Moon Shot?
I was just reminded that tomorrow, (or today), April 1st, NASA plans to send its first mission back to the Moon for nearly fifty years. Over a half century since 1972, the last time, according to the account, NASA landed men on the moon. Artemis II plans to send four astronauts to do a loop around the dark side of the Moon, which, if this actually happens, will be farther than Man has ever been from Earth. They won’t land, just fly by, so to speak.
No one seems to know about this mission, and the mainstream media seem mostly silent and insouciant, which is itself disconcerting. One would think that after half a century, this would be the news of the century. (There is a brief, sort of subdued report on the CBC)
There are those who doubt the moon landings, and there are certainly controversies, not least of which is why, after six apparently successful landings in a row with the Apollo program, they’ve never been back. Not only has NASA and American never returned – no one has. Not the Russians – who were desperate to beat the Yanks in the space race, and would not have spared human life to do so – nor the Chinese, or anyone else. Unmanned rockets have been sent and crash landed. But no human has ever been to the Moon since that purported mission in 1972.
The Apollo narrative back then has it that the astronauts – they went three at a time – took off in a multi-stage Saturn rocket, the height of a skyscraper (363 feet), which mostly engines and fuel. They needed it, to overcome the escape velocity Earth’s gravity (about 25,000 miles per hour), and travel through the 240,000 miles of deep space to our rocky satellite. For perspective, that’s the distance of ten times around the Earth’s circumference. You could fit twenty Earths between us and the Moon.
The stages of the rocket disengaged during flight, until they were left with the lunar orbiter, which one of the astronauts piloted around the Moon at 3600 miles per hour. From this, the two others were sent down in the lunar lander, landing perfectly each time, in 1/6th the gravity of Earth. After their time on the Moon, the two then took off in the lander, and re-engaged with the orbiter, which was then flown 240,000 or so miles back to Earth. Besides the close-call of Apollo 13, there were no accidents, mishaps, injuries or deaths.
Only the Americans ever did this, six times in four years, with 1960’s technology, and no one has ever replicated the feat. NASA did intend another landing in 2026 with this current Artemis program, but has delayed that to 2028, with Artemis IV.
Keep in mind the furthest we’ve been from the Earth since 1972 is about 250 miles, where the space station orbits. The Moon is 100 times farther away, moving at about 6000 miles per hour relative to the Earth, which is itself moving about 66,0000 miles per hour in its revolution around the Sun, and rotating at about 1000 miles per hour (at the equator). The Orion rocket has to get there, around the Moon, and then back again, and will re-enter the Earth at 25,000 miles per hour, the fastest anyone has attempted this feat. The heat will be incredible. So will be the radiation in outer space.
Will this actually work, and give some doubt to the doubters, to prove that Man can actually travel to the Moon? Do they plan to film and record this whole endeavour or, as the saying goes, will they just say they did? I guess we’ll find out, just after 6 pm on Wednesday. If that window doesn’t work, they will try one of the following evenings.
Odd that NASA chose to launch this mission not only in Holy Week (which is likely not on their secular agenda), but odder still, perhaps, is the choice of April 1st, which will give fodder to those who think this is one giant joke on us all.
I must confess I hope not. Although have my reservations and doubts, I’m a science fiction fan, and would not mind seeing some of that fiction become fact, which has already happened in my brief time on earth (video phones? self-driving cars? internet? teleportation? that last one is yet to be…). We shall see if this thing actually takes off. If it does, we wish them well. Like the hobbit, may they get there and back again.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
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Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
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A Tale of Two Benedicts
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My Name is Bernadette
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Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
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The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
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Saint Gemma Galgani
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An Ideological and Improper Translation
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Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→