Apollo 50 Countdown: 5....

"We are still Go with Apollo 11."

 

Counting down - just five days left until the 50th anniversary of the first manned Moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin in 1969.

It surprises me that there isn't more public attention being paid to the anniversary - the Apollo 11 landing is arguably the most significant accomplishment of the 20th Century.  Neil Armstrong's step onto the surface of the Moon is a clear demarcation point in the history of our planet, the moment when we truly became a spacefaring species.

In saying that, I don't mean to diminish the importance of the missions that preceded Apollo 11, but somehow it seems a game of incremental steps that eventually lead to the Moon - increasingly higher flights until Yuri Gagarin crosses the line and orbits the earth in 1961, followed by multiple orbits, unmanned test flights, longer duration manned missions, the first lunar orbits by Apollo 8, more orbital tests, and the final "small step" onto the surface of the Moon on July 20th.

However, in some ways that culminating footstep was as pointless as it was historic.

The competitive origin of the initial landing contained the seeds of the Apollo program's termination.  The sole purpose of the Apollo missions was political: for the United States to land on the Moon before the Soviet Union.  Once that goal was accomplished, the Apollo program was more than a little like a dog chasing a car - what do you do after you catch one?  And so, after five more landings*, distinguished only by Alan Shepard's Apollo 14 golf stunt** and a few lunar rover photo ops, the program sputtered out in 1972 after Apollo 17.

The fiftieth anniversary of that final landing will arrive in 2022, and it might well be just as important to acknowledge that landmark as it was to recognize the anniversary of the first landing.  Hopefully by then we will have permanently returned to the Moon, or perhaps bypassed it on the way to Mars, but if not, a reminder of that last point in time when impossible was made possible might revive the desire to do so again.

- Sid

* The ill-fated Apollo 13 mission would have made it six.

** Insert "Moon shot" joke here.

"War. War never changes."

 

If you looked at the picture of my Fallout 4 plasma pistol and thought to yourself, "I want that," Chronicle Collectibles may have what you REALLY want.  For a mere ten thousand US dollars (okay, $9,999.99, but what's an extra penny between friends) Chronicle will be happy to take your pre-order for 2020 delivery of a lifesized set of T-51b power armour based on the design in the game - seven feet tall, complete with plasma rifle, and only 50 to be manufactured.

Chronicle says that the suit is "not meant for wearability", and, really, if you can afford to spend ten grand USD on something like this, you can afford to get someone to make you a wearable suit of power armour if you really want one - this version would just be for show.

- Sid

! C A U T I O N !

 

When WIRED™ announced that ThinkGeek.com was closing its virtual doors as of July 2nd and that everything on their site was for sale at 50% off, my first thought was "Plasma rifle!".*

Sadly, that particular sample of  Fallout 4 replica weaponry was no longer in stock.  However, the  plasma pistol was, and at 50% off, it seemed like too good an opportunity to turn down, even at the current USD exchange rate.

I placed my order, and waited. I had to pay some additional import fees**, and as usual UPS failed to impress me with their skills as a shipping choice, but in the fullness of time, my purchase made its way to my workplace, and I toted it home for the unboxing.

The plasma pistol, created by Texas-based Chronicle Collectibles, has been lovingly distressed in order to match the post-apocalyptic style of the game, and at 15 inches in length and 11 inches tall, it's an impressively large replica (which makes me feel that the 45 inch long rifle version would have been almost ridiculous).

It's quite well made and doesn't feel at all flimsy, but I'm not sure that I'd want to give it to a small child to play with, it's obviously a game prop reproduction, not a toy.  That being said, I was amused to see that it's equipped with the standard orange muzzle that distinguishes toy pistols from the real thing - it's hard to imagine that the police would mistake this for an actual weapon and draw their own firearms in response.

 

AND IT LIGHTS UP. (Which, for some obscure reason, was disconcerting to Jaq the Cat the first time I tried it.)

Overall, I'm completely pleased with my purchase - I'd love to have it make a noise when the trigger is pulled, and I'd like the trigger spring to be a bit stiffer, but that's just nit-picking.  But why does a device that would shoot at 20,000° C need to be stored at "a moderate temperature"?

- Sid

* What, was that not your first thought?

 ** I bear the Canadian government no ill will for this. In the current political climate, I would put some kind of tariff on imported American plasma beam weaponry as well, lord knows what Trump is charging on softwood going the other way.