This machine, this remarkable improbable thing is the result of brilliant minds working together It was built by some of the finest engineers this country has ever produced guided by the quiet persistence of public service and paid for by a government that once dared to dream big and deliver - ThreadSky

docatcdi.com • 80 days ago

This machine, this remarkable improbable thing
is the result of brilliant minds working together
It was built by some of the finest engineers this country has ever produced
guided by the quiet persistence of public service
and paid for by a government
that once dared to dream big
and deliver

Comments

docatcdi.com•80 days ago

Somehow, folks are out there ready to throw that away
To hand the keys to future in space
to a man who treats rocket science
like a game of asteroids
blowing things up because he’s too impatient to test
too arrogant to listen
and too reckless to care who gets hit by the fallout.

bonnyboni.bsky.social•78 days ago

Wonderful !

docatcdi.com•80 days ago

So take a moment. While you’re busy tearing down the people who built this little traveler, and cheering for the guy setting off fireworks in the sandbox, and scattering flaming debris in the ocean, maybe ask yourself:

francesthe1sg.bsky.social•77 days ago

I was the first generation to be absorbed by everything going into "space." Sputnik, dogs and monkeys in orbit. Many mercury and early Gemini astronauts stayed at my dad's motel in Pensacola for early training at PNAS. I dreamed of being a part of it. Too bad girls were excluded!

docatcdi.com•80 days ago

Who do you really trust to carry the next message in a bottle?
And will anyone be left listening when it comes back?

bluestatebabe.bsky.social•80 days ago

Best essay I've read in a long time. Do you mind if I share at Counter.Social?

docatcdi.com•77 days ago

please feel free to fold spike and mutilate ast you see fit my friend

nanyabzniz.bsky.social•77 days ago

📌

anonymousaaron.bsky.social•77 days ago

Thank you

gb5nm.bsky.social•77 days ago

My father worked on the animation to present to Congress for the funding of Voyager. I remember him drawing this all out and describing the mission to me

gavsteed.bsky.social•77 days ago

Incredible, I would love to hear or see more of that story!

weeklyreader.bsky.social•77 days ago

Still online! https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/golden-record-contents/sounds/

Archive jic https://archive.org/details/voyager-golden-record-cd-ozma

gonzojim.bsky.social•78 days ago

👏👏👏🫡🇺🇸

damemyniah.bsky.social•77 days ago

I think about astronaut Chris Hadfield reassuring a worried 5 year old that Voyager isn’t lonely.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/sep-25-2014-1.2907506/astronaut-chris-hadfield-answers-a-five-year-old-s-questions-about-voyager-1.2907513

hjsharky.bsky.social•77 days ago

Well now I'm crying

gdkalmbach.bsky.social•77 days ago

Voyager and Apollo are two absolute triumphs of engineering. One is a pair of spacecraft that have far exceeded their intended lifespan, the other our first and only human expedition to another celestial body. Both worked nearly perfectly, and the one failure was still corrected and survived.

gdkalmbach.bsky.social•77 days ago

They had to work. No exceptions. Saturn is, I think, the only launch vehicle that never had a catastrophic failure. Apollo 4 did have guidance and pogo issues, but still stayed together. And they did it all in the age of slide rules and mainframes running FORTRAN and COBOL.

natesjacobs.bsky.social•77 days ago

Beautiful thread. I would quibble slightly with the attack on agile development which is messy but incredibly effective, but otherwise agree with this poetic defense of public service, and the enduring spirit of curiosity, community, and shared scientific adventures!

kevdog.bsky.social•77 days ago

Agile Development doesn’t work for things that explode.

natesjacobs.bsky.social•77 days ago

It did for Falcon 9! I’m no Elon fan but it’s important to stay grounded in fact so that the punches land better. Falcon 9 had all the same explosions and agile dev and is now the most sophisticated and cost effective space launch powerhouse humanity has ever built. Let’s focus on firing nazis!