With the power of ten billion butterfly sneezes
Man with his flaming pyre
Has conquered the wayward breezes
Climbing to Tranquility
Far above the cloud
Conceiving the heavens
Clear of misty shroud


Tranquility Base
There goes the neighbourhood
American garbage dumped in space
And no room left for brotherhood

[stranger]

Sadly when the astronauts left the moon, they left behind mankind's legacy: discarded vehicles, space junk, litter ,photos.

The same issue with Mt Everest too.
Think LEM descent stages and lunar rovers are not litter. It will be part of expositions on Moon local museums in future maybe, like Nansen's Fram and other historic vessels on Earth. It was no way to return descent modules and rovers in any case. Bags with litter is different sadly story indeed. And I don't understand reasons to leave on Moon unigue Hasselblad cameras - valuable artifacts for any space history museum too.

[Yah-Ta-Hey]

Mt. Everest..... yes, yes you are correct. not only junk, debris but even corpsicles to show the future residents what these disgusting, careless creatures actually looked like.

Also, when you look at the stars on a clear night, assuming that you can actually see the stars through the myriad satellites, space debris, rocket boosters there is hope that we can leave it all behind and start putting it all on Mars. The Chinese and Indians are doing us 1 better, They are putting it all on the back side of the moon where it can't be seen.

[Disembodied]

And I don't understand reasons to leave on Moon unigue Hasselblad cameras - valuable artifacts for any space history museum too.

I think that was probably to save weight: they wanted to bring as many rock samples as possible back with them, so they had to leave stuff behind. Every gram counts.

[CaptSolo]

What impressed me, and not necessarily in a positive way, is how the moon landing was politicized.

Then there was this which I heard for the first time watching a PBS program this past weekend:

"When you're finally up at the moon looking back on earth, all those differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend, and you're going to get a concept that maybe this really is one world and why the hell can't we learn to live together like decent people." Astronaut Frank Borman

'Tis a shame this did not become a reality.

[stranger]

What impressed me, and not necessarily in a positive way, is how the moon landing was politicized.

And the most evident part of this tendency is increasing popularity of Moon hoax idea. AFAIK it was originated in US but now it is extremely popular in Russia. Sadly indeed.
Due to modern telecommunication technologies we have now more ways to make one common world real. Alas, sometimes I think we have less desire to do it than 50 years ago.

[Cody]

And the most evident part of this tendency is increasing popularity of Moon hoax idea.

Moon hoax? Obligatory vid...

[Disembodied]

Moon hoax? Obligatory vid...

Also this one!