Those astronauts must be slightly insane.

[thinktoomuchtoooften]

I mean obviously they’re highly intelligent individuals and must know what they’re doing… but the risks are so huge and they have families. To me it’s just madness.

It seems like madness to us but most people who achieve greatness have had to do some pretty extreme things on the way. It’s how progress happens. I think it’s just something us normal folk don’t quite understand.

I quite agree. The moon isn't going away, it can wait.

When I was 3 my parents woke me up and brought me downstairs to watch Apollo 11's return landing. They said I'd remember it for the rest of my life, and they were right. They thought it was too important to miss. I've been a space nut ever since.

I'd go in a heartbeat.

Yeah, wars every few years, junk food, trashy media output and Palantir 🙄

Met an astronaut once on a ski holiday. Ex Marine Corps helicopter pilot, I asked him about sitting on a firework and he said he was an engineer and knew everyone involved in the launch. He trusted them with his life.

I think USA has far bigger issues in its country on this planet that need sorting first- people who have no access to healthcare, the people forced into health bankruptcy when ill, no social security system, very little green initiatives….

So distasteful seeing billions of dollars burned into the atmosphere when you have the above.

Let's not forget internet porn, influencers, Donald Trump, rich getting richer etc

If I could, I’d go. Must be fantastic. 👍

I think that is quite selfish of him tbh. I’d prioritise being there for my kids over flying to the moon.

They are at greater danger I expect when on earth from the lack of gun control in the US and from road crashes where one or more car driver is unfit when behind the wheel.

Agree 100%

Half the technology that we rely on every day is a result of people taking risks and governments spending money on this sort of thing. If people didn't have that sort of gene which that pushes the boundaries like this we'd still all be living in the dark ages.

I would go in a heartbeat! During a holiday in the States I visited Kennedy Space Centre and I was hooked!

Absolutely. You've got to try to explore, push boundaries, look outwards.

This 💯

I would go in a heartbeat. Even without being able to return. Although in that case I'd rather go and become one of Mars' first settlers.

We’d all still be sitting in caves if it wasn’t for brave men and women willing to take risks.

This, and if I was an astronaut, I’d go.

I would go in a heartbeat.

I remember the first moon landings in 1969, it was a huge thing,

I would have taken such a mission in a heartbeat in my 20s and 30s.

But age, parenthood etc makes us more risk averse, more aware of our own fragility.

Even if nothing practical comes from such ventures then maybe it stimulates philisophical discussion about our place, our own planet gives an objective view if you like.
I think there is a shift away from ideas of invade and conquer which have influenced our own trajectory as a species and no longer considered virtuous. The Fermi Paradox suggests that other life on exo planets are simply watching - they have moved beyond the need to conquer and destroy.

One aspect that sticks in my throat is the cost. The return to moon project of which Artemis is a part is costing $90 billion dollars. That amount could feed over 100 million hungry people for a year, or build wells, bring education, healthcare and contraception to many people.

18 thousand children a day die from starvation on our planet. Given such a humanitarian problem we need to consider if Artemis is a wise expenditure.

You’re essentially saying human race have made big mistakes so we should just let our species die out rather than begin work on finding future new home once earth no longer habitable? Maybe we should just all curl up and die for our mistakes right now 😀

Hulabalu is that a viable proposition though?
The barriers to homo sapien moving venue are immense.
Fixing things here on Earth would be far easier than setting up elsewhere, but there seems little appetite for that.
Our species is a blink in the eye in the great scheme of things. I would far rather make the most of the time and planet we do have, making our stay as comfortable as possible for everyone.

There always are and always will be,
which is why we should still do it anyway.
Poverty, homelessness, hungry children are due to lack of government will not lack of money.

Exactly.

I wouldn’t risk orphaning my teenage daughters for anything. Seems extremely selfish to me tbh.