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Author
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Topic: What was the greatest expeditoin of discovery?
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STEVE SMITH
unregistered
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posted 07-05-2004 11:07 PM
 
I just returned from a most glorious 4th of July at Atchinson, KS. We spent the weekend on the "Big Muddy", the Missouri River with 28 enactors of the Lewis and Clark "Expedtion of Discovery", and about 80,000 of what became some very close friends.Lewis and Clark had been here at this exact spot July 4th, 1804 (200 years ago) and celbrated Independence Day for the first time in the American West. The celebration included two shots from the keelboat cannon and an extra "gill" (4 0z.) of Whiskey for each man (a good time by all) Native Kansan Bill Kurtis (CBS/PBS) was emcee, and commented that many historians regard this as the greatest explorations or the greatest Expedition of Discovery. After some thought I agree given the scale and logistics, the difficulties and the unknowns, the personal hardships, the scientific knowledge gained, and the importancre to a nation. I also include Apollo 11 (and on a broader scale the entire Apollo missions for what I hope are obvious reasons What other expeditions would you include? If you are ever in Atchinson Kansas, just north of Kansas City, Missouri, vist Amelia Earhart's birthplace museum. What a great place for aviation buffs. Brenda in the Isle of Man; from your stories of flying, hope you can visit sometime. Also the afore mentioned Bill Kurtis is doing a wonderful job for recreating a 3,000 acre Prarie Eco System in SE Kansas near Sedan Kansas. For a taste of the olden days with out commercialism, vistit sometime. Say hello to the bison for me. |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 07-06-2004 01:21 AM
 
The greatest "expedition(s) of discovery" were the 'grand tour' missions by the twin Voyager spacecraft which left Earth in 1977 and are still travelling & sending data now almost 30 years later ...
The far away planets in our solar system had always been small dots in the night sky but became the "outer gas giants with an array of moons" seen by Voyager's cameras !!! |
MarylandSpace
Member Posts: 1336
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 07-06-2004 10:51 AM
Apollo 8 is my favorite mission of the entire space program.Why? Trust and courage. The Earth is here. The Moon is here. Three days later the Moon will be over here. Launch, not lunch. The Moon's gravity will capture you and you will make a few orbits. You'll fire your engines again and escape lunar gravity. The Moon is here. The Earth is here. You will reenter the Earth's atmosphere, not at too steep an angle and not to shallow, to be picked up by a recovery ship 5 miles away. Awesome. I hope to meet astronauts Anders, Borman, and Lovell some day. Garry (MarylandSpace) |
november25
Member Posts: 646
From: Douglas, Isle of Man, UK
Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 07-06-2004 05:23 PM
Hi Steve,and the guys,
Firstly-thanks for your very kind words Steve-I will get back via e-mail about the other item- been out tonight[Baby sitting}
Just got back.
My favourite discovery would be the astronauts who first walked on the moon, and
took samples of the lunar surface, did experiments, then told the whole word about it. [ARE THERE REALLY MEN ON THE MOON, DOES ANYONE KNOW FOR CERTAIN?} what a discovery-
anyway, I was [over the moon-meeting 3 of them at the Florida show in May.] I WISH I COULD FLY TO THE MOON- no plane suitable,
thanks for the kind words,
ps things are looking great for our air show-you know what I mean.
cheers,all the best to you all,
from Brenda Bailey [PPL IOM]
This was posted at 10.20PM GMT
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Jake
Member Posts: 464
From: Issaquah, WA U.S.A.
Registered: Jun 2002
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posted 07-06-2004 05:29 PM
Gotta agree with Garry... Apollo 8 was the first time human's left the influence of earth - a pretty big deal...!------------------
Jake Schultz - curator,
Newport Way Air Museum (OK, it's just my home) |
Gilbert
Member Posts: 1328
From: Carrollton, GA USA
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 07-07-2004 09:01 AM
In my opinion Apollo 8 was the most significant and boldest mission of human exploration the space program has produced to date. Apollo 11 and the other moon missions are all very close to it I think. |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1255
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 07-07-2004 09:50 AM
I think Marco Polo's journeys to the Far East are one of the greatest expeditions of mankind. Polo connected Europe to China and brought back goods that created wealth on the European continent. He also brought back spaghetti.
------------------
Larry McGlynn
A Tribute to Apollo
[This message has been edited by Larry McGlynn (edited July 07, 2004).] |
gliderpilotuk
Member Posts: 3398
From: London, UK
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-07-2004 11:53 AM
Viking discovery of America.
Capt Cook's exploration of Australasia.
Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe in 1520.
Vasco Da Gama's rounding of Cape of Good Hope to India from Portugal.
Sir Francis Drake.
etc. etcImpossible to rank these things out of context of the time in which they occurred. BUT I'd agree with Larry on Apollo 8 as being THE journey of the 20th C closely followed by the other Apollo missions. Paul Bramley |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 07-07-2004 12:37 PM
In fact the greatest voyage of discovery still has to come; mankind leaving the cradle of Earth on to Mars and beyond !!! |
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