Farrah's story...

[RICHARD]

re NASA?

Growing up and hearing the word 'computer' I never thought I'd own one for use in my home. I do not remember the exact quote about the comps in the APOLLO/Lunar Landers, but the power of the systems on board was pretty pathetic compared to what a cheap laptop does today.
Those guys were flying thru space, guided by what amounted to a cheap TIMEX watch and a Cracker Jack compass.

Some of the med experiments, like separating chemicals/substances in zero g's show promise in developing meds for use in curing/prevention/predicting diseases.

The U.S. space program has always been maligned as a waste of money and time.

We just have to look past the astronaut ice cream, velcro, Tang and the adult diapers used to drive across country when you fall in love!

[kokopup]

post by Richard

Growing up and hearing the word 'computer' I never thought I'd own one for use in my home. I do not remember the exact quote about the comps in the APOLLO/Lunar Landers, but the power of the systems on board was pretty pathetic compared to what a cheap laptop does today.
Those guys were flying thru space, guided by what amounted to a cheap TIMEX watch and a Cracker Jack compass.

During my years working for NASA I worked on the Saturn 5 launch vehicle telemetry systems. Apollo 11 the 4th launch to use the Saturn 5 had less computing power in total than the Asus EEE PC that I am using to write this post. Comparing it to a Timex and Crackerjack Compass may be a selling Nasa a little short. While the computers by todays standard were primitive they did the job that was required of them which was no small task, They had to make some very complex calculation during just about every part of the flight. The Apollo 13 is extremely lucky that they returned at all, because the flight was done mostly by dead reckoning with their computers shut down.

[RICHARD]

Apollo 11 the 4th launch to use the Saturn 5 had less computing power in total than the Asus EEE PC that I am using to write this post. Comparing it to a Timex and Crackerjack Compass may be a selling Nasa a little short. They had to make some very complex calculation during just about every part of the flight. The Apollo 13 is extremely lucky that they returned at all, because the flight was done mostly by dead reckoning with their computers shut down.

My apologies.

I didn't mean to sell anyone short! I was making a joke about how the space program was able to get things done with the tech of the day. W hen I heard that a home PC was MORE powerful than what was used on one Apollo flight, it boggles my mind and makes me admire the whole space program all over again.

[beeniesmom]

re NASA?

We just have to look past the astronaut ice cream, velcro, Tang and the adult diapers used to drive across country when you fall in love!

I guess that's the part I was referring to.
I know that NASA is responsible for a lot of the technology we have today.

I was just frustrated when I wrote the original post...

[RICHARD]

I guess that's the part I was referring to.
I know that NASA is responsible for a lot of the technology we have today.

I was just frustrated when I wrote the original post...

I lost my GF to pancreatic cancer, my mom to breast cancer and my aunt to ovarian cancer....

God forbid it visits a loved one, we stop and become 'experts' on that type of illness. Someday will get a handle on cancer, until then we have to be proactive with ourselves and see an MD regularly!

[Grace]

I really believe that survival rate depends on how early it is detected and how aggressive the treatment. . . . why do some survive and others not - is it the course of treatment or lack thereof? Difficult to say I suppose.

How early it is diagnosed - how old is the patient - is there a genetic component (think BRCA gene). All of these factor in. And it's not only cancer. 10 people can be diagnosed with TB, and the outcome might be different for all of them.