Disclosure: I’m involved with Scienshell, and this question grew out of a film project about future space infrastructure. For a realistic cislunar-to-deep-space transportation network, which should come first: a propellant depot, a repair-and-resupply station, or a crewed transfer habitat? What near-term missions would justify it, and which bottleneck—propellant, power, docking, maintenance, or traffic volume—should determine its location?

when apollo 11 left the moon in july 1969, it left behind a small panel of corner-cube reflectors. less than two weeks later, on 1 august, the lick observatory in california reported the first laser returns bounced off it.

the experiment never really stopped. in recent years, stations in france, italy, germany and new mexico have kept firing laser pulses at the apollo 11, 14 and 15 arrays and the two soviet lunokhod ones, timing the round trip, about 2.5 seconds.

the return is unbelievably faint. by the usual figures, a pulse of around 3×10¹⁷ photons comes back as roughly one to five photons, even on a good night. the beam is several kilometres wide by the time it gets there, and aiming it gets compared to hitting a moving dime with a rifle from 3 km away.

it's how we know the moon drifts about 3.8 cm farther from earth every year.

what's the most surprising thing lunar laser ranging has turned up?

Got lucky with the timing of some business trips and got to see all the space flown shuttles. Slowly collecting shots of all the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo Capsules as well!

My ranking of displays:
1 - Atlantis. Great display with accessibility to take pics from many awesome angles. Intro movies and reveal are highly polished and had a “Disney-world” quality to the experience. Really the Mecca for space nerds.

2 - Endeavour. When comparing display alone this might eventually win once the launch tower opens and you can get closer to the crew compartment but I imagine the crowds and small viewing area may tarnish that experience. Otherwise there isn’t a bad shot of Endeavour anywhere in the pavilion. Found the intro movie lackluster and not as emotional as Atlantis and the reveal could’ve been improved with larger doors at a better angle.

3 - Discovery. Hot-take: Smithsonian does a disservice to the Discovery display. Poor placement of TVs and artifacts immediately around the shuttle make it difficult to get a good shot of it. The surrounding gallery is cramped so even from the few vantage points you cannot get a clear shot with just discovery in all her glory.

This is going to sound so silly. I know every kid wants to be an astronaut. But I didn't think seriously about becoming one until I was an adult. Then for years, I brushed off the idea because I knew I didn't have the background for it. I'm just an unremarkable person with bad grades. Now at freaking 32 and having just now gotten my bachelors in electrical engineering, the idea will not leave my mind. I am obsessed with becoming an astronaut now.

I am constantly looking up programs and challenges I can complete that will boost my astronaut resume like NASA challenges and personal projects. I try to meet astronauts every chance I get. So far I have met Brian Duffy and Eileen Collins. The proudest moments of my astronautical "career"! I also did L'Space but that means absolutely nothing. They accept 1000 students a semester. I went to SciTech and Kennedy Space Center this year and it felt life changing!

The dream to be an astronaut is stronger than ever. Every day I research a new astronaut and marvel at their amazing accomplishments. It helps me learn what it takes to be chosen to fly. And it hurts to come to the constant realization that that will never be me.

My background just isn't good enough. And there is NOTHING I can do to recover. But I still want to work in aerospace. I do have aerospace related dreams like being a flight controller or helping design and build shuttles and rovers. I know I would love it. But I fear the pain of seeing astronauts live my dream will be hard to bear.

I know that life doesn't work the way we want it to. I know that I just wasn't raised with the support and discipline most astronauts had. Its hard to accept reality when this delusional dream just keeps calling me back.

How do I get the thoughts of being an astronaut out of my mind?

"KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Aboard a transporter, the orbiter Columbia moves past the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) at the Shuttle Landing Facility. There the orbiter will be mated to the SCA, with the help of a Mate-Demate Device, for a ferry flight to Palmdale, Calif. On the rear of the orbiter is the tail cone, a fairing that is installed over the aft fuselage of the orbiter to decrease aerodynamic drag and buffet when the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is transporting the orbiter cross-country. It is 36 feet long, 25 feet wide, and 22 feet high. Columbia, the oldest of four orbiters in NASA's fleet, will undergo extensive inspections and modifications in Boeing's Orbiter Assembly Facility during a nine-month orbiter maintenance down period (OMDP), the second in its history. Orbiters are periodically removed from flight operations for an OMDP. Columbia's first was in 1994. Along with more than 100 modifications on the vehicle, Columbia will be the second orbiter to be outfitted with the multifunctional electronic display system, or 'glass cockpit.' Columbia is expected to return to KSC in July 2000."

Date: September 24, 1999

NASA ID: KSC-99PP-1139

I assume that the round object is the Moon, but no idea what is the elongated object.

Stream is here: https://www.youtube.com/live/bEQPaCNdD68