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I just find it sad now, that those guys, who surely had cojones of solid steel, made that trip in that glorified baked bean tin, effectively for nothing! They went there, they did that, and then everybody gave up!
I disagree, for a number of reasons. Space exploration did not stop, we just realised there was no need to send someone to do the job when a robotic probe could do it just as well and without the risk! Just look at the number of missions that have taken place since Apollo, the Voyager probes, space stations such as Spacelab, MIR, and the ISS, the countless Mars Rovers, most of the Solar System has been explored and photographed in high definition, the Hubble and soon to become active James Webb space telescope. etc..
Apollo only really existed as an act of global superiority over the Russians. The Apollo technology was so advanced, it's taken us until recently to actually get ahead of that technological curve that was so far ahead of it's time - but then again Apollo had the budget to do that (again, something that has taken several decades for the USA to recover from!).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_ ... xploration
While I am sad that I have never had the honour of witnessing watching any form of interplanetary landing of a human being (I was born in 1981), it is exciting that technology once again is improving to the extent that I may actually be able to witness this in my lifetime - hopefully with the same amount of excitement as I watched most of the news coverage on the shuttle launches for 30 years! And Britain is one of the world leaders in space technology, past present and future.
If the technological side of the Apollo missions fascinates you as much as it does myself, I would recommend watching this video series on the restoration of the Apollo Guidance Computer:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... _x7-Ut_-w7
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1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint (
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