Why is it taking NASA so long to go back too the Moon?

First I would like to thank you JRA for all of your responses.
My mind is not closed on this subject and you help me get a better understanding.

Originally posted by jra
A person on the ground (by ground, I mean Earth) was controlling the video camera.

Not only does the lack of dust on the landing gear bother me, there are many other questions I have.
Namely, how could somebody on earth control the camera and pan up to capture the LEM lifting off? Isnt there atleast a few seconds delay with radio signals?

Originally posted by 11Bravo
First I would like to thank you JRA for all of your responses.
My mind is not closed on this subject and you help me get a better understanding.

Originally posted by jra
A person on the ground (by ground, I mean Earth) was controlling the video camera.

Not only does the lack of dust on the landing gear bother me, there are many other questions I have.
Namely, how could somebody on earth control the camera and pan up to capture the LEM lifting off? Isnt there atleast a few seconds delay with radio signals?

Agreed that jra is highly informative on quite a bit of NASA and associated subjects and his imput is Greatly appreciated.
Im in my mid 40's and grew up watching and reading and studying our US Space program as well as most my age were inindated at home and School while this Space race was going on. However as time goes forward and things get Declassified as well as testimonials from many first hand folks Im wondering if the Moon missions ever happened the way the public was allowed to see it. Lots of Strange factual contradictions too say the least.
The real stickler for me has been Nasa's lack of wanting to do any Moon activities since the early 70's and lately their apparent freshman like approach to going to the moon as if they never have been is appauling. Its like they all say "yeah we went there with Apollo" but they all work and research on this Moon project as if they have No Idea and havent a clue.
Its puzzling and dissapointing that the first round of supposed Moon tech went to the scrap heap with not a thought of replacement or even rebuilding.
Im growing more skeptical with Nasa and its their own fault.
I want another and relevant Moon mission this time with little to question in the way of Authenticity. Is that too much too ask for our Hundreds of Billions?

Originally posted by 11Bravo
First I would like to thank you JRA for all of your responses.
My mind is not closed on this subject and you help me get a better understanding.

Hey you're welcome. I myself am still learning new things all the time about the Apollo missions.

Not only does the lack of dust on the landing gear bother me, there are many other questions I have.

You mean like dust that would have been blow by the thrust of the rocket as it landed? Well I know the dust that was blown by the thrust stayed fairly low to the ground. It doesn't cloud up and billow like dust would on earth, since there is no atmosphere to keep the dust suspended in the air longer. Also they shut off the thrust before they touch the ground. There are contact probes on the bottom of the landing footpads, that are about 6 feet long. Once those things touch the ground they throttle the engine all the way down. So that probably doesn't give much of a chance for dust to get all over the landing gear, although I know i've seen some with a bit of dust on them.

Here's a small clip of Apollo 16 descent, you can see the way the dust blows out. And in this pic from Apollo 16, you can see some dust on the footpad, but that may have been kicked up by the astronauts walking around it.

www.hq.nasa.gov...

Namely, how could somebody on earth control the camera and pan up to capture the LEM lifting off? Isnt there atleast a few seconds delay with radio signals?

There is a 2 second delay. And how they did it? Lots of practice. Since they knew when the LM was going to take off, the guy in control started to pan up ahead of time, so that when it took off, the camera would start to pan up along with it.

Originally posted by vtype
The real stickler for me has been Nasa's lack of wanting to do any Moon activities since the early 70's and lately their apparent freshman like approach to going to the moon as if they never have been is appauling.

But is it NASA lack of wanting to go back or the US Government? I'd say it's most defiantly the latter. NASA just doesn't get near enough money to do things like return to the Moon. If NASA could just get 1/4th of what the US spends in Iraq each year, that would be great.

As to there freshman like approach, well there has been a 30 year gap and everyone who worked on Apollo has either retired or past away. So there may have to be a bit of relearning things. Plus advancements in materials and construction have changed a lot since the 60's, so a lot of R&D is still going to have to be done regardless.

Unless every free and independ nation on earth had nukes and ICBM's, the US will never go back to the moon.