[Thread] Today marks 54 years since the American space program first landed men on the surface of the moon. On that day, the whole world celebrated the success of the Apollo mission. But what if they had failed?
The risks were enormous, the outcome was never certain. Malfunctions and fatalities were common in spaceflight, and a mission of this scale had never been completed before.
So NASA prepared remarks for President Nixon to read to the world in the event that Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins died in the attempt. It's a memo that has since become famous, a poignant reminder of the risks and significance of exploration.
The memo is richly poetic. It evokes the ancient Greeks who named the constellations, and also the battlefield poetry of Rupert Brooke, who gave us the image of a soldier buried in foreign soil, making that corner "forever England," but with this image extended to all of humanity
On an even deeper level it harks back to ancient notions of sacrifice. For the Romans, a "devotion" was a total consecration to the flames, literally a destruction and commitment for the gods.
If you imagine how this memo was intended to be read, the parallels are immediately obvious: some ideals are worth dying for, and our brave men who went to the moon went full well knowing that the ultimate sacrifice might be required of them.
In the ancient world, only the best was sacrificed to the gods: the spotless animals, the purest produce. I think we did that too once. We sent the best of America: the astronauts were military men, bright minds, cool under pressure, enterprising. That's what made us great.
So I read this memo, I think about those brave men who went, the armies of engineers and scientists and craftsmen who supported them, and I look at the stars, I look at the moon. We used to look at them and imagine them already within our grasp. I hope we can do that again.
"To: H. R. Haldeman
From: Bill Safire
July 18, 1969.
IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER:
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind."
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