Why did people stop flying to the moon? It is not so easy to answer this question. The course of the history of the development of the lunar plains was influenced by some circumstances that should be considered in a certain sequence. In this case, it is necessary to understand what is reality and what is fiction. Do not forget that the lunar program was developed not only by Russians, but also by Americans. Both projects were abruptly terminated without specific explanations. Naturally, this raised many questions, and the most important of them - The reasons for such a quick refusal to develop a strategically important project are due to mysterious circumstances.

NASA successes: lunar race

To better understand why people no longer fly to the moon, you should carefully study the history of the exploration of this satellite of the Earth. First of all, it is necessary to mention the race that the two superpowers have arranged for supremacy in this world.

Everyone knows that in that period of history, the priority of space exploration was assigned to the USSR. Naturally, the Americans were well aware that their rivals had advanced far ahead in space exploration and it was not so easy to get ahead of them. To close the distance, NASA needed to make some kind of breakthrough in space exploration. At this time, the lunar program was created. About 40 thousand employees worked on its development for eight years. Do not forget that about 110 billion dollars were spent on the lunar program. But if there was good funding, then why did they stop flying to the moon? The facts have been hushed up for a long time. Until now, some moments in the history of the exploration of lunar spaces remain incomprehensible.

It is worth noting that the development of the Americans in this area were successful. After all, the key link here was Vernen von Braun. This man worked for Adolf Hitler during World War II. It was this specialist who created the legendary V-2.

American Apollos

After long labors of a large team of specialists, the Americans have achieved tremendous success. Wernher von Braun created a carrier with sufficient power. However, in finished form, the product had simply huge dimensions. It was not possible to transfer it by land. Therefore, the carrier was delivered to the spaceport using water transport. It is worth noting that the Saturn engine had a power equal to 180 million horsepower. When the carrier was launched, ceilings crumbled in nearby buildings and all windows were shattered.

Before the first landing on the Earth's satellite, NASA conducted 10 Apollo launches. In 1968 (in October), Apollo 7 was launched into low Earth orbit, and in December, Apollo 8, on board of which there were pilots. They were the first to orbit the Moon.

In 1969 (in March), Apollo 9 tested the lunar module in space, and in May, Apollo 10 conducted a rehearsal of landing on the moon, descending to a height of 15 kilometers from the surface of the Earth's satellite. In this case, there was no full landing. On July 2, 1969, the Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon. After that, six more expeditions with the landing of the crew were carried out.

USSR and the moon race

As for the USSR, in the lunar race, the superpower suffered many failures and was much inferior to its competitor. At that time, a team of specialists led by S.P. Korolev and V.N. Chelomey was working on the development of a flight to the moon. However, for a long time, Russian scientists could not manage to create a carrier that would have sufficient power.

Some time later, S.P. Korolev died. But it was he who was the key link in the project. As a result of the unfortunate event, the situation was greatly aggravated. It is worth noting that the USSR spent all its energy on the space exploration program. Therefore, there were simply not enough opportunities and finances for the lunar race. Of course, the situation has improved over time. However, it still remains unclear why they do not fly to the moon now.

Closing lunar programs

Why don't they fly to the moon and why were all lunar programs closed? At the end of 1972, NASA stopped conducting research. The lunar program was closed. It is worth noting that the Soviet Union also curtailed all its projects related to never landing its crew on the surface of the Earth's satellite. After that, no one else tried to resume flights. During this period, a huge number of multi-billion dollar projects were closed. So why did people stop flying to the moon, and why was there such a rush?

Of course, many assumed that the Russians had simply lost interest in the program. But it is very difficult to understand the reason for the Americans. After all, they were able to achieve success in their developments. Also, many assume that the reason for the high cost of such programs is far-fetched. Indeed, at that time, most of the allocated funds were spent on the creation of rockets and launch pads. The cost of one launch was equal to the cost of one bomber. In addition, it is not entirely clear why they do not fly to the moon now. After all, technology has come a long way. This suggests that the reasons are more significant than lack of funding or lost interest.

Anomalies on the Moon

After the first flights to the moon, it became known that something strange was happening on the Earth's satellite. This was known not only by the Americans, but also by the Russians. Around the world, dozens of astronauts have reported that many strange and inexplicable things can be seen on the Moon.

From the stories it became clear that quite bright flashes appear in different places near the surface of the Earth's satellite, which have different shades, differ in length, and also in directions. In addition, it was reported that strange shadows can be seen on the moon that are constantly moving. Also, from the surface of the Earth's satellite, some luminous points with impressive dimensions go into orbit. They circle part of the orbit along the chord, and then land.

In addition, Professor N. A. Kozyrev, who was an employee in 1958, reported that for several hours the central part of the Alphonse crater was covered with a large red cloud. Such anomalies were difficult to explain without research. Maybe this is the answer to the question of why people do not fly to the moon.

Research on lunar anomalies

Of course, anomalies on the Moon could be the main reason for the closure of programs to study its surfaces. But first of all, it was necessary to study all the incomprehensible and therefore in the USA in 1965 a whole scientific society was created, which was engaged in the study of lunar anomalies. At that time, the team consisted of only highly qualified specialists. Over the entire period of work of this scientific community, many anomalies on the Moon have been identified. Many of them were difficult to explain. It is for this reason that a document was created in 1968 called the Chronological Catalog of Lunar Event Reports.

What was found on the moon?

Here, about 579 unexplained anomalous phenomena were indicated that occur on the surface and in orbit of the Moon. Among these phenomena were:

1. Disappearing craters.
2. Geometric figures.
3. Giant-sized domes that can change color.
4. Colored trenches that are able to lengthen at a speed of 6 kilometers per hour.
5. Luminous objects and so on.

Such phenomena defied explanation, but neither the Americans nor the Russians wanted to stop the lunar race. As a result, spacecraft launches began, as it was decided to fly and see everything with my own eyes. At the time, no one paid attention to the presence of anomalies. But why don't they fly to the moon even after researching many phenomena?

Messages from the Moon

Establishing the exact reason why they don't fly to the moon is not so easy. You can build a lot of guesses, but it is very difficult to get to the truth. It is enough to analyze the first messages of the astronauts who went to conquer the lunar space. When the Americans launched the Apollo with a crew on board, many radio amateurs around the world followed the course of events. After all, at that time there were broadcast communications with Houston astronauts. It was after the first messages that it became clear that the crew was not saying something. Years later, it became clear that the guesses were correct. Radio amateurs from Australia and Switzerland were able to catch the astronauts' conversations on a different frequency immediately after landing. They talked about incomprehensible and strange things. What was there and why are they not flying to the moon now? After all, it is much closer than Mars.

Confession

So why aren't they flying to the moon anymore even after so many years? There were a lot of shortcomings in the negotiations between the astronauts and Houston. Of course, many things are difficult to explain, especially if you see them for the first time. 10 years after the first flight to the moon, Maurice Chatelain, who was one of the creators of the radio equipment intended for the lunar program, made a statement that he was present at the communication session when Neil Armstrong spoke about several objects of unknown origin that landed some distance from "Apollo".

After that, messages from the Moon spoke of some stone blocks that were located not far from the landing block. At the same time, some of them, as he claimed, radiated from the outside, and some from the inside, a glow. It was almost colorless and insignificant.

Not only NASA, but also the crew members refused to comment on such messages. Some time later, the commander of the Apollo 11 expedition reported some phenomena. But he could not tell in detail, since he signed a non-disclosure agreement. After the program for the development of the Earth's satellite was closed, NASA admitted that about 25 astronauts personally saw the presence during the UFO expedition. Maybe this is the reason why they no longer fly to the moon and do not develop new programs for its exploration?

Evidence for the existence of UFOs

Still, it is not entirely clear why they do not fly to the moon, if there are opportunities for this? Many ufologists claim that life exists on the surface of the Earth's satellite. In addition, there is evidence that the Apollo 12 expedition was accompanied by unidentified flying objects. This fact was established from Earth observatories. Two UFOs flew near the American shuttle and winked at each other with lights. One was behind the Apollo, and the second was in front.

At the moment, it is only clear that the Americans knew very well that there was something inexplicable and unusual on the surface of the Moon. Perhaps new expeditions were carried out to unravel this mystery. To prove this, just look at the pictures taken with the telescope about 10 years before the first launches. They were made by astronomer Jess Wilson. They clearly show a chain of many bright objects that stretched from outer space to the moon. Scientists have not been able to give an objective explanation for this phenomenon. Maybe UFOs exist. And it is this fact that gives a complete answer to the question of why no one has been flying to the moon for many decades now.

Strange objects on the moon

Why don't they fly to the moon, and what was discovered by the Americans on its surface? These questions concern many lovers of inexplicable phenomena. As some documents show, recent Apollo expeditions have discovered many interesting objects on the Moon. At that time, the astronauts managed to remove incomprehensible vehicles, boulders of rather large sizes, which independently rolled out of the craters. Of course, these are not all objects that are worthy of attention.

Near the landing site, pictures were taken of cars, as well as pits with even and right angles that exclude their formation of craters, and canyons that are simply lined with stone blocks. There are plenty of similar unexplained phenomena on the Moon.

Finally

Scientists suggest that there was once life on the moon, and perhaps it still exists there today. After all, the astronauts managed to partially study only what is on the surface of the Earth's satellite. Everything that is inside the moon remains a mystery. Of course, all the above facts do not provide an exhaustive answer to the question of why people do not fly to the moon. Perhaps, after another 10 years, everything will fall into place, and humanity will finally find out the truth.

And in the 60s, and today, to get to the natural satellite of the Earth, the same thing is required. Firstly, a super-heavy rocket that launches from 120 tons into low orbit and more than 45 tons into a trajectory to the Moon. The starting mass of such a monster should be under 3000 tons. On lighter rockets, it will not work to launch a lunar ship into space at a time. And launching two rockets and assembling a ship in space means dramatically increasing the risk of failure.

Secondly, we need a lunar lander capable of landing in the manner of modern "Falcons" or Soviet lunar landers of half a century ago. Its weight starts from 15 tons. Everything else - MCCs, spacesuits, lunar transport- much simpler and either already available or can be quickly developed without huge costs.

In human history, superheavy launch vehicles were built four times: the American (or rather, created by Wernher von Braun) Saturn-5, the Soviet H-1, the Soviet Energia and the American SLS (still being created). Just look at the images of all four to notice the obvious: they are very similar to each other. There are no technological secrets in them for a long time, and if desired, any significant country can cope with this task. The Soviet lunar rocket did not take off due to completely solvable problems associated with design errors. If the USSR had the desire to correct these mistakes, it would eventually do it. Another thing is that Brezhnev did not have such a desire. The political leader changed, and the tasks associated with the creation of a superheavy launch vehicle were quite quickly and successfully solved in the USSR ("Energy").

Why can't you use the technology of the sixties for it?

You can often hear a bewildered question: if the United States had such a technology for the Saturns half a century ago, then why are they now building an SLS - a rocket of the same technical appearance, but with different engines and subsystems? Wouldn't it be easier to take the drawings of the 60s and accurately reproduce them, especially since development is always the most expensive part of lunar programs?

The answer to this question is simple and disappointing. Firstly, there are simply no complete and detailed drawings in fact. The private firms that made the components of the old rocket have already closed in significant numbers. Secondly, even if they were, it would not help much. Saturn components have not been produced for so long that the time and cost required to reproduce them will be equal to the development of a new rocket. And in fact, even more - after all, when creating the SLS, NASA uses engines designed for shuttles. The most expensive part of their life cycle - development - has already been paid for, and instead of this, choosing to create engines for Saturn according to old drawings will not only be more expensive, but also much longer.

In theory, Russia also has drawings of Energia, one version of which is quite suitable for a flight to the moon. Unlike the United States, enterprises producing components are still alive. However, in practice, over a quarter of a century, even the infrastructure for refueling rockets with liquid hydrogen has disappeared in the country, not to mention the engines themselves and other systems, without which the Soviet Energia cannot be made. When Russia builds a new superheavy, it will be created from scratch. Space technologies can be easily and cheaply lost. Finding them again will always be harder and more expensive.

Why fly?

In recent years, a new hypothesis has been gaining popularity about why the United States, and with it the whole of humanity, stopped flying to the moon. Allegedly, the scientific return from flying there was "vanishingly small", everything that people could take from these missions, they quickly took, so it turned out to be more profitable to explore space with the help of machine guns.

Alas, in fact, by the end of half a dozen flights, our knowledge of Selena was extremely small. It became clear that it was not covered by an ocean of dust in which everything got stuck. We also managed to gain about 400 kilograms of soil. But it immediately turned out that it is quite difficult to extract reliable scientific information from it. NASA was in such a hurry to win the lunar race that a number of small technical details were worked carelessly. Soil containers did not close well and were not completely airtight. Immediately, all the geochemists who analyzed the soil and found water there and an amazing isotopic similarity with terrestrial rocks began to shout that because of the ugly containers, the value of this soil in solving critical issues is zero.

In a good way, NASA had to take and finally make decent containers and fly to the satellite again in order to understand where, in fact, the water in the soil comes from and why the Moon and the Earth look made of the same material, although planetology claimed that this could not happen at all be. Alas, the agency did nothing of this, because it curtailed flights, and there was no point in making new containers, because there would be nothing to carry them on.

Even worse was that because of the same rush for the astronauts on the moon. And those that were were weakly bent at the knees, which is why the explorers of the Moon could not walk normally on it. Needless to say, it is impossible to really explore 38 million square kilometers of the surface on stiff knees:

It is enough to read the science fiction of those years to notice that the idea that the most interesting things on the Moon are hidden in caves, crevices and craters was already widespread half a century ago. Everyone understood that volatile substances, including the same water, can hide in the shadows of these objects, and their study is extremely important. But how do you climb into a cave when you can't even walk properly on flat ground? Of course, no one set such a task for the astronauts.

Today we already know hundreds of lunar caves and their entrances, and some of them are measured in kilometers. But we have no opportunity to explore them without astronauts. We have already written why in such difficult conditions and why they will remain so in the foreseeable future.

In addition, it was discovered that there is water at the lunar poles - judging by the radar data, in the form of ice. You can't really be sure of this from a distance. Neutron detectors (by the way, of Russian origin) register secondary neutrons from the surface of the Moon. They arise in the upper layer of the soil under the action of cosmic rays incident on it. High-energy neutrons born in the soil are slowed down and absorbed by the nuclei of the atoms it contains (due to inelastic scattering and capture). If there is something in the soil containing hydrogen, then it effectively slows down the neutrons, and the flux of epithermal neutrons emitted outside drops sharply, which changes the picture observed by the detector. Alas, the neutron detector does not reliably distinguish water ice from hydrated minerals. This is a very significant difference in practical terms.

You can solve the problem by sending a person there. He can also find out if there is water in the huge lava tubes already seen on the earth's satellite, as well as find out what the temperature is there and how suitable such objects are for creating lunar bases protected from radiation. But in practice, all this, due to the stoppage of flights, remained out of reach.

As we can see, the hypothesis “we don’t fly because we don’t need to” does not withstand even the slightest contact with rough reality. Human flights there are not only necessary, but also the only possible means of any deep study of the Moon. Largely due to their absence, our understanding of the history of the moon and our own planet has been going in circles for decades.

"What, don't you have enough money?"

The most logical version of why there are no such flights now is the financial one. A single Saturn V flight in 1969 cost $185 million, about $1.2 billion today. About 10 thousand per kilogram of load is clearly not cheap. However, this version also raises uncomfortable questions.

The lunar program was expensive (over $170 billion in 2016 dollars), but the shuttle program was even more expensive ($230 billion). According to NASA, one shuttle flight cost $500 million. According to independent observers in the same US - 1.65 billion. Let's assume that these observers are agents of the Kremlin, and only the agency gave the correct figure. Then it turns out that the shuttle, which launched 24.4 tons, cost 0.5 billion per launch, and Saturn-5 - 1.2 billion, but carried five times more cargo into space. In the best case for the shuttles, they launched a payload into space more expensive than the Saturns! At the same time, the "shuttles" were engaged, frankly, incomprehensibly what. It is difficult to compare the scientific results obtained from their flights to the ISS and to low Earth orbit with the results of lunar exploration and the removal of several centners of soil from there. If the Saturns were expensive, then why turn to even more expensive and at the same time radically less efficient shuttles?

It can be assumed that after the curtailment of flights to the moon, the Saturns were no longer needed. A rocket that puts more than 100 tons into orbit is too powerful a thing to launch satellites with it. It will not be possible to load it with small devices - there were simply no such needs for their launch in the post-Apollo era. Shuttles lift five times less and look much more appropriate for low-orbit astronautics. But this explanation is also unsatisfactory. From the point of view of space exploration and study, all the tasks performed by the shuttles look weaker than the tasks performed by the Saturns.

Why was the choice made in favor of the shuttles? When flights to the moon were curtailed, US congressmen and politicians wanted to reduce the cost of space. NASA tried, despite this, to maintain significant funding. Therefore, a rosy picture was drawn before politicians who were poorly versed in anything specific about how, with mass launches of reusable shuttles, the unit cost of launching per kilogram of cargo would decrease and everything would be fine. The shuttle program was positioned as cost-saving, otherwise no one would have given money for it. However, a series of mistakes were made during its planning. The underlying reason for all of them was cost savings, which was presented as the strength of the "shuttles" in comparison with the expensive "Saturn". As a result, the shuttles turned out the way they were made: cheap to develop (6.75 billion dollars), but expensive to fly (18 thousand dollars per kilogram of cargo versus the planned 674). All this is reminiscent of the classic story of the construction of the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle by the Pentagon (see the video below):

The opinion that one can save money by abandoning deep space is a natural consequence of the fact that the bearers of such an opinion are politicians, that is, people who are not very technically competent. The question is not like "flying to the moon is expensive or not flying to it is cheap." In reality, space will still be expensive. Just in one case, astronauts, as today, will be expensive to transport to the ISS 400 kilometers from Earth. In another case, they will be transported less frequently (once a year, for example), but to the Moon, 400,000 kilometers from Earth.

So, the correct answer to the question "Why don't we fly to the moon?" there will be a well-known phrase from the Soviet classics: "We have the means. We do not have enough intelligence." The real reason for not going to the Moon is NASA's inability to calculate that abandoning the Saturns would make deep space missions impossible and near space missions impossibly expensive. Only the USSR could have kept the United States from this mistake - if it wanted to bring its lunar rocket to perfection, or even, as Korolev planned, by flying to Mars. In the face of Soviet deep space flights, the Americans would not have been able to abandon the Saturns. As you know, Moscow did not want any of this. Her reluctance, coupled with a series of enchanting mistakes by the agency, buried "lunar technology" for decades to come.

Never again?

The most realistic answer to the question "When will we fly to the moon?" will sound like "Never, as long as it depends on the government agencies of the United States or Russia." The problem is that the United States, in the words of Nicholas II, is a country without a master. Not a single president there can spend more than 8 years in power, and it is unrealistic to implement the second lunar program in such a short period of time. Meanwhile, each subsequent president, coming to power, is trying to change what he did not like in the policies of the previous one (Donald Trump vs. Obamacare).

We all remember how Nixon came to power promising to end the ruinous "space dreams". This, of course, did not work out - the shuttle program he adopted came out more expensive than the lunar one. But his experience did not teach anyone anything. And it will not teach in the future: knowledge of history is no more characteristic of American presidents than knowledge of the basics of rocket science. Obama canceled the Constellation program (another lunar one) the same way Nixon canceled the Apollo program. He, too, mistakenly believed that this would lead to a reduction in US space spending. As shown by the huge spending on the US space program approved by Obama, no savings came from closing the Constellation either. However, this will not teach anyone anything. It doesn't matter if a Republican or a Democrat comes to power - both will close the predecessor's program, which means that no one will have time to fly to the moon.

Theoretically, the issue can be solved by other sovereign nations. Indeed, the Chinese Communist Party or United Russia is hard to imagine losing the election. This means that there is no one there to kill the lunar programs of the president-predecessor. However, China does not yet have the technological level necessary for such a flight. It also does not appear in the CCP's list of immediate priorities.

In Russia, as we have already noted, the problem is even deeper. Although formally we can build the necessary equipment, but in reality the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of space does not know why it is necessary to fly to the Moon or Mars. In addition, we are incomparably poorer than the United States or China and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Thus, Russia and China are excluded from the list of potential lunar explorers for the time being. For them to get there, an external impulse is needed - the landing of the same Americans on another celestial body. Before such an event, a lunar mission should not be expected either under the tricolor or under the red flag.

The first circumnavigation of the world took place in the 1520s with a squadron under the command of Ferdinand Magellan. The heroic campaign nearly ended in disaster. Of the five ships, only one was able to go around the Earth, and out of 260 crew members, only 18 returned back, among which Magellan was no longer there.

The first circumnavigation of the world - the beginning of the XVI century. Do you want an interesting question?

In what year did the next "circumnavigation" take place?

The next attempt to repeat Magellan's achievement failed. All seven of the ships of Garcia Jofre de Loays were lost in the ocean. Ten years later, only 8 sailors from the de Loyas expedition, captured by the Portuguese, were able to return to Europe.

As a result, the English expedition of 1577-80 became the second, somehow successful "around the world". under the command of the navigator and pirate Sir Francis Drake. Half a century after Magellan! Once again, the voyage was not without casualties. Of the six ships of Drake's detachment, only one came back - the flagship Pelican, renamed the Golden Doe.

Despite the appearance of maps, new instruments and technologies, round-the-world expeditions remained deadly exotic for a long time. And their participants deservedly received laurels of glory. Like, for example, the navigator and discoverer James Cook, although this was already the 18th century. By the way, Cook's expedition was remembered for the fact that for the first time in a round-the-world voyage, none of the sailors died of scurvy ...

The moon from heaven, with cosmic frost, brings its cold light to the earth

Why did the topic of space flights begin with the expeditions of the 16th-18th centuries? Where is the connection between Lieutenant Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11) and Adelantado Magellan (Trinidad)?

Indeed, Armstrong was in much more advantageous terms than the Portuguese.

Armstrong knew exactly the route and had an idea of ​​​​everything that could meet him on the way. Before him, automatic stations Surveyor-1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7 landed on the Moon (five successful landings, two crashed). "Inspectors" conducted reconnaissance of future landing sites, transmitted panoramas of the lunar surface and data on soil density. The sixth "Surveyer" had a more complex program: after working in one place, he turned on the engine and flew to another site.

"Apollo 12" was able to land 300 meters from the AMS Surveyor-3 ". The crew was tasked with dismantling part of the probe's equipment, which stood on the Moon for three years
By the way, did you notice the number of Armstrong's ship? Why "11"? What happened to the previous 10 Apollos?

Apollo 8, 9 and 10 (commanders Borman, McDivit, Stafford) - landing rehearsals. The eighth "Apollo" made a manned flight around the Moon and testing the entry into the Earth's atmosphere with the second cosmic velocity. Ninth - undocking and rebuilding compartments in open space. Apollo-10 is a dress rehearsal, with entering a lunar orbit, rebuilding compartments, maneuvering and lowering the module to a height of 14 km above the lunar surface (without landing).

The remaining Apollos are three unmanned and one manned space flight with a comprehensive test of the ship and the Saturn-V launch vehicle in Earth orbit. Plus the unnamed launch of AS-203 and the tragic Apollo 1 with the death of astronauts in training. Apart from two dozen other flights under the Apollo program, during which various elements of the upcoming landing were tested.

All that remained for Neil Armstrong was to complete the work he had begun and "land" his module in the Sea of ​​Tranquility. All other stages of the flight have been repeatedly tested and thoroughly studied.

The Soviet lunar program moved in a similar way. A continuous cycle of testing equipment, spacecraft, spacesuits and launch vehicles - on the ground and in space. Six soft landings of automatic lunar stations, incl. with rovers-lunar rovers and takeoff from the surface of the Moon (delivery of soil samples to Earth). 14 launches under the secret Zond program, during which four ships (unmanned versions of the Soyuz, 7K-L1) successfully circled the Moon and returned to Earth. And behind the secret indexes "Cosmos-379", "Cosmos-398" and "Cosmos-434" were hiding tests of the lunar module and a cycle of maneuvers in orbit.

Returning to the comparison of "Apollo" with the pioneers of the XVI century. Unlike Magellan, who went into the unknown, Armstrong had a stable connection with the Earth. From where I received all the necessary calculations, advice and instructions in case of failure of any equipment.

Even despite the cramped conditions, the spacecraft provided an unparalleled level of comfort and food standards on board than the 16th-century Portuguese caracques. Rotten corned beef, poisoned water, rats, dysentery and scurvy. Lieutenant Armstrong didn't have to worry about anything like that.

Throughout the journey, no one expressed hostile intentions to Armstrong, his crew of Aldrin and Collins did not mutiny, and the lack of an atmosphere on the moon simplified maneuvering and eliminated the danger of storms and storms - from which sailors of the past suffered so much.

This is probably why the Apollo lunar expeditions ended with almost no losses, except for the explosion of the tank in the service compartment of Apollo 13, due to which the crew could not land on the surface (manned flyby of the moon in emergency mode).

Such a "tin" as in the 16th century - when only one of the five ships returned (or no one returned!), Was no longer observed.

But the expeditions of Armstrong and Magellan had one main property in common. This is an unwarranted risk. In the end, all the achievements and dividends from these expeditions turned out to be far beyond the real benefit (there was not even a momentary commercial success). In the first case - unsteady international prestige, in the second - the search for a western passage to India.

Realizing this, European navigators for 50 years "froze" attempts to repeat the "circumnavigation" of Ferdinand Magellan. And then, for a couple of centuries, they didn’t really rush there. Although less dangerous and cost-effective flights to India and America were an instant success.

Here again there is a brilliant analogy with the cosmos. No one flies to the moon, but manned and unmanned launches follow one after another. There is an operating space station, the orbits are filled with civil and military satellites.

We see a temporary refusal to repeat expeditions that are too distant, dangerous, but at the same time devoid of practical meaning. Until better times... Perhaps this is the answer to the question of why neither we nor the Americans are striving for the moon yet.

moon battle

Any mention of Neil Armstrong causes a powerful reaction among supporters and opponents of the "Americans on the Moon."

As we can see, the explanation “if they don’t fly today, it means they never flew” can only make Ferdinand Magellan laugh. As for all sorts of technical issues, the more you delve into the topic, there is less and less doubt about the intellectual level of those who doubt Armstrong's landing on the moon.

We will leave the reasoning about the “waving flag” to the conscience of housewives. We have more serious issues on the agenda.

1. None of the Soviet scientists and cosmonauts has ever denied the reality of landing on the moon. Not in private, not even in the face of the all-powerful USSR. Which, if he knew something, he would not miss such a chance and erased America into powder. And he would know quickly - with his omniscient KGB, intelligence satellites and spying capabilities!

2. The launch of the 3,000-ton Saturn in front of the whole of Florida and thousands of tourists who specially arrived that day at Cape Canaveral. And so - thirteen times in a row!

3. Scientific equipment and seismographs that transmitted data from the Moon for seven years, which were received both in the USA and in the USSR.

4. Laser reflectors that are still there. With their help, any observatory can measure the exact distance to the moon. Of course, American robots laid them out on the moon.

5. A similar Soviet lunar program ... which was not?

6. There was no docking of the Soyuz with the American Apollo, July 15, 1975. After all, it is obvious that the heavy ship "Apollo" did not exist, and the memories of A. Leonov and V. Kubasov (participants of the Soyuz-Apollo mission) are fiction.

7. High-resolution images of the Apollo landing sites by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), 2009. Of course, this is all photoshop, much more reliable than the "news agency" OBS.

Apollo 17 landing site

8. Under the pressure of irrefutable evidence, skeptics are ready to admit the possibility of any stage of the expedition (the existence of the 30-ton Apollo spacecraft, numerous Saturn launches, a flyby of the Moon), except for the landing itself. For them, this is like a sickle in an important place. From the point of view of a typical supporter of the "lunar conspiracy", landing on the moon is the most difficult and incredible moment. They are not embarrassed by the abundance of shots with piloting aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing (Yak-38, Sea Harrier, F-35B). Naval pilots miraculously land fighters on the rocking decks of ships. At night, in the rain, in the fog, fending off sharp gusts of side wind.

Despite all their training, Armstrong and Aldrin couldn't do it together.

9. In conditions of low gravity, the engine of the lunar "Eagle" barely hissed - its max. thrust was 4.5 tons, and he had enough for his eyes. Against 10 tons for the engines of the deck "Yak" and 19 tons for the roaring monster F-35. Four times more powerful than the lunar landing stage!

10. Cosmic rays and "death belts" for some reason spared the living creatures on board the domestic "Probes". They circled the Moon and returned safely to Earth. Deadly radiation does not destroy the fragile electronics aboard automatic stations flying for decades in outer space. Without any lead protection 1 meter thick.

No one argues with the danger of being in space for a long time, but a week is too short a time for the onset of dangerous changes in the body.

As for the 40-year break in lunar exploration, we are dealing with a recurring one. Mankind, in the person of individual heroes, makes a breakthrough with the sole purpose of proving to itself: "YES, WE CAN!". This is followed by a long waiting period (decades, centuries). Until there are technologies that allow such travel to be made without significant threat to life. Or, at least, the need for such expeditions for the needs of the economy and defense will be indicated.

Night launch from Cape Canaveral

The article used the ideas of Viktor Argonov
http://argonov.livejournal.com

Photos from open sources

Why did the leadership of the USA and the USSR, after the first successful conquests of the Moon at the end of the last century, suddenly, for no apparent reason, lost any interest in this space object?

Moreover, both superpowers at that moment suddenly froze all their billion-dollar programs for the development of the natural satellite of the Earth, explaining to the townsfolk that this was too expensive. However, at the beginning of this century, the United States, which, it seems, was closest to the exploration of the Moon, for some reason took up Mars, Pluto, they are even thinking about how to catch asteroids in order to extract valuable minerals ... But they are not interested in the Moon ... (website)

Who does not let earthlings to the moon?

Today, the general public became aware of the negotiations between Armstrong and Aldrin with the Earth back in 1969, when Apollo 11 landed astronauts on the surface of the Moon. In general, apparently, the conquerors of space were literally stunned by what they saw, so for some time they could not even transmit anything. And then they explained the forced pause on the air like this: yes, there are other spaceships standing in a row and watching us, and we can’t film anything, because they disabled our cameras.

Recently, the idea has been persistently pushed that the Americans were not on the moon at all, and all their reports from the satellite were filmed in Hollywood pavilions. However, one gets the impression that NASA itself spreads such rumors that to some extent justify the US cooling off towards lunar space programs. After all, this is much better than admitting that aliens do not let you go to the moon.

Who lives in a house called Luna?

The fact that the Moon is inhabited has been known since ancient times. The first such mention of the "lunar inhabitants" dates back to 1064. A little later, the French astronomer Louville and the famous Galileo observed strange flashes on the satellite, as if of artificial origin. Astronomers of that time recorded changes in craters on the Moon, movements of luminous objects on its surface, some strange flashes like takeoffs of spaceships ...

Photos from open sources

Richard Hoagland, a former NASA employee, made a sensational statement in 2007 that he saw pictures (taken by American Apollo astronauts) of a lunar city under a huge transparent dome (the Sea of ​​​​Crisis region). Houses, bridges, towers and other structures can be easily distinguished under this dome. Photos of approximately the same lunar cities even earlier, in 1979, were found in the library of the space agency by engineers Vito Saccheri and Lester Hughes. In these pictures, scientists were especially struck by the Egyptian pyramids, as well as various aircraft, both standing on take-off platforms and hovering above the surface of the moon.

Moon - spaceship

Today, scientists are no longer discussing whether the Moon is inhabited or not, but what this satellite of the Earth is all about.

Photos from open sources

One of the versions: the Moon is a raw material base for the aliens, where they extract the minerals they need. But there are not many supporters of this theory. The second version: the Moon is a research laboratory for studying the Earth, and of artificial origin. The fact is that studies of lunar rock samples showed that the satellite is older than the Earth itself, and much older, say, by a couple of billion years. It is possible that the Moon is just a huge one that travels in space, and for several millennia they have been studying our planet. As archaeological excavations show, approximately eleven to thirteen thousand years ago, the Earth did not have any satellite (symbolic images on the walls of Calassia in Bolivia indicate a fairly accurate date for the appearance of the Moon in our sky).

In addition, scientists are surprised by the too low density of the Moon, which suggests that the Earth's satellite is hollow. Today it has been precisely established that under the visible surface of the Moon there is a metal shell, approximately seventy kilometers thick.

The moon is busy - let's fly further, for example, to Mars. And who said that Mars is also not occupied by aliens? And why is it necessary to climb into outer space, some sober-minded scientists say, with our still primitive technologies and with our poverty and unconsciousness? Indeed, in the world hundreds of millions of people are still dying of hunger, billions of dollars are being spent not to feed, but to destroy the excess population of the planet. And the Earth itself is still a mystery for us with seven seals. And we are in outer space ...