The latest Moon mission has launched, although it has a long way to go yet. I anticipate smooth sailing since Elon Musk was not involved.
Congratulations, NASA!
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Let’s hope they can avoid the starlink debris.
Superluminous news! (Beyond just brilliant.)
Been hoping to see this happen all my life and a ray of hope and reminder of the extraordinary good things we Humans can build and fly at our best! Loving this.
Aussie ABC news has live blog updates here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-02/artemis-ii-launch-abc-live-blog-moon-mission/106513102
FWIW.
Oh and despite the Trumpists loathing of Diversity Equality & Inclusion the first African -American & first women are now headed Moonwards too. (Well almost now – currently orbiting Earth -stillneed the Trasnlunar injection burn but still.)
Even if I am less impressed – remembering the Apollo launches I watched, and the heroic accomplishments of early NASA – I understand that this and other manned missions to the Moon are necessary if NASA is going to get the budget for the more important uncrewed missions, like launching telescopes that can find terrestrial planets near sun-like stars.
.
And it is nice to watch a rocket that is not designed to kill someone.
.
I wish NASA had provided more data in the TV coverage, like elapsed time, speed, altitude and horizontal distance travelled. Also commentary about stage separations and other events coming up.
It is a lot of things happening, crammed into a very short time. NASA is underselling itself by not trying to explain to the viewers what they get for their tax dollars while events are unfolding.
Meanwhile, Space X provides a lot of information (and on-board camera footage).
I don’t want NASA to be in the shadow of space Karen.
, eh?
Good going, Birger.
Shows who you are.
Live coverage from the Integrity spacecraft here – NASA’s Artemis II Live Views from Orion for yáll.
@3. birgerjohansson :“I don’t want NASA to be in the shadow of space Karen.”
Felon Musk is worse than a space Karen – he’s a Space Nazi.
[meta]
StevoR:
The referent is SpaceX.
From you, who has often tried to separate SpaceX from its founder and boss regarding merits, it’s rather rich.
Now you fucking do the same thing you railed against: using both interchangeably.
Shows who you are, too.
(I should not by now be disappointed by that, though I sort of am. I had hoped for better from you)
Intresting footnote to this mission here, the first African-American lunar astronaut Victor Glover :
Source linked here : https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2026/03/30/infinite-thread-xxxix/comment-page-1/#comment-2296949
Altho’ as noted by #73 whheydt the amount would be a rounde d error if diverted to social welfare anyhow. We can do both.
@ 6. John Morales : Musk is a (space) nazi and it was Musk who was being referred to by birgerjohansson.
SpaceX the company are NOT nazis altho’ Musk owns them. SpaceX’s mission & purpose, their raison d’être, is advancing rocketry and space exploration science. A practical scientific & NOT a political ideological mission.
I’ve made that distinction in the past and still think it holds and was specifically referring to Musk in my #5. As noted before many times, I wish someone else would take over and run SpaceX since I hate Musk but love SpaceX’s work and achievements. I’ve made that pretty clear before and thought it was clear enough there but for the record, well, see above.
I think the confusion of meaning there was yours not mine but anyhow hope this clariifies it.
StevoR, much as I don’t like kicking kitties and puppies, I feel I should chide you.
“We can do both.”
Clearly, since “we” are doing both. Duh.
If we are doing both, obviously we can do both.
(Inanity to the max!)
—
No. He is neither a Nazi or a space. He is a bloke. You don’t like him, fair enough.
He cares not about you, does not even know your feeble insults. That’s the asymmetry.
And no. Birger is specifically referring to SpaceX.
“Other operators” being the operative phrase, here: “I wish NASA had provided more data in the TV coverage, like elapsed time, speed, altitude and horizontal distance travelled. Also commentary about stage separations and other events coming up.”
There (the other thread where Lynna can’t cope with my not dialling it down): “I am used to other operators providing on-screen data about velocity, altitude et cetera but NASA only provided elapsed time.”
“SpaceX the company are NOT nazis altho’ Musk owns them.”
Yeah. Like that, is your equivocal vacillation. Obvious as fuck.
Oh yes, space Karen. Female-coded attempted insult. Your call.
—
PS “I wish someone else would take over and run SpaceX since I hate Musk but love SpaceX’s work and achievements.”
Since Musk founded the fucking enterprise and has run it ever since, you love the work and achievements he created.
(Logic, can you even)
Toilet on the Artemis is broken.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nasa-confirms-groundbreaking-toilet-aboard-artemis-ii-is-immediately-broken/vi-AA1ZXhqD?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=69cdd280e5404bde99fe23ca646f8e9c&ei=39
First the toilets on the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford don’t work, now the toilet on the Artemis is broken. WTF is going on with American engineering and toilets?
[meta]
stuffin, be aware your link has embedded trackers. Microsoft network does that.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nasa-confirms-groundbreaking-toilet-aboard-artemis-ii-is-immediately-broken/vi-AA1ZXhqD is the actual URL.
The added parameters (after the ampersand) are
ocidthe source channel (Edge/News tab),pcproduct/platform code,cvidthe correlation‑vector session/click ID for telemetry, andeithe experiment/UI variant; all Microsoft tracking and A/B‑testing identifiers automatically appended to MSN links.Obs, I stripped them before checking your adduced link. Because I don’t like to be tracked or adding to their database about what punters share from them.
(They do rely on the clueless)
[ack, just noticed on refresh; after the question mark the parameters start — the ampersand is the key value pair separator.
I was too inattentive there. In my dotage, alas]
The little kid who was glued to the screen for the space shuttle launches probably would not have believed how indifferent his older version would be about this launch.
Even for the unmanned test I had the live stream running while at work.
Now, looking at the absurdity of the whole project, with no lander currently ready and the projects for them in development by two greedy fascist tech bros, and everything else going on in the world, I just can’t care.
The orange pimple’s bragging about the launch and “his” other “achievements” adds the rotten cherry to the pile of shit.
@ ^ mordred : Well, that’s a shame and not sentiments I share. Personally I’m loving this and all the more so perhaps because its such a contrast between the other bad news and grimness in the world and this which is wonderful science, engineeering and showing the very best people can do instead of our worst.
Its provding a good and necessary for mental health distraction from the other horrible news right now. I don’t think I’m alone in that.
StevoR,
“Its provding a good and necessary for mental health distraction from the other horrible news right now.”
For some, perhaps. That distraction may be necessary for you, but it’s only a distraction to such as need it.
I myself am not in any way distracted.
And, obs, no distraction does not detract from the demonstrable.
Feel free to tell me more about how is something about which you are distracted, even though you post about it.
“I don’t think I’m alone in that.”
If you were distracted, you’d not be complaining and imagining.
—
But sure. Don’t search for how much this stupid Middle East war is costing. Its consequences.
All that shit. That’s reality.
Instead, be distracted by this fly-by.
(Whooo!)
I honestly didn’t know the mission was manned until after the launch. Still don’t care. More than anything Musk has made space so uncool I would rather watch a documentary about earthworms.
Erlend: “I honestly didn’t know the mission was manned until after the launch.”
Ahem:
Christina Hammock Koch
Mission Specialist
It is crewed, not merely ‘manned’.
(That ‘u’ is handy: uncrewed, unmanned)
I was so nervous, because of the earlier news about hydrogen leakage during a test.
And now im very happy that all is going well, wishing that the astronauts can complete their mission and return safely (priority to return safely).
Earthworms are awesome!
The hilarity of trying to make “karen” the equivalent of a racial epithet.
@13: The kid who was glued to the screen for the Gemini and Apollo launches is having trouble getting excited about this one. And I’m not even sure why. Old and cynical? (And there’s lots to be cynical about these days).
I wish that the money being spent on the foolish and destructive war with Iran was being spent on NASA instead.
@10. stuffin : Metaphor made all too real? The USA and its works literally down the toilet, well, stuffed up toilets anyhow?
FWIW I read somewhere that the toilets on that aircraft carrier had been deliberately sabotaged by their crew as a form of protest although I haven’t yet fact-checked that and not sure if that’s true or not.
@9. John Morales :
Yeah, except a lot of people seem to argue that space exploration esp the human variety is a waste of money that should go to welfare instead whereas my point was that actually we can do – & yes are doing – both and that the amount of $$$ spent on space exploration isn’t a waste and wouldn’t make that much difference if split amongst the welfare system in the broader scheme of things. Perhaps that’s too obvs a point but there’s a lot of people who still – wrongly – argue against space exploration for that financial practical reason hence my repeated rebuttal of it.
Actually Felon Musk is a nazi -that salute at Trump’s inauguration was a bit of a giveaway as is his blatant racism and funding and support for reaching movements globally.
Also Musk is the world’s richest man and an incredibly p[powerful one which make him being a nazi a huge worry and him far from just an ordinary “bloke” – your deliberately minimizing language & lexical choice with connotations there noted.
I don’t care that Musk doesn’t care or know about me. I’m still gunna describe Musk accurately and call him out as what he is. Anazi, a racist, a transphobic scumabg and so on. You? (He doesn’t know or care about you defending him either natch. )
Nope. “Space Karen” being birgerjohansson’s exact words in #3. A “Karen” is an individual person NOT a company. Musk being that person as clear from context. A company – despite idiotic USA laws – is NOT a person in reasonable terms.
“I don’t want NASA to be in the shadow of space Karen” being the operative phrase here. Admittedly, comparing NASA the public organisation with Musk a private individual referred to derisorily by nickname isn’t as clear as it could be.
Um, if you think it is wrong to make that distinction between an owner and their company then why do you think that? Yes, I think the distinction is pretty obvs. I also think it matters and is a meaningful distinction. Others here seem to have difficulty separating the two things I’ve noticed hence my repetition of that distinction and its importance.
Birgerjohansson’s call in #3 actually. I corrected that from “Space Karen” to “Space nazi.” Nazi NOT being gender coded FWIW.
Yes, I can (do) logic. (Nuance & context even too!)
No, Musk didn’t create all the work and achievements – that would be the engineers and the literal rocket scientists and test pilots, astronauts and other essential if lower profile employees rather than just him. The workers who did the work not the boss who took the credit.
Also, I will give some credit to Musk where it is due & I’ve noted beforehand that Musk has degenerated from what he used to be back a decade (?) or so ago when SpaceX rather than fascist politics was his main obsession. Musk’s views have since changed and become much more radical and extreme and his focus has turned from things that are helping the world to things that are actively harming it. From rising into orbit and beyond to falling back regressively into fascism on earth.
As Musk has become more radical or been exposed as more evil and focused more on doing evil, his suitability as CEO and leader has changed for the worse. Musk is not who he used to be and isn’t fit for the role of SpaceX CEO as he used to be when that was his primary focus rather than spreading fascism which seems to be Musk’s first priority now.
Musk may not be involved, but Boeing is. Just as bad, but for different reasons.
John Morales @9:
“No. He is neither a Nazi or a space. He is a bloke.”
That is so counterfactual that only a dedicated troll would make that claim. There is overwhelming evidence to the affirmative that he IS a Nazi. Nazis were racists, but not all racists were/are Nazis. He even assisted getting Apartheid South African racists into the US by declaring them to be a discriminated against minority. And he continually expresses Nazi “sympathies”:
“The fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is EMPATHY” — Elon Musk
And of course he shut down USAID, resulting in the deaths of perhaps a million starving people, mostly children. Exactly what one would expect a feeble-minded vindictive psychopathic racist to do (both Felon45 and Musk qualify here). And copying the US SS database and even making it accessible to Russia was a genuine humanitarian gesture, right?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk_salute_controversy
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/09/nx-s1-5462609/grok-elon-musk-antisemitic-racist-content
https://www.epi.org/policywatch/doge-shuts-down-usaid/
https://time.com/7336327/doge-disbanded-elon-musk/
https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2025/03/16/impacts-of-terminating-usaid-united-states-agency-for-international-developement/
Your claim rests on “Bloke’s can’t be Nazis”? Then what are Nazis? Trees? Rocks? Insects? While the Nazis and Apartheid have common racist inspired goals, the end results differed. For example, the South African apartheid was not anti-Jewish, (unless, of course, they were black). And apartheid started with the Dutch, rather than the Germans. Musk likes both forms of racism.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jewisocistud.16.3.32
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid
“(Logic, can you even)”
Project much? Your postings commonly show projections in your zeal to defend the indefensible, as well as an absolute incomprehension of what irony even means.
Musk is a VERY unserious person, continually making counterfactual claims, and the more moronic members of the press happily report them as facts, while his dedicated cult members try to sanewash his nonsensical claims. His pseudoscientific answer to “what is Tesla doing about their camera sun glare blinding problem?” is a prime example. His response was that the problem was solved some time ago (it still has not been solved), by using “direct photon counting”. The technically illiterate reporter did not push back on that totally nonsensical answer. The Tesla cameras are incapable of performing “any form of photon counting” and photon counting only works at very low light levels, the exact opposite of the sunlight glare conditions. Any photon counting tells you nothing about the shape of the light emitting/reflecting source.so there can be no actual “object” detected to avoid. He may as well have said that the cartoon Road Runner’s Wile E. Coyote bought the solution from ACME.
The Vegas loop with FSD Teslas, that actually require drivers, and has been shown to be about as fast as walking due to the slow driving speeds and the wait times to get picked up.
The up to 750 MPH vacuum tunnel Hyperloop between LA and SF, abandoned after spending 100s of millions spent on that infeasible boondoggle. Ironically, much of Musks ideas are actually found in the 1930s, and even earlier, pulp publications. “Wasn’t the Future Wonderful” has a collection of pulp publication writings from the 1930s, etc.
https://www.slashgear.com/1284109/whatever-happened-to-elon-musks-hyperloop/
https://www.highspeedrailcanada.com/2025/10/the-end-of-line-why-worlds-hyperloop.html
His 4,000 MPH vacuum undersea Hypertunnel between NY and London is even more ludricus. Fortunately, it will never be built by him, or by anyone else. Pumping down such a large volume would require A vacuum failure at 4,000 MPH sounds wonderful.
And FSD AI autonomously driven Teslas are just around the corner, and have been for at least a decade. In 2016 he produced a faked video of a self-driving Tesla, claiming that it would be available by no later than the end of 2017. It still does not exist. He claimed that the Tesla Roadster was in production in 2017, and about a thousand ultracredulous fools put down deposits. Of course none have been delivered to date, and musk claimed last year that they are entering production by the end of 2024. And now that will also have an amazing expensive option to fly as well. A few of the reservation payers have finally caught on, and tried to cancel their reservation, only to discover that the cancel button no longer exists on the Tesla Roadster webpage. This causes a lot of red tape and plain obstruction to getting a refund. And any eventual refund is not 100% of the reservation fee, for alleged Tesla paperwork expenses.
Musk is a Nazi and apartheid grifter, and apologetics to the contrary are, thus far, not exactly convincing.
@22. springa73 : “I wish that the money being spent on the foolish and destructive war with Iran was being spent on NASA instead.”
Getting a bit old now (yikes a year off a decade!) but still one of my fave ever yt clips here – What if NASA had the US Military’s Budget? 5 mins 35 secs long.
I wish the English language had somewhat less precise terms. I assumed “Karen” had by now become a non-gendered term like American “dick” (and that Brit English term that offends Americans).
Also, I am certain there are plenty of perfectly decent people working in Space X. The problem is, they work for a person with “problematic” ideas on race, gender & social issues and he is – judging by the Doge fiasco – about as destructive as DJT and Miller.
The idea of people like this having input into long-term space policies and funding is unsettling.
Professor Tim Wilson:
“The Moon launch and Tintin” aka the first detailed plausible narrative of a moon landing, with a vision of a shared humanity going ahead instead of nationalism (there was an American moon film coming a few years before Herge’s vision that was very Ayn Rand-ish).
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=n3N7hffVHhA
In conclusion, my hopes for the space program aligns closely with Herge, and not at all with the South African guy (the one who wants to breed as many children as possibly, because he thinks he is the optimal ancestor).
@ John Morales #17: I’m using the gender neutral version of “man”.
I guess no one here bothered to read all the articles by credible tech. writers that talk about how the heat shield falls apart in re-entry jeopardizing everyone in that decrepit old capsule! I guess many of you are too busy being obsessively pedantic about grammar and word usage. WTF!
@1 larpar wrote: Let’s hope they can avoid the starlink debris.
I reply: good catch. The starlink satellites must perform thousands of dodging maneuvers each day and they do keep blowing up. EMTTTC (Everything Musk Touches Turns To Crap).
Also, for those who care about privacy, firefox will offer the option to ‘copy clean link’ which eliminates tracking elements in urls. John Morales did make a good point about that.
Since the Lunar flyby is likely to be close to Easter, I wonder what type of religious propaganda/BS is going to be coming from NASA or the astronauts. At least one astronaut has said something like – there are no atheists on top of rockets.
I was just watching the live feed and they mentioned a successful wastewater dump.
When we look for alien life, maybe we’re looking for the wrong thing.
@ ^ fishy : Umm, becoz? There’s a lot of toxic water out in space already. The radiation and lack of pressure would make it simultaneously freeze & boil. Radiation would break down the chemicals & any bacteria & if memory serves urine is sterile anyhow.
Usually eg on the ISS water is recycled from urine and feces but clearly not this time if what you heard is correct – albiet the Orion carft does now have a “proper” space toilet aboard. Scott Manley has this video on it here – 20 mins long.
@ shermanj :
Which articles by who exactly?
What would make them more credible than the rocket scientists and experts would have given this mission the okay?
“Decreipt old capsule!?” Odd description there that seems absolutely false & ludicrous actually. WTF say that indeed.
Gather there were some issues with the heat shield that wer efixed and / or they adjusted the re-entry trajectory to solve that issue. So known problem and fixed.
As for obsessing over word useage here. Nah.
NASA has their live Mission Coverage (Official Broadcast) for Artemis II here if folks want to see how its going. Just had a good interview with all astronauts.
@ StevoR
If you’re puzzled why even old space nuts like me and your old buddy Phil Plait aren’t as… *ahem* over the moon about this as you are, here’s a really good video. I’ve no idea who this person is, the algorithm just suggested it to me, but thank you algorithm because it’s really well reasoned and comprehensive. You will appreciate it, if not enjoy it.
@38 Silentbob
I used to be a big fan of Phil Plait back when I could figure out where he was posting articles at. It’s fine to point out Congress’s unwillingness to fund another Apollo program, but PP seems to have an ideological commitment to promoting private spaceflight. I think his opinions specifically on SLS and SpaceX are compromised by his financial entanglements with SpaceX — he will unfailingly shit on the former and gloss over problems with the latter.
I may have disagreed at the time, but it was a levelheaded appraisal of SpaceX at the time the article was published (2023).
I read it assuming Phil Plait published it a few hours ago, which made it sound absolutely bonkers. I should reiterate the intervening years have bolstered my position on the danger of allowing a nation’s spacefaring capability to languish and surrendering it to
fascistsprivate finance.@38. Silentbob : Okay, will check that out later. I think Phil Plait has given up on blogging sadly. Didn’t know he’d been published at Inverse wherever that is. Do really miss his blog which used to be on Slate and his own one before that..
Are we there yet?
While we’ve got “beholder” and “StevoR” under the one roof, is this an appropriate time to ask Stevo if he thinks Artemis (a Trump initiative) would ever have happened under a Harris administration? Or is that just too cruel?
Stevo, naybe you should be congratulating “beholder” since they apparently single handedly elected Trump (without voting for him as far as I understand Stevo logic).
in this political climate, i’m wondering why they called it ‘integrity’.
/cynicism
@36 steveo asked about orion safety:
I reply:
a simple duckduckgo search reveals many articles like these that question the safety of the orion capsule:
Experts Warn That There’s Something Wrong With the Moon … – Futurism
Jan 23, 2026Some experts aren’t convinced of NASA’s reassurances that the Orion spacecraft, which will house its Moon astronauts, is safe to use.
https://futurism.com/space/experts-warn-moon-rocket-nasa-heat-shield
https://spacenews.com/nasa-finds-but-does-not-disclose-root-cause-of-orion-heat-shield-erosion/
nasa-finds-but-does-not-disclose-root-cause-of-orion-heat-shield-erosion
Oct 29, 2024NASA has determined why the Orion heat shield lost more material than expected on Artemis 1 but won’t disclose details until after it completes more tests.
@ 43. Silentbob : Do I think Artemis (an
TrumpObamainitiative) would ever have happened under a Harris administration?Yes. Yes I do.
Note :
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program#History
Of course, I do think Obama should have continued with the Constellation rather than cancelling that but that’s another story.
Oh do fuck off with that absolute bullshit!
I never said “single-handed”* and as I’ve told you many times YES the Trump helping probable Trumpy troll here “beholder” DID actually vote for Trump.
There were two choices – Kamala or Trump. Our Trumpist troll argued against and voted against Kamala thereby helping Trump win.
As well as effectively arguing for Trump and the Repugs for years – attacking only the ONLY opposition party to them – and they are still doing so even now and have refused to admit they were wrong.
What part of that do you, Silentbob, FAIL to understand?
I’ve told you and before and asked you to answer these questions here before :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/05/16/mokele-mbembe/#comment-2265477
You have failed to answer and keep repeating things you know to be untrue.
You know what that makes you? A troll and I thought we frowned on those here?
.* See here frex :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/05/03/mix-harvard-and-the-ny-times-to-get-perfect-mush/comment-page-1/#comment-2264154
Also it is clear that definitely voter suppression and maybe Musk cheating also robbed Kamala.
@ 45. shermanj : Okay, thanks for the links.
Your first link from 2026 Jan 23rd says :
But then your second link there from 2024 October 29th says :
So seems your first link is more up to date and over-rides your second.
In my view, the actual rocket scientists of NASA know what they are doing and their expertise and knowledge and here over-rides that of their critics and as noted, they are aware of the heat shield issue and have taken steps to address and fix that.
You think the critics know better than the people working directly on the Artemis program who have built and bear responsibility if things go wrong?
I don’t & think it’s the other way around. Guess we’ll soon see.
If memory serves there were “experts” claiming the first human rockets couldn’t work even the day before they flew so, yeah.
I strongly disagree with your characterisation in #31 of the Orion spacecraft as a “decrepit old capsule” which seems totally baseless and which I notice you have (wisely) failed to defend.
Your apparent animosity towards the Artemis program puzzle some and I’d like to know exactly what your problem with it is.
^ puzzles me..
@46
For the record, StevoR, we’ve corrected you enough times that you must know you’re repeating falsehoods about me every time you have one of these tantrums.
It doesn’t make you a troll, but you do share a few elements of dishonesty, shamelessness, and hyperpartisan shit-flinging. By all means, keep it up — I enjoy the attention, but I think the other regulars have gotten tired of your fits approximately 514 days ago.
@47 stevor wrote: I strongly disagree with your characterisation in #31 of the Orion spacecraft as a “decrepit old capsule” which seems totally baseless and which I notice you have (wisely) failed to defend.
Your apparent animosity towards the Artemis program puzzle some and I’d like to know exactly what your problem with it is.
I reply: On this launch the aged artemis capsule ‘waste disposal’ system failed and they had to play plumber. The amateurish microsoft computer crashed and nasa had to ‘remote in’ and futz with it and finally fix it. Based on decades of certified technical experience in aerospace (see next paragraph) by me and those in our organization, space faring equipment shouldn’t be so full of defects. That justifies the label’decrepit old capsule’ in our minds.
You don’t know me well enough to state I am leveling animosity at the program. I am criticizing the deterioration all the systems in our society. Members of our organization have worked in aerospace since the 1940s, often in demanding technical engineering positions. One of our members helped design and build the t-38s in the 1960’s that nasa still uses for training astronauts. We always had stringent standards for reliability that must be met before we put human lives on the line in any aircraft. What nasa has communicated is that hey we know it might fail and roast the astronauts, but, they are going to hope it works out and send them now. I cannot respect such a cavalier attitude when human lives are at stake. And, they did not communicate that they had ‘taken steps to fix that’ in the knowledgeable articles I have read.
@49. The Trump helping troll beholder :
Fixed it for ya.
LOL! No. You have never once corrected me whilst I have corrected you many times since you constantly lie. For instance, you lied and were called out about the worst USoA state for education here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/10/06/the-future-looks-bleak/#comment-2280113
Plus you ridiculously & without any basis claiming the “reality” was Biden and Kamala both “threw the 2024 election” which is a blatant double lie I called you out on here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/06/05/slap-fight/comment-page-1/#comment-2267891
Oh and the Trumpist bad faith troll beholder still refuses to answer the questions here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2026/01/16/too-soon-too-accurate/comment-page-1/#comment-2290463
among so many times the Trumpy troll here runs cowardly away from answering questions and facing reality.
@50. shermanj :
Okay. I don’t think that’s how the words ‘old’ and ‘decrepit’ really work so that sounds odd to me. The Orion capsule is a new thing at least in terms of this being its first flight individually and the second ever Artemis flight & systems having issues and not working as planned or hoped is different from things that have broken down & deteriorated due to age which is my understanding of the word “decrepit” but ok.
Fair enough and huge respect from me. Didn’t know that and awesome work.
I don’t think that’s what they’ve communicated. It certainly isn’t the message I’ve got from them.
Fair enough then. It’s not how I see this obvs and I’m pretty confident they don’t have a cavalier attitude to human life but, I guess I could be wrong. My impression, FWIW, is that they’ve looked at the issue and addressed it based on what I’ve seen and on them flying the mission now. Hope I’m right!
In reply to @52 SteveoR let me clarify: I, too, hope they make it back safely.
Based on all the research I’ve conducted on this, it seems as if many at nasa have their fingers crossed. Which is not the scientific way to handle a manned space project. I saw photos online (don’t remember which site) that showed the gaping holes in the ablative heat shield and the melted attack bolts from its last flight.
As to ‘old’ this article shows that the orion capsule is now 21 years old: https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/12/six-years-after-orions-first-spaceflight-america-still-waits-for-an-encore/
The Orion spacecraft is now 15 years old and has flown into space just once It was supposed to be the beginning of the Mars era.
@ ^ shermanj : Yeah, I really wish it had flown much earlier. Seems like we’ve been waiting for decades and decades because, well, we have been.
But now at last!
:
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-06/artemis-ii-is-about-to-orbit-the-moon-heres-how/106534516
“Already champions of a new era of lunar exploration”.
Champions. Already!
A new era!
Lunan exploration!
(Such gushing!)
“The flyby, which is about 6 hours, promises views of the Moon’s far side that have previously been too dark to see by astronauts who preceded the crew.”
Promises are ever so nice. No longer dark, is the promised view!
“incredibly clear images of Earth”
What? I do not believe that!
(heh heh heh. Rah rah rah!)
As much as it pains me to agree with the worst troll on the blog “incredibly clear images of Earth” was especially hilarious.
Like, my dude, you’ve seen Google maps. Yes?
@ ^
Google maps image from near where I live showing the beach, lifeguard tower number 40 various vehicles and individual humans wandering around.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/uz7HhNGnNNt4uEy87
Taken from space. FROM FRICKEN SPACE.
Point being it ain’t 1968 anymore. Fuck off with your “incredibly clear images of Earth”.