Canadian - Scientist | 1955 -
Trying to build a spaceship by making an aeroplane fly faster and higher is like trying to build an aeroplane by making locomotives faster and lighter - with a lot of effort, perhaps you could get something that more or less works, but it really isn't the right way to proceed.
Henry Spencer
EffortFlyTryingYouBuildWay
As plans for the first lunar landing started to be made, nobody had really thought about who would be out first.
ThoughtNobodyPlansFirstOutMade
The original specifications for Apollo navigation called for the ability to fly a complete mission, including a lunar landing, with no help from Earth - none, not even voice communications.
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Speaking of photography, while the Apollo 8 crew shot hundreds of photos, there was one that got everybody's attention: a blue-and-white Earth rising over a gray moonscape.
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In a small spacecraft, it was hard for the other two guys to sleep when the on-duty man was talking to Mission Control regularly.
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Claiming that solid rockets are necessary for a heavy-lift launcher is obvious nonsense.
NonsenseObviousSolidNecessary
Large solid rockets have never been a very good way to build launchers that might have crews on top, especially because of the problems in getting the crew away from a failing launcher.
GoodProblemsBuildWayNeverTop
It's true that Apollo 10's lander was overweight. Late in the craft's development, it became clear that its ballooning weight was endangering the whole mission.
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Developing expendable rockets is always going to be painful and expensive. Throwing the whole rocket away on each attempt not only costs a lot, it also hampers figuring out just what went wrong because you don't get the rocket back for inspection.
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Reusable rockets promise much easier testing because you should usually get them back, and you can debug as you go rather than having to get everything perfect the first time.
TimeSpaceYouPerfectBackGo
If your goal is to change the world, you can't start by doing things the same old way because it sells better.
ChangeChange The WorldWorldStart
The key virtue of orbital assembly is that it eliminates the tight connection between the size of the expedition and the size of the rockets used to launch it.
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