Message: How did NASA lose the rocket blueprint to go to the moon? I always wonder since today rocket technology is far more advanced then it was 40 years ago, and has there been research on anti gravity. AND You wrote that we no longer have the capability to send astronauts to the Moon. Does this mean that the Apollo Program was a hoax too?
Losing the Moon rocket blueprints is an urban legend. The reason we could not duplicate the Saturn rockets that took astronauts to the Moon in the Apollo program is that the parts are no longer available, and many of the companies that built the Apollo hardware are no longer in business. Trying to duplicate 50-year-old technology would be harder than designing new systems from scratch. None of this in any way undercuts the tremendous accomplishments of Apollo, sending a dozen astronauts to the Moon and carrying out many scientific studies there. Concerning technology, current rocket systems are improvements over the systems designed 50 years ago for Apollo, but the basic technology is the same: we still use chemical rockets with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as fuel, just like Saturn 5. I assure you that that we do not have any “antigravity” technology.
October 15, 2009