Just Before Full

By Divine Ms. Moon

Just Past Full

Just past full moon
September 2, 2012
By Divine Ms. Moon

Full Moon

By Divine Ms. Moon

No longer throne of a goddess to whom we pray,

no longer the bubble house of childhood’s
tumbling Mother Goose man,

The emphatic moon ascends–
the brilliant challenger of rocket experts,
the white hope of communications men.

Some I love who are dead
were watchers of the moon and knew its lore;
planted seeds, trimmed their hair,

Pierced their ears for gold hoop earrings
as it waxed or waned.
It shines tonight upon their graves.

And burned in the garden of Gethsemane,
its light made holy by the dazzling tears
with which it mingled.

And spread its radiance on the exile’s path
of Him who was The Glorious One,
its light made holy by His holiness.

Already a mooted goal and tomorrow perhaps
an arms base, a livid sector,
the full moon dominates the dark.

             Full Moon by Robert Hayden (born August 4, 1913)

In Quest of Imagination

"Apollo 1"

From Tom Hanks' HBO Presentation

"From the Earth to the Moon"

On July 21, 1961, Astronaut Virgil (Gus) Grissom became the second American to fly in space. His mission was suborbital, lasting only a few hours. Having been sandwiched between the inaugural American space flight of Alan Shepard, Jr., and the first American orbital flight of John Glenn, this highlight of Grissom's career might have gone largely without historical notice, except for two important and star-crossed footnotes. 

The first footnote is that Grissom lost his capsule to the sea when he landed it at the end of that 1961 mission, sparking some controversy as to whether it might have been Grissom's fault. Luckily, Grissom survived and was rescued, but the incident remained a cloud over him afterwards. 

Grissom wasn't so lucky on the fateful day in January, 1967, that he and Roger Chafee and Ed White (who coincidentally was the first man to walk in space) lost their lives in a fiery accident on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. They were killed during a training mission that would in retrospect be given the denomination Apollo 1. This clip, from Tom Hanks' outstanding HBO production, "From the Earth to the Moon," not only explains and re-enacts the accident in a rather graphic way, but it also depicts the agonizing. finger-pointing aftermath that followed the accident, in which the entire future of manned spaceflight was held precariously hostage to political debate, much like we see now, on just about every important issue. The debate over Apollo 1 eerily foreshadowed the blame game that followed the first space shuttle disaster (Challenger) in 1986, which killed 7 astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian (teacher) in space.

I have always been particularly moved by Frank Borman's conclusion that Apollo 1 accident was caused mostly by a "failure of imagination." Indeed. One could say that same thing about the Challenger disaster as well, and it might even be said about the recent Aurora shootings. When will we ever learn? One of the best things about visiting Cape Canaveral is being able to see the memorial that was erected for the crew of Apollo 1 and all the other astronauts who have sacrificed their lives in furtherance of our collective imagination. 

It would be nice if we were worthy of their sacrifice, wouldn't it?

"I touch the future. I teach."

~ Christa McAuliffe

Moon x Moon

The crescent moon
with Jupiter and the Gallilean moons
Io, Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede
Astronomy Picture of the Day, July 20 (2012)
(anniversary of the first moon landing)

Sapphire Sky

By Divine Ms. Moon

"I see the moon and the moon sees me.

God bless the moon and God bless me."

The Untranslated Stars

"Under the Milky Way"
Steve Jurvetson
From Wikimedia

Eruptive lightnings flutter to and fro
Above the heights of immemorial hills;
Thirst-stricken air, dumb-throated, in its woe
Limply down-sagging, its limp body spills
Upon the earth. A panting silence fills
The empty vault of Night with shimmering bars
Of sullen silver, where the lake distils
Its misered bounty.—Hark! No whisper mars
The utter silence of the untranslated stars.
             ~ e.e. cummings ("Summer Silence")