|
|
Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jun 24, 2009 18:14:06 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jul 1, 2009 21:19:36 GMT
Well, that's that 2-part series over. My verdict: Well, I have read books on the moon landings and seen documentaries including the original footage, and also Tom Hanks in 'Apollo 13', so Part 1 and the first ten minutes of Part 2 were nothing new. HOWEVER, the rest of Part 2 moved me greatly, since I haven't read books or watched documentaries on what came after Apollo, in particular the two shuttle tragedies. This programme shows everything from film of the brave crews laughing and happy prior to their launch, to footage of the staff in mission control following the explosions. It really brings things home and tells you, this is reality. If you are like me and haven't paid so much attention to the astronauts post-Apollo, you really have to take a break from sci-fi and watch this here on iPlayer. I have lazily got into the mindset of saying, "Well, we went to the moon, and then lost interest and stopped going to the moon." That view is unfair really, because if Nasa had stuck with the Apollo programme, they wouldn't have had the resources to develop the first re-usable spacecraft (the shuttle), launch the Hubble Space Telescope, build the International Space Station and so on. Everything they have done since Apollo has been valuable work towards eventually going further into space. Some people raise the question of whether the space programme is worth the risks. There's no question in my mind. If governments have brave volunteers, and are willing to sacrifice thousands of them on the field of battle and still consider those questionable military endeavours worth the sacrifice, then surely it is worth single figure crew losses from time to time to bring mankind the knowledge of the universe that has come with Hubble, and take us (eventually) beyond the confines of this globe. Martin |
|
