Apollo 1 - Hackdot

Re:Apollo 1 by pogba101 on Wednesday January 25, 2017 @02:53AM (#13479577)

The sheer bravery of the first men to sign up to go to the moon is outstanding. I remember listening to an interview where Buzz Aldrin said he estimated that there was a 60% chance of going to the moon and coming back home alive. He still decided to do it.

They even wrote a speech for Nixon in case Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin got stranded on the moon:

  Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to 
  explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

  These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that 
  there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that 
  there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
  
  These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most 
  noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

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Re:Apollo 1 by pjmlp on Wednesday January 25, 2017 @03:29AM (#13479738)

True, but not less brave than those that ventured into the endless oceans, when everything everyone knew was only Europe.

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Re:Apollo 1 by Lio on Wednesday January 25, 2017 @12:16PM (#13483373)

Or the 8 men on the K-19 Widowmaker submarine who had to repair their reactor knowing it meant certain death.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3136111.stm

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Re:Apollo 1 by earthboundkid on Wednesday January 25, 2017 @03:22PM (#13485636)

Man, the Hawaiians got that beat for courage. They had smaller boats, no magnetic compasses, and they still managed to find some tiny islands in the middle of the Pacific by ~900CE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesia#History_of_the_Polyn...

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Re:Apollo 1 by samkite on Wednesday January 25, 2017 @12:34PM (#13483608)

Totally agree. Many of the first Portuguese and Spanish explorers didn't even know if they would ever come back. They were leaving home to go to distant lands at a time where people still believed in monsters, witches and mermaids.

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