NASA have released a map (below) of the extents of the Apollo 11 expedition on the lunar surface mapped onto a baseball diamond. It's a really cool way of showing the scale of the mission 40 years ago, as well as being a gorgeous picture:
(Click image for full-size)
Hat-tip Paul in the OT.
3 recs | 109 comments
If you squint it kinda looks like a Betancourt fly-ball chart
Poochie - July 20, 2009
Can't be, one of them left the infield
Graham MacAree - July 20, 2009
You owe me three recs
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
Poochie stole them, not I
Graham MacAree - July 20, 2009
Bullshit
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
I'll give you the two kentroyals stole from me
Poochie - July 20, 2009
Too bad Attractive Nuisances has single-handedly de-valued recs to the point of near worthlessness
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
And hilariously, it's not even really his fault
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
For some reason LL loves to ride amusing things into the ground so hard the burn up mid-flight.
Graham MacAree - July 20, 2009
'Twas LL that doomed the shuttle Columbia that fateful day...
Robert Lintott - July 20, 2009
Yep.
marc w - July 20, 2009
Flags are the new recs.
Eyebrows - July 20, 2009
Flag'd
Robert Lintott - July 20, 2009
I once again have a 8 month advantage in that category too.
Robert - July 20, 2009
Pretty cocky, aren't you.
royalcurve - July 20, 2009
Bans are the new flags!
pdb - July 20, 2009
Another category where I can LLeading advances!
Robert - July 20, 2009
You've just found another category in which you are dominating the competition.
abender20 - July 20, 2009
Me too
Dewey N - July 20, 2009
Another category where I have LLeading advances!
Robert - July 20, 2009
How do I ban Robert?
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
Wait till September!
Robert - July 20, 2009
We're six games over .500
Jeff Sullivan - July 20, 2009
http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2008/9/16/615811/9-16-open-game-thread#8789171
Jeff Sullivan - July 20, 2009
I think that I will start taking credit for this season
God knows we wouldn’t be 6+ games over .500 if anybody had made this bet
Robert - July 20, 2009
You will ban me after I renege on my side of the bet.
Robert - July 20, 2009
KnightofKingK lives!
Poochie - July 20, 2009
I love how I changed my name because I didn't want to appear racist to the rest of LL
Robert - July 20, 2009
You're covered for our eventual regression
Poochie - July 20, 2009
I have to update that chart now, don't I.
at work tomorrow. I promise.
seattlebruin - July 21, 2009
And if the chart were set up in Left Field
It would look like the path Raul would commonly take to chase down a routine fly-ball
tootthekazoo - July 20, 2009
Crater creator!
kentroyals5 - July 20, 2009
This never gets old.
JamMasterJesus - July 20, 2009
I just showed my wife this gif.
She laughed and simply said, “How did he make it as a professional player?”
jimmylauderdale - July 20, 2009
That guy just hit another HR and is now at 25 on the season.
Eyebrows - July 20, 2009
Yeah, I told her he could hit.
jimmylauderdale - July 20, 2009
Speaking of HR Steve Baron just homered.
Slurvey - July 20, 2009
So is it me
Or is that a really small baseball field?
Manzanillos Cup - July 20, 2009
That's the infield
Graham MacAree - July 20, 2009
Or the LEM is gigantic.
Phil Hatzenbuehler - July 20, 2009
LM, stupid, this isn't 1964.
Phil Hatzenbuehler - July 20, 2009
Ha!
I read the scale wrong. Whoops.
Manzanillos Cup - July 20, 2009
WHY WAS THE FLAG WAVING????
waldo rojas - July 20, 2009
It was a fake
per Pravda
Bearskin Rugburn - July 20, 2009
Do you have a flag?
Phil Hatzenbuehler - July 20, 2009
Russian CGI
Schaefer - July 20, 2009
CGIski?
pdb - July 20, 2009
In honor of Lollapa-moon-za
Robert Lintott - July 20, 2009
THIS ISN'T AN INFIELD, IT'S A SOUND STAGE IN BURBANK
marc w - July 20, 2009
INERTIA!!!!
THE SAME REASON A PENDULUM SWINGS!!!!
Llewdor - July 20, 2009
BECAUSE HE WAS MOVING THE POLE THAT THE FLAG WAS ATTACHED TO
OlSalty - July 20, 2009
That's pretty damn cool.
Goose - July 20, 2009
Where is the baby at this stage in the uterus?
kentroyals5 - July 20, 2009
Do you have a point?
Graham MacAree - July 20, 2009
It just has that look of a baby growth chart.
kentroyals5 - July 20, 2009
Only if your mother is Jackson Pollock.
Or drank a lot.
abender20 - July 20, 2009
Do you mean in that comment or as a human being
Bearskin Rugburn - July 20, 2009
Yes
Graham MacAree - July 20, 2009
Think of how far Russell Branyan could hit a home run on the moon.
I Lick Squirrels - July 20, 2009
A moon shot in the literal sense.
Slurvey - July 20, 2009
Russ vs. Alan Shepherd is a earth-sports shoot-off in 1/6 G!
Robert Lintott - July 20, 2009
Because I am a geek
According to Hittracker one of Russ’ homers left the bat at 110.7 mph.
Neglecting the curvature of the moon and air resistance and assuming he launches the ball at a perfect 45 degrees we get a simple formula for distance.
You have to convert mph into ft/sec (I get 162.4 ft/sec) and assume the moon’s gravity is exactly 1/6 that of earth’s.
I get 819ft * 6 or 4,912ft or 0.93 miles.
819ft is how far the ball would go on earth with no wind resistance.
PDXTai - July 20, 2009
Big Russell!
He can hit ’em a Lunar mile!
Big Russell!
Phil Hatzenbuehler - July 20, 2009
Not wind resistance, it's friction from air, which is basically drag.
wind resistance = velocity of wind acting in relation to ball in flight.
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
Was trying to use common terminology.
But you are correct sir.
PDXTai - July 20, 2009
You don't need to account for air resistance as the moon has no atmosphere.
Also, the moon’s circumference is close to 7,000 miles, curvature would be minimally important.
Vatinius - July 20, 2009
True.
If you wanted to pick a smaller nit, you could argue that the space near the moon is not a perfect vacuum and the ball would likely encounter dust particles during its flight, slowing it down.
A bigger factor might be that Russ would have to wear some sort of suit which would reduce his swing efficiency. He’d also probably be hitting off a tee which reduce the amount of energy imparted to the ball (as compared to an incoming fastball) which would reduce the distance.
Of course, no friction from air could increase hit bat speed which might offset the above.
No nit too small!
PDXTai - July 20, 2009
I'd say the worst assumption is the launch angle
You could probably derive the actual angle from hit tracker data, yes?
Graham MacAree - July 20, 2009
I interpreted the question to be "how far could Russ hit one?"
which implies optimal conditions. You are correct that we could take the angle data from hit tracker instead. I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
PDXTai - July 20, 2009
Fuck the suits.
Let’s just build a massive domed ballpark with 4800 foot fences. You’d probably want to get some good outfielders.
Eyebrows - July 20, 2009
Well until 2035 when jetpacks are legalized
then you just need dorks who can catch a baseball and calculate vectors on the fly (and maybe repair jetpacks mid-inning)
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
TRAGEDY STRIKES DURING BASEBALL GAME ON MOON
April 2, 2078 – GoogleDome, The Moon
26,972 perished today during the first Major League Baseball game held on the Moon, as a massive homerun ball hit by Russell Branyan IV punctured the roof of the newly christened GoogleDome, which lead to a total loss of atmospheric pressure. All of those in attendance, including the fans, stadium personnel, umpiring crew and the entire 28-man rosters of both the Moon Beams and the Montreal Astros quickly succumbed to a lack of oxygen and trauma due to the vacuum. Chief architect of the GoogleDome, reportedly fleeing to Mars Orbital Base II, was reported to have remarked, “My bad, guys. I should have thought that one through.”
Eyebrows - July 20, 2009
I would have expected Google's name to be attached to the moon, not the Moon Dome
tootthekazoo - July 20, 2009
They bought the moon and automatically got the rights to name the dome.
pdb - July 20, 2009
Well then that's a classy move by Google to not re-name the moon
tootthekazoo - July 20, 2009
Yeah, they gave the rights to Google because Apple wanted to buy it and name it the iMoon
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
And Microsoft was left out of the bidding...
Because they didn’t want the Moon to crash.
PositivePaul - July 21, 2009
I guess it was a mistake to build the roof from Hefty bags
Poochie - July 20, 2009
Aww fuck I missed an easy Jamie Moyer joke in there.
Eyebrows - July 20, 2009
Jamie Moyer will probably not be alive in 2078.
I don’t see how making fun of his passing would be in good taste.
abender20 - July 20, 2009
I bet veteran Nick Adenhart will be on the MoonBeams roster by then
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
So then this will just be heads in a jar like Futurama?
abender20 - July 20, 2009
He'll get a new body and throw 147 mph
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
If only they could put Maddux-head-a-jar on Morrow.
abender20 - July 20, 2009
Well they'd have to chop off Maddux's head first
not sure he’d allow that while he’s still alive
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
Rope?
royalcurve - July 20, 2009
No, harming Maddux in any way would be a crime against sex.
Poochie - July 20, 2009
A cure for aging was discovered in 2013.
Which leads to massive overpopulation and the need to colonize the Moon and Mars. This is third-grade history, c’mon people!
Eyebrows - July 20, 2009
I read this book
It is called Red Mars.
bluemax - July 20, 2009
Jamie Moyer may be the first player to have his age surpass his fastball speed.
PDXTai - July 20, 2009
Isn't that Coors Field?
LauraBu - July 20, 2009
It does have an atmosphere, it's just less than one trillionth as dense as Earth's.
But, yeah, for all intents and purposes, the moon has no atmosphere.
Phil Hatzenbuehler - July 20, 2009
I just want to see him hit one that acheives escape velocity and goes flying off towards Mars
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
He'd have to hit it pretty hard, as the moon's escape velocity is ~2.5 km/sec if I remember correctly.
Phil Hatzenbuehler - July 20, 2009
Hrm. 2.38 km/sec
Phil Hatzenbuehler - July 20, 2009
And it would be awesome
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
If Yuni hits a baseball on the moon is it still an infield pop-up?
PDXTai - July 20, 2009
The question is where Yuni could hit a baseball and it wouldn't be an infield popup
the answer is probably Little League on the moon
seattlebruin - July 20, 2009
Tee-ball
pdb - July 20, 2009
We'd have to set the tee low and away to get him to swing at it though.
PDXTai - July 20, 2009
Beltre would swing at it first.
Luckily, you wouldn’t have to bother resetting it for Yuni.
Eyebrows - July 20, 2009
Maybe you should just fly him to one of Mars' potato shaped moons
Poochie - July 20, 2009
How long would it take for the ball to get to the batter?
msb - July 20, 2009
Hmmm.
Only on the moon can we have a 1-9-3 Armstrong-Armstrong-Armstrong DP…
Niehaus with the call:
“And here’s the pitch from Armstrong.
Kenji swings AND IT’S A LONG FLY BALL DEEP….
Back to the pitcher.
Armstrong catches the ball, and what’s he doing now –
HE’S throwing it out to right field?!?
Where’d this guy learn how to play defense???
And he’s kangaroo-hopping out to right field,
AND HE CATCHES THE BALL! Fires back to first —
WHAT’S THIS?!? Armstrong’s hopping back to first!?!
I DON’T BELIEVE IT! Armstrong makes it back to first base and grabs his own throw!
Jose Lopez is caught napping on the play and is thrown out at first.
I guess you’d call that a 1-9-3 double play, folks!
One small whack from Joh; One giant blunder from Jose!”
PositivePaul - July 21, 2009
I'm confused as to why the right fielder needs to be involved in this.
abender20 - July 21, 2009
Shouldn't need to be explained...
But I was looking at the route to the pink dot…
Of course, details… details… The arrows suggest Neil’s the first baseman and in my crazy interpretation he’d somehow make the DP at the pitcher’s mound…
Just ignore my ramblings. I’m deeply buried in an impossibly-timelined web coding project at work and my brain is fried.
PositivePaul - July 21, 2009
We landed on the moon!?
hcoguy - July 21, 2009
which would have been awesome had we not been trying to land on Mars
pdb - July 21, 2009
This is late, but:
Decatur - July 21, 2009
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