Mind boggling to think that Voyager 1…launched in 1977…is currently 15B miles from Earth and still operating. Takes 23 hours to get a command to it. Talk about a time-late. Wow!!!
I read your message too fast the first time and read 158 miles. I thought: that doesn't seem very far or that impressive. Then I realized it said 15B - 15 billion! Anyone else misread it??? ; - )
For a fleeting second or two, I thought 5 “Blocks” or perhaps “Bee lengths” but then realized it was indeed “Billions”. It occurred to me, as I’m sure it did to many of you, that if distance, like time, warps (more or less) through the universe in a great circle, that Voyager I might simply be hovering over you next door, down the block, or over the county south of you on I-95. Space travel, science, and physics (not my best subjects in school) are fascinating studies beyond the limited “genius” of most of us, but not without a sense of curiosity and awesome wonder of it all. I’ll never forget my father’s comment on man’s first landing on the moon: “It never happened because I don’t think the almighty ever meant for man to set foot on the moon.” There were similar thoughts in the Middle Ages about what was beyond the horizon, and more recently about the Wright brothers attempts to achieve flight. Best regards to all.
We only live about 70 miles from the Space Coast so get to watch most of the launches. Every one puts you in awe. What’s really cool is the booster recovery system SpaceX has developed. There are some brilliant people making all this happen. They likely could have been good OT’s ;)
I certainly misread the "15B" as 158 until I got to the time late part. That caused a "reread" and I got it the second time.
Yo Ben, I still have some "conspiracist" acquaintances that will say the landing never happened.
Great post and some really amusing responses.
