A glimpse inside NASA sample return vault.

[Zakalwe]

This is a great article, giving a very rare glimpse into the vaults where the various NASA samples that have been returned to Earth are stored. Its amazing to read how they recovered usable sample from the Gensis probe that crashed when it's parachutes failed.
Another fascinating piece is that there are still Apollo samples that have remained sealed in their vacuum cases from the missions. The seals have never been opened as future technologies that have yet to be invented may need pristine samples to operate on.


http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/inside-the-vault-a-rare-glimpse-of-nasas-otherworldly-treasures/

[Cat Not Included]

Thanks for the link! Interesting stuff.

[Ishkabibble]

I can completely understand where that reporter is coming from.
Ever since I was a little kid, I've wanted a little piece of a moon rock.

At age 4, I talked my parents in to letting me stay up to watch the EVA from 11.

My first Halloween costume was an astronaut suit made from paper bags and duct tape in 1969. I still have the picture somewhere.

I begged my parents to let us take our summer vacation in 1971 so we would be in Florida to see the launch of 15. It was a short trip from Palatka to the Cape, but Dad drove us there so we could see history. Grumbled all the way over how expensive it was, and how much better that money could be spent at home, but he did it. Today is his 85th birthday, and that was one of the things we talked about over breakfast this morning. He still thinks NASA is a huge drain on the treasury, in spite of me explaining patiently that NASA only gets about .46 cents of every dollar, while the Defense Department gets about 56 cents of every dollar.

My wife and I went on a cruise a couple of years ago, and she let me drag her on the KSC tour. Seeing all of that artifacture from that time in history. Being there to stand in the control room display. Standing next to the LM they have on display. Seeing how they did it. Actually getting to touch a sliver of a rock from the moon. That one thing made the whole trip worthwhile.

I read this article with a huge vicarious thrill that someone got in to see all of that. Enjoyed it immensely. I wish everyone felt like that. The whole thing was so wondrous, that its offensive to me in the extreme when someone disparages it. The actual events were so amazing and so awe-inspiring that no fiction could ever match up.

[bknight]

...
but Dad drove us there so we could see history. Grumbled all the way over how expensive it was, and how much better that money could be spent at home, but he did it. Today is his 85th birthday, and that was one of the things we talked about over breakfast this morning. He still thinks NASA is a huge drain on the treasury, in spite of me explaining patiently that NASA only gets about .46 cents of every dollar, while the Defense Department gets about 56 cents of every dollar.
...

This thought process, is one of the reasons that Apollo was first curtailed and finally killed.  Although the government beans counters thought that the Shuttle would be a more economic booster system than the Saturn V.  I'm not sure that worked out.
But until the government decides to fully promote a program for more than two presidential terms, manned programs will be somewhat limited.

[Zakalwe]

My wife and I went on a cruise a couple of years ago, and she let me drag her on the KSC tour. Seeing all of that artifacture from that time in history. Being there to stand in the control room display. Standing next to the LM they have on display. Seeing how they did it. Actually getting to touch a sliver of a rock from the moon. That one thing made the whole trip worthwhile.

I went in 2010 for my 40th birthday. Sticking my hand into that daft presentation thing and touching a piece of the Moon (and no doubt a gazillion germs from the thousands  other people!) still sticks in my memory.

But until the government decides to fully promote a program for more than two presidential terms, manned programs will be somewhat limited.

US manned programs perhaps. I fully expect the Chinese and possibly the Indians to get there in the next decade or so.
SpaceX is probably the best option for the US...the more that I learn about Musk the more I realise that the bloke is a once-in-a-century occurrence.