MOON MUSINGS

MOON MUSINGS 
By Andy Weddington
Sunday, 21 July 2019

The successful landing on the moon is, very probably, the best story. - Walter Cronkite

Fifty years ago I was 12 and a half years old. 

And clearly remember being prone on the living floor glued to our black and white set watching the moon landing.

Walter Cronkite explained things simply. 

I've not queried my younger siblings as to their memories. Surely at least a couple of them remember.  

An incredible moment it was. 

Wow! Man on the moon. 

Full Moon - Rising Over Joshua Tree National Park, CA

20 x 24 in. acrylic on canvas

(painted by the author) 

And the past couple of weeks of watching programming about the work behind that miraculous accomplishment makes the moment all the more incredible.

Rather unbelievable. And some, not me, committed to that silly perspective. 

I remember the Apollo 1 tragedy. 

We were visiting grandparents. 

That household grieved. 

The neighborhood grieved. 

So did grieve a nation and the world.

But grieving did not stop work. 

The tragedy made for smarter work. 

NASA - For-ward, March! 

Twenty-two years ago, at a National Security Strategy course in Newport, I met a brother Marine. A friend since. 

Seated to my starboard, his hefty wristwatch caught my eye so I asked about it. 

He told me it was his late dad's, and handed it to me for a closer look. 

The face impressive. Engraving on the back marked the importance.

The watch belonged to astronaut Stuart Roosa - Apollo 14 Command Module Pilot. 

Never had I seen much less held anything like it. Nor since. 

Christopher shared some wonderful stories of what it was like growing up an astronaut's kid.

Name the astronaut. John Glenn. Neil Armstrong. Buzz Aldrin. He knew them all. 

Imagine. 

Just this morning, minutes ago actually, I learned of items (no wristwatch but one an Apollo 1 patch as salute to Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee; died during rehearsal for a moon mission), other than our flag, our astronauts left on the moon. 

Interesting.

Though it was items not listed that I wondered why not? 

Why not ...

- earth rock (in trade for moon rock)
- pint of air (necessary for life)
- pint of water (necessary for life)
- pint of beer (made from water and a necessary luxury of life)
- hot dog all-the-way (mustard, onions, chili)
- and a baseball (looks like a moon, seems to)

What could possibly be more earthly and more American?!

Of course at 12 and a half the why not items did not occur to me. Nor did NASA call soliciting my opinion.

But here I am today, many moons wiser, still looking up at that beautiful globe in wonder and hope NASA will consider the above suggestions. 

And maybe call for other thoughts regarding the next payload. 

Too, a life-size wax (though inflatable more practical space-saver) replica of Bigfoot would be a capital, a gouda idea, for all sorts of reasons ... none of which is cheesy.