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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think millions of litres of fuel shouldn't be wasted on sending a rocket to the moon

392 replies

Viviennemary · 31/03/2026 22:55

With this current fuel crisis it's total madness sending a rocket to the moon. What is the point. Nobody is even going to land on the moon. Doubt therei s any oil on the moon.

OP posts:
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Poetnojo · 01/04/2026 13:05

GloiredeDijon · 01/04/2026 02:17

I agree.
Giant boys toys in many ways.

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Well I for one am extremely thankful for boys and their toys or we would still be living in the dark ages.

HowardTJMoon · 01/04/2026 13:03

nam3c4ang3 · 01/04/2026 12:01

Imagine - the rocket being filled up with premium unleaded. 😂 Honestly - you cant make this sort of shit up on mumsnet 😂

Fun fact - a number of rockets, including the first stage of the Apollo rockets, burn kerosene which is more or less a lighter version of diesel.

ProjectHailMary · 01/04/2026 12:59

PottingBench · 01/04/2026 12:20

Or perhaps just a different view of the world.

Some people would like to live to see people walking on Mars.
Some would forgo that to live to see things improving in the natural world and an end to world hunger. That would require some intellectual curiosity and inspire a sense of wonder.

Neither of those makes you dead inside. One of those is closer to home and requires more empathy.

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There’s absolutely no reason we have to choose between those things. Not to mention that you would see things on Earth improve substantially if world leaders emulated the international cooperation between scientists and engineers.

ProjectHailMary · 01/04/2026 12:56

GloiredeDijon · 01/04/2026 02:17

I agree.
Giant boys toys in many ways.

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It is actually a female British engineer who runs the team which builds the Artemis service modules. Not a “boy”.

TheWibble · 01/04/2026 12:42

KimberleyClark · 01/04/2026 12:14

Well just imagine if humans had thought “what right do we have to go looking for the northwest passage or the South Pole? How far do you think human knowledge would have advanced?

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Not the same thing at all, that's on our planet.

PottingBench · 01/04/2026 12:20

OttersOnAPlane · 01/04/2026 12:00

Some of you must be dead inside. What a blinkered, petty world view, to think exploration and discovery is a waste. Have you no intellectual curiosity? No sense of wonder?

I think it's fantastic. I loved visiting the Kennedy Space Centre. Our whole house will be following this mission with great interest!

I hope I live to see people walking on Mars.

Or perhaps just a different view of the world.

Some people would like to live to see people walking on Mars.
Some would forgo that to live to see things improving in the natural world and an end to world hunger. That would require some intellectual curiosity and inspire a sense of wonder.

Neither of those makes you dead inside. One of those is closer to home and requires more empathy.

Original poster
Viviennemary · 01/04/2026 12:18

PistachioTiramisu · 01/04/2026 11:49

We have not 'destroyed' this planet - the problem is that there are too many people on the Earth - breeding has spiralled out of control. That is why resources are stretched so thinly. What we need is a comprehensive and effective method of limiting the number of children born - particularly in some of the developing countries, but I doubt this will happen.

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How long before restrictions are applied to human breeding. I'd say over population is far more serious tha climate change and probably fuels climate change. Yet it's the elephant in the room never to be mentioned.

OP posts:
PottingBench · 01/04/2026 12:17

LittleBearPad · 01/04/2026 11:56

Pandas would be a bit buggered though.

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"Packham has argued that because of their specialized diet, low reproductive rates, and reduced habitat, pandas are an "evolutionary cul-de-sac" and not worth the immense cost of captive breeding and habitat preservation."

His point is that they're a bit buggered anyway and the money could be better spend benefiting the wider natural world.

KimberleyClark · 01/04/2026 12:14

TheWibble · 01/04/2026 12:11

I wish they'd leave the moon alone - the whole of space for that matter. Everything humans touch turns to shit. We've fucked up our own planet, why do we think we have the right to go checking out prospects on the moon, mars and beyond? The arrogance of the human race is never fails to astound me.

Well just imagine if humans had thought “what right do we have to go looking for the northwest passage or the South Pole? How far do you think human knowledge would have advanced?

TheWibble · 01/04/2026 12:11

I wish they'd leave the moon alone - the whole of space for that matter. Everything humans touch turns to shit. We've fucked up our own planet, why do we think we have the right to go checking out prospects on the moon, mars and beyond? The arrogance of the human race is never fails to astound me.

PottingBench · 01/04/2026 12:09

Uricon2 · 01/04/2026 09:41

Why do it? Human endeavour? Because one day Earth will not be viable for life and if every generation takes the view 'why bother', there is no future.

I'm old enough to remember the Apollo programme and to have seen the first Moon landings as they happened. Of all the crap things humans have done, space exploration isn't one of them. There is something deeply united in the fellowship and respect between astronauts and cosmonauts that shows how things could be.

There's something deeply united inthe fellowship between the people in many environments (RNLI boats, Fire Brigade, Litter picking groups etc).

You don't have to leave earth to see this stuff.

CypressGrove · 01/04/2026 12:09

Viviennemary · 31/03/2026 23:16

Ok thanks. So when there's no petrol at the pumps we can't blame the astronauts. But I still think its a huge waste of money and brainpower.

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Plenty of things are a waste or brain power and money. What use is paying actors heaps of money to make movies and TV shows. How is spending time on sociak media anything but a waste of time. Etc, etc. At least space exploration has advanced human technology.

Morriba · 01/04/2026 12:08

🤣

Selfish NASA panic buying.

Popcornsandwich · 01/04/2026 12:07

But it’s the big boys with their space toys, their war games and the Earth in flames.
They won’t be told to stop.

PottingBench · 01/04/2026 12:05

LittleCrumblyBiscuit · 01/04/2026 07:18

I think I read somewhere that the absorbent gel substance used inside sanitary towels and incontinence pads was developed initially for astronauts. It’s not just the big things that can be improved along the way.

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Not biodegradable.

Fucking up our oceans as I write.

FernandoSor · 01/04/2026 12:02

FernandoSor · 01/04/2026 12:01

Starlink os what happened. Well over half of the satellites currently in orbit belong to one company - Elon Musk's Starlink. Over 10,000 launched so far, with an expected 20,000 more.

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Its basically making earth-based astronomy impossible.

FernandoSor · 01/04/2026 12:01

PottingBench · 01/04/2026 11:55

Less than 20 years ago I could sit on Exmoor at night and look at a sky full of stars.

Now the sky there is a busy criss-crossed highway of the moving lights of satellites. There's no natural, unmessed with peace to be found anywhere now. Where's all that junk going?

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Starlink os what happened. Well over half of the satellites currently in orbit belong to one company - Elon Musk's Starlink. Over 10,000 launched so far, with an expected 20,000 more.

PottingBench · 01/04/2026 12:01

JemimaTiggywinkles · 01/04/2026 01:15

Anyone who is opposed to space exploration lacks normal human curiosity imo. Why the heck don’t you want to know more about the universe? Every small child looks up and shows interest in the stars - it is a normal part of being human to ask questions about what we see up there.

Space travel is expensive and takes lots of brain power? Except that it doesn’t really, not when you look comparatively. NASA currently costs 0.35% of US federal spending. They employ fewer than 14k people (out of 170M workers in the US). These are actually depressingly low amounts.

Perhaps the people who don't want to know more about the universe are busy being unendingly and intensely curious about the things close at hand that some people with their head in the clouds never notice.

nam3c4ang3 · 01/04/2026 12:01

Imagine - the rocket being filled up with premium unleaded. 😂 Honestly - you cant make this sort of shit up on mumsnet 😂

OttersOnAPlane · 01/04/2026 12:00

Some of you must be dead inside. What a blinkered, petty world view, to think exploration and discovery is a waste. Have you no intellectual curiosity? No sense of wonder?

I think it's fantastic. I loved visiting the Kennedy Space Centre. Our whole house will be following this mission with great interest!

I hope I live to see people walking on Mars.

PottingBench · 01/04/2026 11:57

Creativeher · 01/04/2026 00:37

Neither will I but that is a common thing you'll hear from people who've been up there

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If those who've been in space have to travel to the moon to realise that life and the earth are fragile they aren't looking properly at the world outside your window.

The people who do most to preserve our natural world have never been in space yet they've cottoned on.

LittleBearPad · 01/04/2026 11:56

PottingBench · 01/04/2026 11:51

It still bores me now and I'm in my sixties.

Chris Packham said that if he every pound spent on saving the panda had been spent more widely then the natural world would be a much better place.

I feel the same about space travel.

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Pandas would be a bit buggered though.

PottingBench · 01/04/2026 11:55

Creativeher · 01/04/2026 00:43

Maybe they would have been except for GPS that literally requires satellites to function but it was the unique challenges of being in space that speeded up their development

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Less than 20 years ago I could sit on Exmoor at night and look at a sky full of stars.

Now the sky there is a busy criss-crossed highway of the moving lights of satellites. There's no natural, unmessed with peace to be found anywhere now. Where's all that junk going?

LittleBearPad · 01/04/2026 11:54

sittingonabeach · 01/04/2026 10:49

@LittleBearPad for me it’s more that we have destroyed this planet, why do we need to destroy others

We haven’t destroyed the planet. We’ve done some stupid things. We’ve also done some amazing things.

PottingBench · 01/04/2026 11:51

Ukefluke · 01/04/2026 10:02

Probably 5 is a bit young

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It still bores me now and I'm in my sixties.

Chris Packham said that if he every pound spent on saving the panda had been spent more widely then the natural world would be a much better place.

I feel the same about space travel.