Darin

Believer. Grandpop. Father. Optimist. Outdoorsman. Astronomer. Space Exploration Enthusiast. Product Development and Project Management Expert.

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@_MaxQ_

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@_MaxQ_ I will never forget!

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

Always silently sobering to sit at Isla Blanca park listening to the waves and looking up at the stars while the launch site for Starship is across the bay. Mars, Jupiter and the Moon on high. Ad Astra!!!

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

Godspeed flight 14!

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

Ahhh Starbase, good to be back!!!

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@_MaxQ_ Best photo this week!

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@_MaxQ_ Both of us will make it there one day!

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

Surreal to know that 4 humans are on the way to the moon again. Seeing launch in person yesterday was epic! Counting my blessings today. God is so good to me. Godspeed Artemis II!

[Andrew McCarthy @AJamesMcCarthy]

I’m feeling at a bit of a loss due to a general negative sentiment about spaceflight, so I wanted to give you a bit of perspective…

In the 60’s, the entire world cheered on Apollo. Rightfully so, as it accelerated humanity forward into the space age. Grainy photos inspired millions, and the rocks brought back changed our understanding of the universe.

But the program wasn’t perfect… it used over 4% of the entire federal budget, was incredibly dangerous by modern standards, and had questionable political motives.

By comparison, the Artemis program is closer to .1% of the federal budget today, and is operating at safety margins that are significantly better than the missions during Apollo. This has of course slowed things down, but the result is a program that can survive in our challenging modern political climate.

Yet in every post about it, I’m seeing constant negative comments. Most seem rooted in a lack of understanding of the mission goals, or why this is such a massive deal after literal decades of proposed returns to the moon that went nowhere.

This is the first crewed mission in our triumphant return to the moon in over 50 years. Unlike the missions from the Apollo Era, there is a massive commercial industry capable of supporting our return to the moon, it’s not all resting on the taxpayer and Congress to fund nasa.

We’re going back to the moon safer and with a significantly smaller budget than we did in the 60s, and this time, the inertia generated by this event isn’t entirely determined by politics. As I write this, private companies are building hardware to use on the moon, despite not being contracted by the government to do this. There is a trillion dollar industry waiting to build infrastructure on the moon. With the weight of a massive Earth-Moon economy looming, we won’t see that go away.

This mission is the first major step towards our spacefaring future and I couldn’t be more optimistic about it.

Go Artemis!

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@_maxq_ Let’s Go!!!

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@rookisaacman @POTUS @SecDuffy @NASA God bless you, Jared. No one else epitomizes vision and leadership like you. Godspeed on your endeavors we will be praying for you and for the nation for the big steps yet to come

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

Awesome night at the Doc Smeltzer Observation Area @nwmostate and the Northwest Foundation Board of Directors.

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@elonmusk Voted today!

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@_maxq_ Yes sir

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@_maxq_ More of this Max! This is what we need to keep dreaming and striving for, not the strife of this week.

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@AstroPeggy Welcome home!

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

Cool appearance by two legends at the K today. @annawmenon @Gillis_SarahE @SpaceX @Royals

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

@katemacrae I’m so sorry Kate. What a good cat she was. May you find peace and comfort in this hard time.

[Darin @Night73skyDarin]

Opening Day!!!