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Q: Coolest thing ever? I say we each get to nominate two events.
One that occured during your lifetime and that you were to some degree at least a bit aware of. Second, the all-time coolest thing ever. Explanation/Justification for choice is required. Audience will vote. Highest voted will receive prize of nada, zilch, and nothing. Good luck and let the bullshit begin!
My first thought... The first moon landing and the Apollo 13 mission successful return to earth. I remember watching the first on TV, and the second (the "burn") through my telescope. Both were very cool.
Lots of technological advances and product introductions also come to mind... but none as vividly as the early US Space programs.
My first thought... The first moon landing and the Apollo 13 mission successful return to earth. I remember watching the first on TV, and the second (the "burn") through my telescope. Both were very cool.
Lots of technological advances and product introductions also come to mind... but none as vividly as the early US Space programs.
Well, I'm totally with Scahtz on this one...
Coolest I've witnessed: Commander Armstrong taking that First Step on to the surface of the Moon. Saturn V launch.
Coolest ever: Last Supper
Stiggs:
I would have loved to see that.
Seeing the pics the Mars rover take always blow me away too, I love stuff like that, seeing pictures of a place nobody has ever seen, let alone been to before.
diverdude1:
Yeah,,, I should have added a category for coolest tech ever,,,, Mars Rover is certainly right up there. Even though I think the most mind-blowing is ,,, don't they call it 'Voyager'? and I'm not sure exactly how they explained it. but something like it had left the Solar System. Trippy!!
But on a personal fave note,,, for me nothing like the STS. I guess because I was grown-up,,, but young,, when that was happening,,, can't say I really remember moon-landing,, but I know I watched it,,,, make any sense? I think I did anyway.
Stiggs:
Yeah the moon landing would have been something to see for sure, it was an amazing feat at the time. I read somewhere that the banks of computers they had didn't even have the power of a smart phone.
ambivalentmace:
NASA always under promises and over delivers and lives within their budget. The only government agency that has my respect. If Nasa ran every agency of the American government, nobody would even know the name of the country in second place for efficiency.
It's probably not the coolest thing ever but off the top of my head and without having given it much thought I'd say the end of WW1 must have been a massive thing for everyone involved.
Imagine guys living in the trenches for months or even a few years, knee deep in mud, blood and shit, suffering from dysentery, shell shock, disease, hunger, rotten feet, being cold and wet all the time and on top of that being shelled, sniped at, mustard gassed and ordered to charge machine guns.
Then one day they're told it's all over and they're going home. Can't imagine how those guys would have felt then.
diverdude1:
yeah,,, grisly'est war I can think of,,, I guess getting killed is getting killed,,, but they went through the suffereing while alive that I've never heard matched. I read quite a bit about mustard gas- wow,,, u wanna talk about Man's inhumanity to Man! If I remember correctly for some caught in high concentrations,,, it like burned their skin right off!
I read somewhere the energy released at launch was equivalent to that generated by a small nuclear device on detonation.
The three space shuttle main engines are clustered at the aft end of the orbiter. As the shuttle lifts off the launch pad and accelerates, the main engines burn a half-million gallons of liquid propellant provided by the giant, rust-colored external fuel tank. The main engines continue to operate for 8.5 minutes after launch, the duration of the shuttle's powered flight. The energy released by the three main engines is equivalent to the output of 13 Hoover Dams. They create a combined maximum thrust of more than 1.2 million pounds.
NASA
diverdude1:
But the Orbiter Main Engine assembly was small potatos compared to the SRB's. Actually it was the SRB's that put that bad boy into orbit.
The two reusable SRBs provided the main thrust to lift the shuttle off the launch pad and up to an altitude of about 150,000 ft (28 mi; 46 km). While on the pad, the two SRBs carried the entire weight of the external tank and orbiter and transmitted the weight load through their structure to the mobile launch platform. Each booster had a liftoff thrust of approximately 2,800,000 pounds-force(12 MN) at sea level, increasing shortly after liftoff to about 3,100,000 lbf (14 MN). They were ignited after the three Space Shuttle Main Engines' thrust level was verified. Seventy-five seconds after SRB separation, SRB apogee occurred at an altitude of approximately 220,000 ft (42 mi; 67 km); parachutes were then deployed and impact occurred in the ocean approximately 122 nautical miles (226 km) downrange, after which the two SRBs were recovered. The SRBs helped take the Space Shuttle to an altitude of 28 miles and a speed of 3,094 miles per hour along with the main engines.
The SRBs were the largest solid-propellant motors ever flown and the first of such large rockets designed for reuse. Each is 149.16 ft (45.46 m) long and 12.17 ft (3.71 m) in diameter.
The SRBs committed the shuttle to liftoff and ascent (to orbit) flight, without the possibility of launch or liftoff/ascent abort, until both motors had fully, and simultaneously, fulfilled their functions, consumed their propellants, were producing zero net reaction thrust and had been jettisoned (again simultaneously) by explosive jettisoning bolts from the remainder of the vehicle launch "stack" (shuttle w/engines; fuel/oxidizer tank). Only then could any conceivable set of launch or post-liftoff abort procedures be contemplated. In addition, failure of an individual SRB's thrust output or ability to adhere to the designed performance profile was not survivable.[7]
Each SRB weighed approximately 1,300,000 lb (590,000 kg) at launch. The two SRBs constituted about 69% of the total lift-off mass. The propellant for each solid rocket motor weighed approximately 1,100,000 lb (500,000 kg). The inert weight of each SRB was approximately 200,000 pounds (91,000 kg).
NASA
It was also SRB failure that caused the 1986 Challenger disaster.
icnif77:
I knew, RT will issue rebuttal ... to your photos ... 
https://www.rt.com/usa/410360-moon-landing-new-conspiracy/
A UFO conspiracist has uncovered what he believes is proof that the moon landings were fake, although his detective work has drawn criticism.
“Does Astronaut's visor reflection show a stagehand on the Apollo fake Moon set?"
is the question posed by Streetcap1, who shared his recent discovery on YouTube.
The photo in question is taken from the Apollo 17 mission, which took place in late 1972. Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 22 hours exploring the surface and were the last humans to walk on the moon.
The moon landings have been the source of scepticism for conspiracy theorists ever since astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon in 1969.
According to Streetcap1, who took a picture of the NASA image using his “software,” the astronaut’s visor reflection appears to show a man “not wearing a spacesuit,” standing on the moon.
It looks like a man back in the early 1970s, long hair, you know,” he said. "He is wearing some sort of, I don't know, waistcoat type thing… one leg there, with one shoe, another leg and a shadow of that figure presumably.”
Streetcap1 says he wasn’t a moon landing disbeliever until he came across the suspicious image. "I sort of think we did make it to the Moon, but this is starting to make me think if we did because where is this guy's spacesuit?"
Streetcap1’s video divided opinion, with some people surprised to have their suspicions raised.
“Pretty Earth-shaking for a believer in the landing,” a commentator said. 
“I vote astronaut... the shadow on the ground looks more like an astronaut in a bulky suit,” said another.
However, other photographs taken from the Apollo 17 mission suggest the “stagehand” in the helmet reflection is likely the other astronaut.
As Cernan and Schmitt performed three moonwalks over three days, pilot Ronald E. Evans stayed orbiting the moon during this time, in the command service module of the spacecraft.
Examining NASA’s history site, which contains thousands of images from the mission, along with the accompanying of footage taken on the moon, the astronaut pictured is likely Schmitt.
An image shared on NASA’s site shows Schmitt standing next to the large boulder featured in the suspicious image. It was taken by Cernan. If Schmitt turned toward Cernan, he would have been in an ideal position for Cernan’s reflection to be captured in Schmitt’s helmet.
Cameras
The Apollo 17 mission aimed to capture precise images for mapping and examining the lunar surface. Multiple cameras were used on the surface of the moon, meaning there were many different cameras that could have captured the astronaut with the helmet reflection.
The astronauts had three battery powered 70-millimeter Hasselblad cameras which were attached to their chests, the Lunar Planetary Institute. They also carried a 16-millimeter Maurer Data Acquisition Camera that could be handheld or mounted to the lunar module and lunar roving vehicle.
A lunar surface TV camera was also used and operated from three positions, either mounted on a tripod, or on the modularized equipment storage assembly (MESA). “The camera could be aimed and controlled by the astronauts or remotely controlled by personnel in the mission control center,” LPI said.
NASA doesn’t comment on specific moon hoax theories, but it has said in the past that it did go to the moon.
Fake news and all ...
Yeah, 69 moon landing, for sure. Not yet a year old when that happened, but in my 50 years nothing else compares to that pivotal event in human history. Next coolest event will be when the US lands a man on Mars. Unless, of course, China gets there first (which is about as likely as Trump getting reelected).
ambivalentmace:
Trump has already won reelection, the economy is fine, and the democrats are going extreme left like they always do after a defeat of a centrist, the centrists always narrowly loses and the leftists gets killed. McGovern 2.0 like 1972. The starbucks guy could upset the apple cart a little, but I think he bows out at the last minute.
"09. 11. 2001" in NYC was the event, which I won't ever forget. I was in close proximity (Cape Cod, MA), and ...
The coolest thing was Pink Floyd's concert in Vienna Stadhalle on Feb. 1977 at the release of 'Animals' album, which record I have somewhere in original vinyl form.
Stadhalle takes around 15 -18k spectators and every ticket of this sold-out gig came with assigned seat no., similar as in old time 200-seat cinemas.
Stadhalle organisation was impeccable with the personal escort to the almost every seat ... and after some 10' in the comfy chair, huge inflated balloon-pig came out on the ceiling. Each pig's eye was some 4m in diameter ... just to have some reference on the size of the pig ...
... followed by "Big Man, Pig Man, ha ha charade you are ....".
Concert was in 'quadro-something', i.e. very loud, which was the newest thingy ... we were listening in 'stereo-mode' at the time.
diverdude1:
I've seen a lot of concerts,,, coolest was ZZ Top,, Second which I only say was second because I'm not sure it was a concert,,, but the musical 'Phantom of The Opera', my beautiful ex & I seen in both London & New York,,, but what I would have done to see Pink Floyd! bad-ass defined! I envy u 77.
icnif77:
I've seen Zappa with Mothers of Invention ... 
, too.
And, I've never seen Amy Winehouse ... stoopid death ...!
Stadhalle: 1st.: Whole 'Animals'; and after some 5' break whole 'Wish You Were Here' and END !
... buTT ... crowd doesn't want to go home ... Band came back for 'Money' and 'Time' ... and after some 20' of chanting, they (Stadhalle crew, all men with grey hair, dressed formally with ties) start to escort us toward the exit ... I remember like it was yesterday.
diverdude1:
I consider 'Wish you Were Here' best song ever...
*leaving Elvis out of the equation... because I consider Elvis singing gospel a whole different ballgame than what the rest of humanity does/did
My seventh grade teacher homeroom teacher was a stickler for current events, Mrs. Mary Landrum and geography. We had to know every country and every capital, current events every day from the TV. This is were I got the interest in foreign entanglements and travelling.
Saigon was falling and the helicoptors were taking every body out and all of a sudden my teacher fell to her knees wailing in tears, her brother was a cbs foreign correspondent and she just saw his body on a stretcher hauled onto a helicoptor on national television, she never returned to the school and I never verified what happened to her brother or whether he survived.
This event was not cool per say, but it did shape my life and destroy my idealism for America and realize we don't fight wars to win, just to make money, and I started my plan to leave and work abroad and not be dependent on a country that I had lost all faith in forever. Sadly my instincts 45 years ago were exactly correct.
one cool thing that I was awear of Woodstock,3 days of music,drugs,peace that would have been very cool seeing the bands while being high on LSD.
my very 1st concert was the coolest thing in my life time,1983 David Bowie Serious Moonlight Tour played Western Springs Auckland New Zealand.I was 16 years old.New Zealands biggest concert 80,000 people.
Runner up 2nd Coolest thing I did was seeing The Rolling Stones on the Voodoo Lounge Tour in Brisbane Austalia,very stoned very happy seeing my fav band play
I think the coolest things ever would be hydrogen frozen at absolute zero and maybe when I learn to make peppermint ice cream and soda.
