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

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.

The moon is not a planet, it is a satellite of Earth.

The Apollo missions absolutely relied on computers and couldn't have happened without them. There were several in the rocket itself plus lots on the ground that were vital for each flight. The need for compact and lightweight computers that could be flown in space helped advance computer technology in general.

It's good to know that some countries have more money than sense.
We colonise the moon in time to come and we can fuck up another planet, oh happy days.🙄

Interesting. My mum got me and my sister up in the night to watch it. We weren't very impressed by it, but my mum was really exited. Looking back, it was pretty impressive, especially as it was all pre-computer.

@Mummyoflittledragon

Credit: Ben Jennings from Yesterdays Grauniad.

People are bored with going to the moon. They lost interest very quickly after the moon landings of Apollo 11, which was admittedly pretty fantastic.

By Apollo 13, they'd lost interest, which was only reignited when the mission went wrong ('Houston, we have a problem').

I agree with you, OP. Let's sort out this planet before we set about ruining another.

I remember sitting on the gym floor in school to watch the first moon landings. It was my trial day at infants.

All the kids were bored to tears.

Nah, it just gives more people the opportunity to mess up the environment with a load of plastic mattresses and power tools they don't need and creates bickering over who gets to fuck up space.

Covid was a 'stark reminder' of what is important. Everyone was going to take a step back, enjoy themselves, spend time on what was important, acquire less. And here we are.

I am fascinated by space travel and the universe. I wish i had been arouind during the Apollo program and the moon landings. Mum often spoke about every body being glued to TVs. And the whole thing of trying to get Apollo 13 back to earth.
I am not even into SciFi. But the the space program I find amazing

It’s completely different being able to view our insignificance from a position of relative comfort. I’m sure there are many people in the world feeing insignificant and forgotten, who won’t be marvelling at our ability to explore space, because they’re too tied up worrying about their own survival.

According to a piece I read yesterday there is £100 billion ‘lunar economy’ up for grabs.

Why can't they get a really big elastic band. We all pull it back and THWIP up they go. Getting back more problematic but I'm sure they'll figure something out.

You’re baffled by the fact that humans, since the beginning of history, have been driven by exploration and discovery?

Humans have no higher purpose than to pursue knowledge and new frontiers.

Jolly good idea. Do you think we could persuade Trump to join him?

Don't be ridiculous, the moon is uninhabited.
Space people come from another galaxy. You dont know them.

I have no problem with them using a tank full of hydrogen - literally the most common element in the universe - to do this.

What is a crying shame is that the Artemis rocket uses four RS-25 engines and then just throws them away. They're the engines built for the Space Shuttle and were always designed to be fully re-usable. What a waste.

This is really not true. There is a lot of work going into nerve damage, regeneration and tissue repair in zero gravity, which will enormously impact and advance knowledge relating to human health and treatment development.

No, I don’t know much about space exploration, but it is a waste of time and money ( in my opinion ) and can’t be good for the environment.

Oh OP.....try moaning about gas. Most liquid hydrogen is mainly produced from reacting methane with steam.

It's be worth every penny if they put Trump on it and made it a one way trip.

If you don't know why they are going, how have you come to the conclusion that it's a waste of money? You just admitted you don't know anything about it.

I do think we leave quite a lot of detritus up there but I’m not sure if space travel is intrinsically bad for the environment in the same way that traditional forms of transport using fossil fuels are.

When hydrogen burns it just produces water. You can create more hydrogen by passing an electrical current through water ( hopefully using renewable energy). I suspect in the long term we will see more “green” hydrogen being produced and used to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

In the long term plan would be for the moon and mars to be able to generate their own energy which is why they are so keen on finding ice deposits.

Yanbu!!!

It's great news.