I have a huge poster of the moon in my classroom and so this morning I made sure to confirm it's existence, and here it is:
I am eternal! I am ageless! I will live on until the dimming of the stars and the fading of the light.
Showing posts with label moon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moon. Show all posts
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Just Under Copernicus
I got Hal a Moon globe for his birthday, and look what he found:
I have a huge poster of the moon in my classroom and so this morning I made sure to confirm it's existence, and here it is:
I am eternal! I am ageless! I will live on until the dimming of the stars and the fading of the light.
I have a huge poster of the moon in my classroom and so this morning I made sure to confirm it's existence, and here it is:
I am eternal! I am ageless! I will live on until the dimming of the stars and the fading of the light.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Apollo 8
On Christmas Eve 1968 three men broadcast this message from the orbit of the Earth's moon:
The world had been torn apart by The Vietnam War, a difficult presidential election, and the deaths of both Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.
Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Boorman were the first humans to visit the moon, and also witnessed the first Earthrise on their fourth pass around, which Anders captured in the picture featured below. (The picture also provides a link to Wikipedia's excellent Apollo 8 entry.)
Boorman described the moon as "a vast, lonely, forbidding type of existence or expanse of nothing." Lovell thought it looked like Plaster of Paris.
After their broadcast, after the risky Trans-Earth Injection burn of the SPS engine, as they reappeared from the dark side of the moon, after Mission Control reacquired their signal, Lovell announced, "Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus."
The three men were chosen to be Time's Men of the Year for 1968, and Lovell of course was the commander of the famous Apollo 13 mission.
One of the singular highlights of my life is when I met Jim Lovell at his Lake Forest restaurant a few years ago. Jumped up from my seat and shook his hand like I was a kid meeting Santa.
Whenever I wonder where this country, this world, is going, I always think of the achievements of the space programs of the world, and how even something dark and sinister like the Cold War politics of the age can produce something so inspiring, so lasting, so admirable.
"From the crew of Apollo 8, we pause with good night, good luck and merry Christmas and God bless all of you - all of you on the good earth."
The world had been torn apart by The Vietnam War, a difficult presidential election, and the deaths of both Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.
Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Boorman were the first humans to visit the moon, and also witnessed the first Earthrise on their fourth pass around, which Anders captured in the picture featured below. (The picture also provides a link to Wikipedia's excellent Apollo 8 entry.)
Boorman described the moon as "a vast, lonely, forbidding type of existence or expanse of nothing." Lovell thought it looked like Plaster of Paris.
After their broadcast, after the risky Trans-Earth Injection burn of the SPS engine, as they reappeared from the dark side of the moon, after Mission Control reacquired their signal, Lovell announced, "Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus."
The three men were chosen to be Time's Men of the Year for 1968, and Lovell of course was the commander of the famous Apollo 13 mission.
One of the singular highlights of my life is when I met Jim Lovell at his Lake Forest restaurant a few years ago. Jumped up from my seat and shook his hand like I was a kid meeting Santa.
Whenever I wonder where this country, this world, is going, I always think of the achievements of the space programs of the world, and how even something dark and sinister like the Cold War politics of the age can produce something so inspiring, so lasting, so admirable.
"From the crew of Apollo 8, we pause with good night, good luck and merry Christmas and God bless all of you - all of you on the good earth."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)