Talk:1484: Apollo Speeches

Speech for referenceBlawho (talk) 06:40, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

Any chance the scenario with extra astronauts coming back is a reference to Scott Card's Xenocide, in the book they find a way for FTL travel but some odd things happen on the first voyage including extra people coming back (click if you're not afraid of spoilers)? 188.114.98.29 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

The scenario that the spacecraft was sold for scrap might be a reference to the apolo having a fire during a training and trapping the asyronauts inside. 173.245.52.127 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Probably it could also be a reference to Tarkowski's movie "Solaris"? 141.101.92.93 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

It's also similar to the premise of the comic The Chimpanzee Complex. Probably just a coincidence, though. – PhantomLimbic (talk) 17:06, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

Anyone remember the Saturday Night Live skit with Dana Carvey as Tom Brokaw recording contingency broadcasts reporting on Gerald Ford's death from more and more unlikely circumstances (including one where Brokaw was told to add, "and also, I'm gay", because "If that happens, you don't want another reporter to get the scoop!") mwburden (talk) 17:55, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

"there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind" has to be a reference to the Rupert Brooke poem The Soldier, which Safire no doubt knew. It begins "If I should die, think only this of me:/That there's some corner of a foreign field/That is forever England." 108.162.246.219 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Maybe, but that would not be a reference in the context of the comic, since the first two pages are from the actual speech. -Pennpenn 108.162.250.155 23:19, 9 February 2015 (UTC)

Exactly, it's a reference that Safire was making in writing the speech.Silverpie (talk) 18:15, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

You know, technically Apollo 11 probably had enough delta-v to make it into Mars orbit - the service module alone had around 2.8 km/s - although I don't know if there was a point in the actual mission where you could have made this work. Nobody would have survived the trip, of course. Ijkcomputer (talk) 15:33, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

According to this chart they could have maybe gotten a Mars intercept, but using simple Hohmann transfers, there is no way the Apollo spacecraft would have been able to make Mars orbit. 198.41.243.249 18:08, 13 April 2015 (UTC)

So, the contigency speech for the capsule killing the President implies that the astronauts survived - would this be even remotely possible? I'm not sure what order of magnitude of velocity or momentum the capsule would have on impact, but I would think water would be a softer landing than a ship(?), and impact with the ship would not be accounted for... Wouldn't it damage the contents of the capsule (kill the astronauts), if not tear the whole thing apart? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 14:28, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

I think the astronauts would probably actually survive this. Battered and bruised, certainly, possibly even with a few broken bones. But they would be alive. Descent velocity (from what I could figure out via Google) would be roughly 20 km/h to 25 km/h, and an impact at that speed (shown by a very large number of car crashes) is definitely survivable. 198.41.243.249 18:08, 13 April 2015 (UTC)

As a side comment, "an unholy zeal for recycling programs" is probably the best phrase I've ever read. 108.162.221.117 13:49, 23 February 2015 (UTC)

There was an incomplete tag on this comment stating that "more in depth discussion is needed". Without a specific point at which the discussion is incomplete, this struck me as too vague and not really solvable (or clear what is even missing). I removed the tag. If someone wants to put it back, please go ahead, although I'd request that a more specific reason and/or description of what part of the explanation is lacking be given. Djbrasier (talk) 13:53, 13 March 2015 (UTC)