My ramblings

dearMoon

As I've said before, I love space. It is impossible for me to overstate just how much I love all of it's wonders and mysteries. I'll gladly spend hours watching what is essentially a giant firework stand still on the launchpad and just hope that the launch won't scrub. Which has happened more times than I can count. I've also said before that I want to watch a rocket launch within my lifetime, along with other stuff like seeing one of the shuttles and visit Kennedy space centre. You know, completely reasonable stuff that I will probably get to do. Then there is the more unattainable point on my list, actually going to space. A chance that is slightly less unattainable right now that it was a few months ago. But first a very brief rundown on semi-recent stuff in spaceflight.

SpaceX has made leaps in their Starship development with three high altitude test flights so far. All three might have exploded, two while trying to land and one after landing. But hey, progress is progress and this all happened within a few months.

The perseverance rover landed on Mars and we got video of the landing which is a historic first. They've also recorded sounds of the wind, the laser on the rover and the rover driving, all historic firsts. And now they're getting ready to release the helicopter ingenuity and have the first powered flight on another planet. Awesome stuff.

Then just this week NASA also completed a full 8 minute static fire-test of the SLS core stage after the first attempt only lasted 67 seconds. So now the stage will be refurbished before being sent of to Florida and be assembled along with the rest of the rockets and get ready to launch Artemis I. The first mission on the path of bringing humans back to the moon.

On the same day Biden also announced that former senator Bill Nelson will become NASA administrator and the successor to Jim Bridenstine. Which is a choice I have some doubts around. Nelson was on a single Shuttle mission only because he used his political leverage to get a seat, and the crew referred to him as "Ballast". Him getting that seat also lead to another astronaut being bumped down to the next shuttle flight which was the flight of the challenger disaster. Nelson also doesn't have any education within spaceflight in any way and only really has political experience. Something he himself criticized Bridenstine for back when he was nominated. Along with other things he isn't a popular figure within the space community, not the worst, but not liked in any sense of the word.

Anyways, onto the main thing I want to talk about. Going to space. Back in 2017 the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa along with SpaceX announced that he was going to pay for a civilian mission to the moon with him and one other passenger. Back then this was supposed to be on a modified crew-Dragon launched on a Falcon-heavy. Then in 2018 they said the mission was going to be done with a Starship instead and with several more people. The dearMoon project. Now Starship is the next generation vehicle SpaceX is currently developing and is intended to be fully reusable and be able to carry over 100 tons to both the Moon and Mars. And it will look like this.

So far the tests they've had have been mostly explosive in nature, but they're making progress and I think they'll be able to make it somewhat safe enough for humans.

Anyways, in 2018 Elon Musk and Maezawa said they would launch a civilian mission around the moon and back. Maezawa also said that he wanted to bring artists because he thought they would help inspire humanity. Then some time passed and not much more was heard. That was until earlier this month on the 2nd of March when a big announcement came. Maezawa was going to give out 8 seats that anyone could apply for as long as two criteria were met. Firstly, that you're passionate for an activity and by going on the trip to the moon be able to push this activity further and help society in some way. Secondly, be able to work well with others on the trip and help their goals and aspirations as if they were their own.

With that announcement the floodgates opened. Anyone who wanted to apply could do so before the 14th of March. (Sorry if you found out through this and wanted a chance, too late now). That first round saw just under 1 million applicants globally, including little old me from Norway. That first round was of course only pre-registration and you only wrote in name, country, and email. It is the current round, the screening phase that will remove a lot of people from the list.

I won't say what I've written or sent in for my application. I mean, the chances are near zero, but I really want to try my chances. This is pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm not going to waste it. But just this once I'll allow a little bit of hope for the future, since that is a thing that I was really lacking last year. The deadline for the application is due in under 24 hours and I've done what I can. After that I'll either get an email by the end of April telling me I'm on the shortlist, or I won't get anything. What happens after that to those who got on the list, no one knows since it'll be kept secretive. We'll see. Maybe I'll get a once in a lifetime opportunity or nothing. I still have other things I can do in life.

That was all, I'm hoping you're all having a wonderful day. Goodbye.