Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!apple!well!tneff
From: tneff@well.UUCP (Tom Neff)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Is the moon a 'known quantity'?
Message-ID: <10478@well.UUCP>
Date: 25 Jan 89 15:11:31 GMT
References: <6145@thorin.cs.unc.edu> <13531@jumbo.dec.com>
Reply-To: tneff@well.UUCP (Tom Neff)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 22

In article <13531@jumbo.dec.com> stolfi@src.dec.com (Jorge Stolfi) writes:
> ... I submit that more than 90% of the scientific value of the Apollo
>program came from the first moon landing, and specifically from the
>soil samples it brought back. 
>
>It is always nice to have more data, but the last few Apollo landings
>added very little to the knowledge we got from the first few.

Most of Jorge's article (not quoted) was reasonable but this is a calumny.
Apollos 16 and 17 were the really big science missions.  The quantity and
sophistication of the experiments and activities was an order of magnitude
better than on the first few missions.  I can list the specifics if folks
are interested.

>It would have been foolish to continue spending the limited money
>available on additional Apollos instead of on things like Viking and
>Voyager.  

Not at all the same proposition; not hard to agree with either.
-- 
Tom Neff                  tneff@well.UUCP
                       or tneff@dasys1.UUCP