THE CHOWAN HERALD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 24,2019 A5
Earthrise: A perspective from the moon
S aturday (July 20) was the
50th anniversary of man’s
first step on the moon. Neil
Armstrong uttered those famous
words, “That’s one small step for
man, one giant leap for mankind.”
It was precisely 10:56:15 p.m.
Eastern Daylight Time on Sunday,
July 20,1969.
Then for the next two and a
half hours, he and Buzz Aldrin
proceeded to collect rocks (47.5
pounds of them), raise the flag,
read the commemorative plaque,
and prove to the watching world
that humanity had indeed
stepped foot on another heavenly
body.
I was at church camp at the
time, in the boondocks of west
ern Maryland, so tragically I
missed the show. I hope y’all did
better than me and watched this
once-in-a-lifetime event, live with
Walter Cronkite and Jules
Bergman.
Only three and a half years
later, on Dec. 14,1972, another
LEM ascent stage lifted off from
the lunar surface to rejoin the
Apollo 17 Command Module.
Gene Ceman, the last man to
walk off the moon’s surface,
gazed at the forbidding lunar hori
zon. He probably agreed with
Buzz Aldrin’s assessment of the
sight (which I think he rehearsed
for his first step on the surface):
that the surface of the moon is a
“Magnificent desolation.”
Ceman reflected on the near
certainty that it would be a long
time before another human
would visit this world: “... as I
take man’s last step from the sur
face, back home for some time to
come—but we believe not too
long into the future—I’d like to
just [say] what I believe history
will record. That America’s chal
lenge of today has forged man’s
Columnist
JONATHAN
TOBIAS
mankind.”
destiny of to-
morrow. And,
as we leave
the Moon at
Taurus-Lit-
trow [the
landing site in
the northern
lunar hemi
sphere], we
leave as we
came and,
God willing,
as we shall re
turn, with
peace and
hope for all
Humanity hasn’t been back
since. It’s been a lot longer than
Ceman (or anyone else) could
have imagined.
It would be nice to go back to
the moon. It is avast treasure
trove for science. Our moon is, by
far, the largest moon relative to its
host planet in the entire Solar Sys
tem. Ganymede of Jupiter, Titan
of Saturn, Callisto and Io of
Jupiter are all moons that are ob
jectively larger than Luna. But
none of these comes close to our
moon in relative size: the moon is
1/4 the size of the earth (well, 27%
to be exact). Ganymede is only
.005 percent of Jupiter’s size.
The relative size (or, really,
mass) of our moon to the earth is
the reason why there are tides at
sea (because of the gravitational
interaction), and why there are
other influences (many rm-
known) that the moon exerts
upon the earth. All the other
moon-influences in the Solar Sys
tem upon their host planets are
negligible, if at all.
Related to this relative size is
the odd and haunting fact that our
moon is the same “apparent” size
(i.e., the size of the tip ofyour
finger held up to the sky) as the
Sun. Not only does this weird
analogy produce perfect blazing
corona solar eclipses, but it also
makes for a startling singularity:
nowhere else in the Solar System
is there such an apparent similar
ity of size than our Moon and our
Sun, seen from the Earth.
There are mineral deposits just
waiting to be mined for profit, as
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are
quick to remind their stockhold
ers. There is probably ice, NASA
says. Which is important for hu
man habitation and for that all-im
portant goal of reaching Mars.
Presently, there is a burgeoning
political push for a return to the
moon and a flight to the beyond
(like Mars). A recent op-ed in
Forbes heartily endorses the idea.
The reasons for such an enter
prise are predictable. It would be
great for science. It would be
great for bringing people together
to get behind a big glorious
project It would be great for the
markets (and great for the de
fense industry as well).
The Artemis Program heralded
by the Trump Administration
wants to return to the moon by
2024: this time, with a woman
(“and the next man”) landing on
the moon. It may not cost propor
tionally as much as the Apollo
Program, but NASA will have to
increase its annual spending by
no less than $1.5 billion (and
probably much, much more).
The space-junkie-nerd in me is
all in for Artemis, of course. That
same nerd (who was watching
the wondrous “Apollo 11” docu
mentary directed by Todd Dou
glas Miller last Saturday night)
wrote, 51 years ago, to the Apollo
8 astronauts, supporting their
reading of Genesis 1 on Christ
mas Eve in 1968 (against the
boorish complaints of Madalyn
Murray O’Hair); he glued together
and painted models of Apollo 11;
NEIL ARMSTRONG/
NASA VIA AP
In this July
20, 1969,
photo astro
naut Buzz
Aldrin, lunar
module pilot,
walks on the
surface of the
moon during
the Apollo 11
extravehicular
activity.
suspended glow-in-the-dark plan
ets and the moon from his bed-
room ceiling; and watched every
single incarnation of Star Trek
and Star Wars.
But now there is also the “non
nerd”: I’m not sure if another
moonshot is worth it I’m not sure
at all whether another space race
will gather to it the sort of hero
ism and unifying effect that came
out of the famous JFK speech,
which kicked off the old “Right
Stuff” NASA quest of the sixties.
Remember those noble words
he delivered on Sept. 12,1962, at
Rice Stadium in Houston: “We
choose to go to the moon. We
choose to go to the moon in this
decade and do the other things,
not because they are easy, but be
cause they are hard, because that
goal will serve to organize and
measure the best of our energies
and skills, because that challenge
See TOBIAS, A6
MITCHENER
Continued from A4
that otherwise might have
eluded him.
Honestly held differ
ences do not require
name-calling or put
downs.
“You are wrong and
here is why...” need not
lead to animosity for gen
erations.
Strengthen by a good
sense of humor and
awareness of our finite
ness let us ask and an
swer questions without
evasion or bias or malice.
Are we up to this chal
lenge? In September 2003
Hurricane Isabel devas
tated Edenton and
Chowan County. No
block in town escaped
fallen trees, leaking roofs
or scattered shingles.
Black neighborhoods
and white alike devas
tated.
Three trees criss-
crossed my home drive-
way. I only had a hand
saw, no chain saw. I wan
dered up the driveway to
the curb on West Queen
Street. Pine cones and
debris everywhere.
A man in his pickup
truck approached from
my right. He hoped to get
through town to see if his
business near the base
airport was standing. He
turned on his saw and
started slicing the tree
trunks across my drive-
way. He would not ac
cept payment.
Fifteen years later, we
are still friends. But our
talks at the US Post Of
fice for 15-20 minutes at a
time are not just about
ACC basketball. We talk
wind farms, solar farms,
migration, trade and tar
iffs plus education and
healthcare as well.
We seldom agree. We
never use ugly four-letter
words. In 6-8 weeks we
accidentally meet at the
Post Office again. Little is
resolved.
Passers-by raise eye
brows as we are in broad
open daylight. Again we
part as friends.
Today being Sunday
(the day I’m writing this),
one final thought. In
chapter 10 of the Acts of
the Apostles verses 11-12
Peter has a vision about
all kinds of animals.
Some are unclean.
Beginning in verse 15
Peter is told three times
that what God declares
clean he Peter must not
declare common or un
clean.
In the United States to
day on its southern bor
der with Mexico is much
unhappiness and misery.
Unkind words hurt and
exacerbate tragedies
from Central America.
In the manner of Jus
tice Stevens “may I ask
you a question? may I ask
for your help?” Chowan
County did not "deserve”
Hurricane Isabel in 2003.
But we worked together
to recover.
Let us work together
for the common good.
Let us employ humor.
Do not let unknowns di
vide us. Let us accept that
the unknown is an oppor
tunity for service as Luke
declares in Chapter 10 of
ACTS. Let us re-examine
past votes as Sen. Ted
Kennedy wished to do.
Let us acknowledge
shortcomings as the doc
tor did in the cancer case.
And let us listen more
sympathetically to each
other as we pursue “a
more perfect union.”
John Mitcheneris a father, grandfather, a
former Chowan County commissioner
and Lions Club president.
Ws time to take away your Costco cant."
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