Editing 1456: On the Moon
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | The phrase "If we can land a man on the Moon, why can't we <blank>" is commonly used to question a perceived shortcoming of government | + | The phrase "If we can land a man on the Moon, why can't we <blank>" is commonly used to question a perceived shortcoming of some company, government or humanity in general. The {{w|Apollo program}} landed {{w|List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon|twelve astronauts}} on the {{w|Moon}} in six landing missions from July 1968 to December 1972 and returned all of them safely to the Earth. The premise is that, if "we" (whether referring generally to humanity, or specifically to the United States) have been able to achieve this extraordinary feat, our inability to achieve some lesser goal is questionable and/or ironic. |
− | Here, Megan cuts Cueball's argument's short by implicitly reminding him that humanity has not put another human on the Moon since the end of the Apollo program in December 1972 (nearly 42 years at the time this comic was published). New manned programs to return to the Moon, such as the {{w|Constellation Program}}, have been repeatedly cancelled. The {{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion spacecraft}}, which will be capable of carrying humans beyond {{w|low Earth orbit}} for the first time in over 40 years, executed its first test flight on the day after this comic was published | + | Here, Megan cuts Cueball's argument's short by implicitly reminding him that humanity has not put another human on the Moon since the end of the Apollo program in December 1972 (nearly 42 years at the time this comic was published). New manned programs to return to the Moon, such as the {{w|Constellation Program}}, have been repeatedly cancelled. The {{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion spacecraft}}, which will be capable of carrying humans beyond {{w|low Earth orbit}} for the first time in over 40 years, executed its first test flight on the day after this comic was published, but NASA and the U.S. government still lack a coherent vision for manned spaceflight to the Moon or any other destination beyond low Earth orbit. |
− | + | Megan's comment might be read as repeating Cueball's comment in a questioning fashion, effectively saying, "It is really true that we can land a man on the Moon?" Or it might be read as completing Cueball's sentence so that it reads, "If we can land a man on the Moon, why can't we land a man on the Moon?" | |
− | Kennedy's 1961 | + | The title text is a retelling of {{w|John F. Kennedy|President Kennedy's}} famous inspirational [http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/xzw1gaeeTES6khED14P1Iw.aspx address to the US Congress in May 1961] ("I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth"), which set into motion the Apollo program, except that this time, the speaker is talking about putting a man on planet {{w|Venus}}. The aide presumably explains to the president that the surface of Venus is such a hostile place (due to factors including high temperature, crushing atmospheric pressure, strong winds, sulfuric acid rains and lakes, etc.) that it is unlikely that anybody could land there and come back alive. Even unmanned hardened pre-cooled robotic probes either got crushed or fried before landing, or survived only {{w|Venera|a couple of hours at most}}. As a result, the president backtracks from the goal of returning the astronauts safely to the Earth and comically limits the aspiration to landing an astronaut on Venus, full stop, without regard to the astronaut's safety. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | + | :Cueball: If we could land a man on the Moon, why can't we - | |
− | :Cueball: If we could land a man on the Moon, why can't we- | ||
:Megan: -land a man on the Moon? | :Megan: -land a man on the Moon? | ||
:Cueball: ...ok, fair. But we're working on it, OK? | :Cueball: ...ok, fair. But we're working on it, OK? | ||
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
− | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | + | |
− | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan | + | [[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]] |
− | + | [[Category: Comics featuring Megan]] |