I also watched the first lunar landing live as a kid. I’ve been a NASA fan ever since.

Only 12 people have walked on the moon.

Quote:

Neil Armstrong - Apollo 11 - July, 1969
Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin - Apollo 11 - July, 1969
Charles "Pete" Conrad - Apollo 12 - November, 1969
Alan Bean - Apollo 12 - November, 1969
Alan Shepard - Apollo 14 - February, 1971
Edgar Mitchell - Apollo 14 - February, 1971
David Scott - Apollo 15 - July, 1971
James Irwin - Apollo 15 - July, 1971
John Young - Apollo 16 - April, 1972 (also on Apollo 10, without landing)
Charles Duke - Apollo 16 - April, 1972
Eugene Cernan - Apollo 17 - December, 1972 (also on Apollo 10, without landing)
Harrison Schmitt - Apollo 17 - December, 1972



It’s hard to believe we haven’t been back in 40 years and we’re now reduced to hitching a ride with the Russians on 30+ year old technology just to get to the space station.

The space station is only 220 miles away. The average distance between the Moon and the Earth is 384,403 kilometers (238,857 miles).

As for Mars:

Quote:

The nearest that Mars has ever been to the Earth is 56 million km or about 34.8 million miles. On the opposite end of the scale, Mars and Earth can be a whopping 401 million km (249 million miles) apart when they are in opposition and both are at aphelion. The average distance between the two is 225 million km (140 million miles).



The makes the complicated landing of an SUV sized rover pretty impressive. I’m looking forward to seeing what it finds. With the equipment on this rover, it could be pretty exciting.

Funding NASA is important to the future of our advancement as a species. And it’s also pretty cool to watch.

Bob
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http://soundcloud.com/bobcflatpicke/music-in-the-mountains