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| One small step. |
This action was the fulfillment of an idea that our species had dreamed upon since first we raised our gaze to the heavens and began to question: What is that thing up there? and how can we get there? As well being the natural consequence of the evolution of explanations to those same questions.
In the oldest surviving tale of a trip to the Moon, Lucian of Samosata's 2nd Century True History *, the voyagers are lifted to the heavens on a giant waterspout. Apollo 11, lacking lacking a sea-tornado of that size, had to make do with a Liquid-propellant rocket that was powerful enough to escape Earth's gravity.
More generally speaking , Apollo 11 was carried aloft on the highest wave of the 400 year long tide of modern scientific history. It was appropriate, then, that when reaching their goal, these modern astronauts would come down safely in the Sea of Tranquility.
Armstrong's boot, and the high-tech costume it was attached to, as well as providing that one small step, also offers an answer to the important musical question of What did Delaware ? As It turns out, she may very well have worn a space-suit; as the manufacturer of all Apollo suits was ILC Dover, based in the state.
Delaware is also known as the first state because it was the first of the original 13 U.S. states to ratify the Constitution; thereby supporting the ideas that had come hand-in-hand with the scientific revolution : all of which would help make the U.S. the eventual winner of the space race.**
Drawing back from that first foot-step, a strange spider-like machine comes into sight. This vehicle that had carried Armstrong and Aldrin to the Moon, designed and built by Grumman, not only had to deliver the astronauts to the surface of the moon, but to escape the Moon's own significant gravity in order to return to the Command/Service Module.
One of the most significant design aspects of the Lunar Module would be its weight. The engineers at Grumman were continually in a battle to make this spider fly. One important victory in this battle came when somebody offered the simple question: Do they need seats ? Thus it was that this vital idea for weight reduction was created by a question that any passing 5-year old could have asked. Perhaps then, our education systems might consider why they have so little interest in questions?
Anway, the story of the first and only manned space-ship to never have had a test-flight (as it could only be flown in space) is told here-
The rocket that took us to the Moon was the fruit of various branches of the tree of knowledge. One of the most famous of its gardeners was Wernher Von Braun, the man who would come to be known as The Father of Rocket Science; as well as famously being known as an ex-Nazi and member of the S.S.
Von Braun's abiding passion was not, however National Socialism and would be expressed clearly when he had the chance, as a young student, to meet the high-altitude pioneer Auguste Piccard in 1930: "You know, I plan on travelling to the moon at some time."
It is clear that Von Braun's dream was space travel, and it was the grim anti-communicative structure of the Nazi regime that would ensure that some of his earliest rockets would contain war-heads and be aimed squarely at London instead of the Moon.***
As the war finished, Von Braun made a choice to surrender to the Americans rather than the Russians. He stated:
"We knew that we had created a new means of warfare, and the question as to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision more than anything else. We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through, and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to the world be best secured.” ****
Von Braun was one of a group of rocket scientists who were quickly and covertly brought to the United States. This journey (after his first small step onto American soil in Delaware+), would eventually lead to his overseeing the design and construction of the Saturn V rocket for NASA.
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| Frau im Mond- The first man; and woman; and boy, on the Moon. |
The direct ancestor to the Saturn V was the V2 rocket used by the Nazis during the war. The first one to be successfully launched had the words Frau in Mond painted upon it. Frau im Mond was a 1929 German science fiction movie directed by Fritz Lang++ and concerned a voyage to the Moon. It contained such an accurate portrayal of rocket technology that it was to have a great influence on the rocket scientists of Germany; so much so that they offered the daubed tribute when they took Lang's dream and made it reality.
Things created are often first seen in the realm of the imagination. The human mind plays with ideas in dreams and stories and then those dreams can become reality. Any authority that takes and uses its power without consent can only retain its power with censorship of ideas. Thus it is that human history has always been, most basically, a struggle for better communication.
The natural and necessary effort at explanation that constitutes part of communication has improved over time. Our ancestors did their best with the information they had, but if you actually want to travel to the Moon, a water-spout is less practical than a rocket. The idea of the Moon as a predictable rock is more useful than the Moon as Selene.
In other contexts however, it may well be useful to acknowledge that, although communication always works as Information -------> Idea, any information can always produce more than one idea.
And there have always been many ideas about the Moon.
In the Kabbalah, the traditional esoteric explanation of how the universe works, there is a map, containing the 10 Sephiroth, the aspects of God, which offers a basic guide to existence.
At the root of this Tree of Life sits the attribute of God usually known as Malkuth. This represents the physical world, the Earth and the planets. Above Malkuth lies the realm of Yesod. This is the attribute of connection where concepts of the imagination can become actions that unite us with God. Yesod is usually closely associated with the Moon, and the world of imagination.
And so it was, on the 19th July 1969, that men made reality the dream of Lucien and Fritz Lang and Werner Von Braun and countless others besides, as an Eagle - the bird who had carried prayers to the Great Spirit in the Spirit World for the Native Americans - came to rest at Yesod.
The tide of communication had risen high enough to carry us to the Moon. Although we had been visiting there in our imaginations forever.
Imagination + Will = Creativity.
The Dreamtime + The Right Stuff = A man on the Moon.
From the first question asked of the Moon - what is it ? - to the first explanations - a place. A god. The realm of dreams. From the first new information from telescopes to the new explanations - a celestial body, a satellite, a moon! From the first tales of travels by water-spout up to the discovery of the Monolith; and finally through the ideas and dreams made flesh by the new science and technology: the new magic.
We were now here. Walking in heaven with the gods.
And so, after all that; what WAS the first thing we did when we got to the Moon ?
After the Lunar Module had safely touched down,+++ and just before the astronauts were to step onto the surface, Buzz Aldrin brought out a small container of wine along with some altar bread; symbols of the blood and body of a man Aldrin believed to be the son of God. After saying: "This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way" Aldrin took Communion.
Having arrived at Yesod, the first thing we did was to communicate with God.
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* Baron Munchhausen would also claim to have been to the Moon, but he is, let us say, an unreliable narrator. Mention of the great man, however, allows us to remind ourselves of what a good movie can be full of -
** Soviet science was hampered by the Soviet system which was, basically, more anti-communication than the American one.
*** On a related note, when is a rocket a missile? The usual definition is that a missile is a rocket that contains a war-head. North Korea has launched a series of tests involving rockets over the past few years causing alarm in many countries. However, the reporting in, for example Britain, is notably different from that of Japan.
Here is the BBC on the North Korean test
Here is the Japanese state broadcaster NHK reporting the same story
The BBC story is about a "rocket" and the NHK story is about a "ミサイル (missile)".
Of course, any rocket test is also, basically, a missile test, yet the difference in definition is striking and the reference to a "missile" is constant throughout the Japanese media. Why would the media do this? One simple idea is that a story about a North Korean "missile" being tested near Japan gets the punters attention. Another idea is that it suits the agenda of certain powerful groups for the general Japanese public's attention to be focused on a non-concrete threat rather than elsewhere....
**** So, What did Delaware? A nazi de-mob suit?
+ One wonders at this point if the great Werner Von Braun was fully aware of some of the less well-known ideas in the Bible. Perhaps, like so many, he'd never read it. All of which allows me to say: C'mon Werner! It's not Rocket Science!
++ Frau im Mond was, remarkably, filmed entirely in Delaware.+++
+++ No it wasn't ! - Ed.
++++ As told in Andrew Chaikin's book: A Man on the Moon.
Of course, as all information gives any number of ideas one might argue that the first thing we did when we got to the Moon was: turn off the ignition switch, or breathe a sigh of relief, or convert Oxygen into CO2. You could also argue that getting to the Moon should be defined as the voyage of Apollo 8, or even Luna 2.#
# If your idea is Luna 2##, then the first thing we did when we got to the Moon becomes made a big mess. Now that is another very pertinent idea about humans.
## In what may be the greatest attempt at a thunder-heist in history, the Soviet Union crash-landed an un-manned space-craft onto the Moon while Apollo 11 was still on the surface. Who remembers Luna 15?###
### The Soviet effort to land their craft at the same time as Apollo 11 might also be described as the worst (or best) attempt at a photo-bomb in history. The effort was, of course, information intended to suggest the qualities that was the idea of the Soviet Union. An effort at communication. What else can we expect from people? Communication is, after all, the only thing we ever do.
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