Missing Moon Memo Found 25 years later

I was eleven years old when on July 20 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin walked on the moon. I remember the awe of that landing and the epic line, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  

Truth be told, things did not go totally to plan. It turned out that there was a problem with how the Service Module separated from the Command Module before landing. Instead of these two fully separating and going off on different trajectories to avoid any possibility of collision, the Service Module burnt up very close to the Command Module and was actually visible to Buzz Aldrin on board. They were just very fortunate that, despite this closeness, none of the debris resulting from the Service Module's re-entry impacted the Command Module. This was not the only near miss. 

US Air Force Captain Hank Brandli had found, via top-secret spy satellite images, that a storm front was imminent in the Apollo recovery area. There mean that there was a distinct possibility of powerful upper-level winds ripping their parachutes to shreds during descent. Poor visibility, due to the storm, would also substantially reduce their ability to find the Apollo 11 capsule even if it did manage to land in one piece. Thankfully, two individuals on the ground put their careers on the line by taking the decision to move the landing point 215 nautical miles (398 km) northeast avoiding the storm front. This change meant altering the flight plans last minute involving a different sequence of computer programs never before attempted.

All of this meant things could have easily ended in disaster rather than incredible success. The Moon landing is a tale of heroism and bravery. But the American authorities were not blind to the chances of things ending very differently. An extraordinary memo was discovered 25 years after the landing in the US National Archives. It was written by Nixon’s then speechwriter William Safire and sent to President Nixon’s Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman to be used in the event of a disaster that would maroon the astronauts on the moon. Its content is given below. 

  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. 

 PRIOR TO THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT: The President should telephone 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.

legacy of half nose and cups - lesson for the future?

Looking out from the saluting Battery in Valetta, Malta there is an amazing view and it is a lovely place to examine the oldest part of the city across the harbour.  I spent the day walking around the ramparts examining statues.  By definition they are there as a kind of legacy.  Erected in memory of an event/person/triumph.  However keeping one’s legacy is a tricky business.  Often history is reviewed and re-written the heroes turn out to be villains and vice versa.  Having a big ass statue you’d think would lend itself to a kind of immortality solid against the barrage of the passage of time.  But when revolutions happen statues are often the first to be hauled down.

So these structures embody more than we may at first sight think.  The public is a fickle beast bowing down to leaders and then in a flash hauling their images into the mud. 

There are degrees of course to such things.  Apart from political expressions/regime change etc there is also the sheer stupid vandalism of the ignorant.  I include, in that bracket, the destruction of The Buddhas of Bamiyan.  These were two monumental statues carved into the side of a cliff in central Afghanistan at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft). Built roughly 1500 years ago they were dynamited and destroyed in March 2001 by the Taliban after the government declared that they were idols.  You have to just hold your head and groan at times!

In Malta the vandalism is small scale and vaguely amusing at times.  Note this impressive statue has a MacDonald’s cup carefully positioned.

Nearby the statue of another prone figure has been more abused with the statues nose half removed and his head marked with black pen graffiti.

I suspect we erect such things to claim a legacy and those who damage them are trying to make their own cheap mark in history.  A similar but more extreme mindset is found in those who assassinate the famous to earn their place in Wikipedia.  It has ever been so, small minds with aspirations of greatness.  In their ignorance they often leave behind a legacy of their own mindless destructive urges.  As if the world needs more visual reminders of those both high and low that have nothing to celebrate but the violation of person and place. 

The statues that are worth building are the ones that remind us of the loss of life that war brings or those that highlight persecution and real injustice.  They remind us of just how diabolical we humans can be.  A valuable lesson from history that should fuel our desire for a better future.