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 NEIL ARMSTRONG |
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THE MOON |
ARMSTRONG NOW SEEMS
LIKE AN ANCIENT GOD
of TheColumnists.com
The moon looked like Jupiter as it rose above the rooftops.
As I drove toward this view early one evening, I felt like I
was not on earth but on the moon itself. What I faced was another
planet.
Neil Armstrong had the actual experience when he stepped onto
the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, from the deck of Apollo
11. He looked at Earth and saw a “turquoise pendant in a
black velvet sky” that hung 23 degrees above the horizon.
But he had little time for stargazing or philosophy, as he described
his experience in a recent lecture in Silicon Valley. There was
work to do as soon as he took his giant leap for mankind. He
had to set up mirrors to reflect lasers beams aimed at them from
several points on earth. The project would determine the exact
distance between earth and moon.
“I needed a way to confirm the mileage for our expense account.”
He smiled. “I was a technician.”
The reason I came to see him was that on one day almost 36 years
ago he was more than a technician, scientist. engineer or astronaut.
He was an ancient god who walked the night sky.
Until the Age of Science, the moon was an alien world known only
to beings whose nature was beyond human. Then scientists and
explorers followed the call to “investigate what is”--their
inherent mission, according to Armstrong. In comparison the call
of engineers is to investigate “what can be.”
With the last definition
a cartoon popped into my mind. It had circulated among rocket
engineers at Lockheed at the turn of the ‘60’s. My
husband described it to me once: A rocket does figure-eight orbits
around the horns of the moon. The caption is the company motto:
“Look to Lockheed for leadership.”
Two months after Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin bounced along the
gray lunar ground and stared at earth, my 5-year-old son Dave
came home with a birthday party favor. The cosmic walk had been
distilled into the design on a souvenir tumbler. The stars in
the border came from the American flag. An astronaut climbed
down from the ladder, one foot on the rocks. “Man on the
Moon,” the legend read, and showed the date and the flag.
Dave treasured it. He had
lived for each TV broadcast of the Eagle’s progress. He
hummed with joy as he watched it land. Because of him we stood
in line for hours to look at moon rocks on tour at U.S. Geological
Survey. His was the last generation to experience the mystery
and the accomplishment of putting humans on the moon.
Dave wanted to be with me but the house was sold out. He would
loved to have seen the ultimate moon walk souvenir right before
his eyes.
The reclusive Armstrong, now 75, has never chosen to reveal his
faith or his inner struggles. After Apollo 11 he returned quietly
to his work at NASA and then taught Aerospace Engineering at
University of Cincinnati. Later he joined several electronic
enterprises. Now he lives on a farm in his native Ohio.
He said his purpose for this rare lecture was to recall the past
to see what lies in it for the future. His audience–season
ticket holders to a celebrity series--was middle-aged and beyond.
However, one teenage girl walked in with her dad who appeared
the same age as my son. He carried a camera with a telefoto lens.
To his daughter Armstrong was a history lesson. Men last stepped
on the moon in 1972–before she was born.
Because of his public reticence I expected him to exude remoteness,
to speak in a monotone with the strong Midwestern twang I recall
from his voice from space. I hoped I would stay awake. But he
has changed.
His delivery reminded me of Garrison Keillor. His hands moved
up and down and clasped together. His genial smile was compatible
with his wit. The twang had receded. Glasses slipped down his
nose. His reddish hair has changed to gray and white.
Could Armstrong say that the moon experience changed his belief
system ? No. He didn’t think it had deeply changed the beliefs
of his colleagues, either. Does he believe in extraterrestrials?
No, but he wishes there was some intelligent life out there.
Yes, he, Mike Collins and Buzz Aldrin stay in touch They get
together every five years to celebrate the anniversary of Apollo
11.
What did he like best about their experience? Flying. In his
lifetime Armstrong has flown 200 different craft, including Gemini
8. He says he still flies anything he can borrow. What did he
like least? Answering questions.
He wishes he could be the first man on Mars.
He admits that getting there is a tough problem. The planet’s
favorable alignment with earth occurs less frequently than for
the moon and the entire trip would be months longer. The astronauts
must create their own energy during their stay on the planet
as they wait for the auspicious time for the return flight. But,
he says, unsolvable problems become solvable one by one.
He thinks we should go back to the moon. Earth’s present
and future need for cheap energy should drive us there to pick
up the abundant Helium 3 for use in reactor fusion. When the
solar wind--the rapid stream of charged particles emitted by
the sun--strikes the moon, helium 3 is deposited in the powdery
soil. Therefore it’s abundant and it also produces little
radioactivity. Lunar gold.
Strip-mining the moon seemed too mundane to me.
I prefer the awe of watching Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve 1968,
a troubled year for earth. Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William
Anders cruised above the moon’s surface, the closest any
human had been to a place in the heavens. As they approached
the lunar terminator–the sharp barrier where night begins–Borman
began to read the first verses of Genesis: “In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was formless
and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. . .
"
Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, the first man to step
onto extraterrestrial ground salutes his audience as he ends
his speech. He is so much like us, so gloriously ordinary in
manner and appearance, that I feel connected to his grand adventure.
I, too, have walked on the moon.
©2005 by Joyce Kiefer.
The illustrations are
from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E.,
San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column first posted April
18, 2005.
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