(20 July 1969) Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph beside the deployed United States flag during Apollo 11 extravehicular activity on the lunar surface.
#…I don’t seem to have reblogged this before #(either that or I forgot to put it in the ”moon” tag) #fixing that #moon #music #I didn’t actually laugh aloud but it still amused me enough to reblog #((this amusement not to be taken as expressing an opinion regarding the statement itself))
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 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 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.
PRIOR TO THE PRESIDENT’S STATEMENT:
The President should phone each of the widows-to-be.
AFTER THE PRESIDENT’S STATEMENT, AT THE POINT WHEN NASA ENDS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MEN:
A clergyman should adopt the same procedure as a burial at sea, commending their souls to “the deepest of the deep,” concluding with the Lord’s Prayer.
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It’s a unique kind of pleasure to look back six or seven years in one’s social media history and discover that one’s younger self posted cool things, had neat opinions about unexpected subjects, and was genuinely the sort of person that one likes. This was one of my favorite autoanthropological discoveries, although being reminded about Hildegard von Bingen was a close second.
Tags:
#moon #space #death tw #unreality cw #amnesia cw #(personally I find moments like that deeply disturbing) #(oh don’t get me wrong I enjoy re-reading my old posts) #(but while enjoyment is a large part of why I re-read old posts another part is to keep the memories fresh) #(I wish to *never* be surprised by them) #(your past self can only surprise you to the extent they aren’t part of you anymore) #(to me that’s something to mourn‚ not be delighted by) #(but anyway we’re not here for that we’re here for the alternate-universe speech)
Our water-seeking robotic Moon rover just booked a ride to the Moon’s South Pole. Astrobotic of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been selected to deliver the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, to the Moon in 2023. During its 100-Earth-day mission, the approximately 1,000-pound rover will roam several miles and use its four science instruments to sample various soil environments in search of water ice. Its survey will help pave the way for a new era of human missions to the lunar surface and will bring us a step closer to developing a sustainable, long-term robotic and human presence on the Moon as part of the Artemis program.
This stunning artwork, titled “Margaret’s Moon”, was made by Dr. Jamie Molaro (aka Spacejammie), and I’ll just post her own description:
This piece was made using data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter
(LOLA) aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft. The
topography is the same as used in The Book of Moon, though with fewer layers. The text on the pages is original source code
for the Apollo 11 guidance computer for the command and lunar modules.
The code was written by NASA computer scientist Margaret Hamilton in
1969. It was during this project that she invented the term “software
engineering” to describe the process of writing code.
Brinens and Things 