The Americans are going to the Moon

Hagar

Wahoo !!!

Aw wait a minute, only a few of them are going.

super_furry

There's oil on the moon now?

Lafortezza

super_furry wrote:

There's oil on the moon now?

No, WMD obv.

Rabies

Will this be their first trip out of the studio?

c - 13

They're whalers on the moon,
They carry a harpoon.
But there ain't no whales
So they tell tall tales
And sing a whaling tune.

Sorry

WhiteWashMan

Hagar wrote:

Wahoo !!!

Aw wait a minute, only a few of them are going.

linkie?

Hagar

Your wish is my command http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1242941,00.html

Rabies

Probably this, but it is old news.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6208456.stm

KTRIC

Can they prove that they were there this time around ??

Hagar

God help any [strike]Indians[/strike] sorry [strike]Native Americans[/strike] sorry Moonies they find there.

KTRIC

Hagar wrote:

God help any [strike]Indians[/strike] sorry [strike]Native Americans[/strike] sorry Moonies they find there.

I'm sure just before they launch there will be another attack on a major US city and GWB will blame it on the Moonies.

Beruthiel

Hagar wrote:

Aw wait a minute, only a few of them are going.

You do amuse me

Now..
Where's my naked men!?

Stephen

what a waste of money for them at a time when they're several trillion dollars in debt. :rolleyes:

connundrum

Stephen wrote:

what a waste of money for them at a time when they're several trillion dollars in debt. :rolleyes:

Smoke and mirrors

'What was that? You think we should concentrate on sorting the national debt out?? What sort of an American are you?! Were going to live on the moon, ON THE MOON FFS! Its the American dream! I think we should send up a few Canadians first though, just to test the water. God Bless America'

Hagar

Beruthiel wrote:

You do amuse me

Now..
Where's my naked men!?

Don't panic, there coming. I just don't want the missus to see me with it. She might think I've caught "teh ghey":D

digitally-yours

hahahaha absolutely bang on !!!

must be some oil there or may be moon needs Democracy:D too !!!

You know they have dictators on moon !

super_furry wrote:

There's oil on the moon now?

Sleepy

Am I the only one sad enough to be genuinely excited about this?

aidan_walsh

Sleepy wrote:

Am I the only one sad enough to be genuinely excited about this?

No. Its about bloody time we finally started getting all the cool stuff promised to us by kitsch 50s sci-fi. Real life science has been (relatively) crap in comparison.

Kingsize

god help mr spoon thats all i can say.
terrorist in charge of a rocket watching over the milkbottle militia he'll be renditioned no doubt.

Degsy

I beleive they're filming this latest moon landing in the same studio as the latest james bond movie.It saves money apparantly.

Hagar

They must have solved this problem and still have a shitload of money left to spend.

aidan_walsh

Degsy wrote:

I beleive they're filming this latest moon landing in the same studio as the latest james bond movie.It saves money apparantly.

Ah not a Moonraker remake...

kevmy

I really hope they go and do this. For all the piss pulling we do of Americans here no other country has the balls, ambition, money or expertise to do this. And feck the begruders because it's all in the spirit of exploration without which man would be stuck in the caves eatin berries.

Zapho

What an entire waste of time. 2020? They've already been to the moon back in the freakin 70s, and there's nothing there!

Feral Mutant

connundrum wrote:

'What was that? You think we should concentrate on sorting the national debt out?? What sort of an American are you?! Were going to live on the moon, ON THE MOON FFS!

Well, they have to find a new location. People are getting tired of the "Under the Sea" answer for everything.

Aren't bits of the moon being sold off? How's that going to affect it? I guess it's pretty big, with no oceans there's probably more free land on the moon than occupied land on Earth.

ScumLord

Oh ya sure their all going to live on the moon where they'll be forever safe from terrorists, freak hurricains and poor people.

If they do set up this base does that essentialy mean they own the moon?

Beruthiel

Hagar wrote:

Don't panic, there coming. I just don't want the missus to see me with it. She might think I've caught "teh ghey":D

but with taste!

c - 13

ScumLord wrote:

If they do set up this base does that essentialy mean they own the moon?

That was something I was wondering myself, just because they're the first there they can lay claim to it ? Wont be long before the space lawyers are up in arms over the whole thing.

aidan_walsh

c - 13 wrote:

That was something I was wondering myself, just because they're the first there they can lay claim to it ? Wont be long before the space lawyers are up in arms over the whole thing.

Believe it or not, the UN proposed a treaty to cover this way back in '79. It wasn't a great success, but bless they tried.

c - 13

Cheers for those links aidan, interesting reading.

Looks like anyone that bought a space on the moon was even more scammed than they thought -
Bans any ownership of any property by any organization or person, unless that organization is international and governmental.

ambro25

Feral Mutant wrote:

Aren't bits of the moon being sold off? How's that going to affect it? I guess it's pretty big, with no oceans there's probably more free land on the moon than occupied land on Earth.

Eureka! But of course! Cracked it! They're going to pick up moon bits to auction off and pay for their national debt, now that commercial technology has caught up in the form of eBay

Hagar

c - 13 wrote:

Looks like anyone that bought a space on the moon was even more scammed than they thought

Whaaattt !!!! Well at least I still have the two seagulls I bought at the beach last summer.

Feral Mutant

Apparently sales of extraterrestrial real estate are not legally recognised by any nation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_real_estate
Also, some people have been selling "parcels of space".

Wikipedia Article wrote:

As early as 1937, A.D.Lindsay of Ocilla, Georgia claimed all “planets, islands-of-space or other matter” in the Universe as his property.

Ambitious chap.

Degsy

There'll be irish vampire property developers making money out of this somehow.They've allready conned people into buying in bulgaria and romania and christ knows where else based on the "equity value" of thier homes..the moon will ne next ,mark my words with "prices starting from 80,000 euro for a one bed unit"."The investment of the future."

Tom Dunne

Kingsize wrote:

god help mr spoon thats all i can say.
terrorist in charge of a rocket watching over the milkbottle militia he'll be renditioned no doubt.

Get your map of the solar system out, there Kingsize - it's the Earth moon, not Button Moon they are going to. We just don't have the technology to get to Button Moon.


Yet....

Kojak

c - 13 wrote:

They're whalers on the moon,
They carry a harpoon.
But there ain't no whales
So they tell tall tales
And sing a whaling tune.

Sorry

Damn it that song is stuck in my head now. :mad:

Hobbes

Even money says China will have the first moonbase. Failing that India.

Black Swan

They plan to colonize the Moon. Penal colonies! Move all the prisoners they don't know what to do with from Cuba, Iraq (and from other hidden places we haven't heard about). Gitmo 2 Moon Base!

digitally-yours

well they hardly have any reputation here on this planet so they i believe are thinking why not change the planet and start a new life

I wish them best of luck

cant wait to eat in a Mc donalds on Moon !

Sad Professor

Ah to hell with the moon, lets go to Mars already. There's good reason they haven't gone back to the moon since the 70's - cause there's nothing there.

aidan_walsh

What about putting a base there to use as a launch pad to Mars?

Degsy

Why not the sun?Thats the hottest place on earth!They could have holidays there.

Sad Professor

aidan_walsh wrote:

What about putting a base there to use as a launch pad to Mars?

Does it make a difference? Its not like the moon is that much closer to Mars.

Hagar

Degsy wrote:

Why not the sun? Thats the hottest place on earth!

I think I see a problem here...

ScumLord

aidan_walsh wrote:

Believe it or not, the UN proposed a treaty to cover this way back in '79. It wasn't a great success, but bless they tried.

If the Americans get there first though they can just start using up whatever parts of the moon they fancy. Would anyone have the right to make them move?

digitally-yours wrote:

cant wait to eat in a Mc donalds on Moon !

McDonnalds would be deadly on the moon, lack of gravity and even air resistance would cause people to ballon to the size of bullocks! Then they'd float away into space like those ballons in batman.

aidan24326

Stephen wrote:

what a waste of money for them at a time when they're several trillion dollars in debt. :rolleyes:

Bit narrow-sighted Stephen? fcuk the yanks and their national debt, they'll just print more dollars anyway, or invade another resource-rich country. Space exploration is for the potential benefit of all mankind.

And space exploration must necessarily be done in small steps, due to the high costs and the time it takes to plan and engineer. But a base on the moon, and a manned mission to mars, would be the next 'giant leap'. Not a waste of money at all, humans may one day live on another planet, this is only the beginning.

Thirdfox

Sad Professor wrote:

Does it make a difference? Its not like the moon is that much closer to Mars.

Lack of atmosphere means you don't need to consider aerodynamics.

Gravity 1/6th that of the Earth means you can use less fuel to escape orbit (just think of all the fuel wasted just getting the rocket into space in the first place - all the boosters etc. are just used to launch a tiny payload into space...)

Sad Professor

Thirdfox wrote:

Lack of atmosphere means you don't need to consider aerodynamics.

Gravity 1/6th that of the Earth means you can use less fuel to escape orbit (just think of all the fuel wasted just getting the rocket into space in the first place - all the boosters etc. are just used to launch a tiny payload into space...)

Yeah but won't they will still have to fly the spaceship/shuttle from the earth to the moon anyway? So the moon base would just be a stopping off point. Unless they intend to build it there, which would be rather difficult and costly I imagine.

kevmy

Sad Professor wrote:

Yeah but won't they will still have to fly the spaceship/shuttle from the earth to the moon anyway? So the moon base would just be a stopping off point. Unless they intend to build it there, which would be rather difficult and costly I imagine.

It could be beneficial in that extra fuel tanks could be stored on the moon and therefore lightening the load needed to get off the ground. Keep in mind that they usually use gravity slingshot to come back from the moon cos they've feck all fuel left after getting out there.
It would also be useful in that the crew could practice landing on the moon on the way to Mars to make sure systems are working correctly.
And if the spaceship is massive it might actually be easier to make in space a la the ISS instead of attempting to launch it straight from Earth.

Degsy

kevmy wrote:

It could be beneficial in that extra fuel tanks could be stored on the moon and therefore lightening the load needed to get off the ground. Keep in mind that they usually use gravity slingshot to come back from the moon cos they've feck all fuel left after getting out there.
It would also be useful in that the crew could practice landing on the moon on the way to Mars to make sure systems are working correctly.
And if the spaceship is massive it might actually be easier to make in space a la the ISS instead of attempting to launch it straight from Earth.

Erm..i sincerely hope NASA arent using you blokes as consultants on th:D is projetct...

homeOwner

They are probably going to the moon because the Chinese are planning to go soon and the americans have to go first to put that US flag in the ground that we all think is there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3874419.stm