July 21, 2009
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace
From Space.com:
In his 2001 book "Almost History," which chronicles backup plans, speeches and documents that were never needed, author Roger Bruns details the origins of the Apollo 11 failure speech. They can be traced to astronaut Frank Borman, who commanded the 1968 Apollo 8 mission around the moon, who recommended to Nixon speechwriter William Safire that it would be prudent to have a plan in case the Apollo 11 astronauts suffered a very public demise, Bruns explained.
According to the plan, Bruns added, Nixon would have called the wives of the Apollo 11 astronauts to express his condolences and then give the following speech:
"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.
More here.
Posted by Abbas Raza at 09:45 AM | Permalink
Comments
"Fate has ordained"
It is interesting that when bad things happen, we blame "fate". When good things happen, we praise "god". That's quite some gig god's got.
Posted by: J. H. | Jul 21, 2009 11:23:04 AM
"...they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown."
Nice one Dick! Blame Mom...Classic.
I always wondered what the "backup" speeches where. Thanks Abbas.
My only real gripe with the Apollo 11 mission is that, unless we develop into a genuinely space faring species one of our last remaining artifacts will be the Apollo 11 lander and that plaque attached to it with the astronauts names and of course let's not forget; Richard M. Nixon.
Posted by: Pete Chapman | Jul 21, 2009 11:27:10 AM
Ah, William Safire, the male Peggy Noonan.
Pete, do you think that we indeed must become a space faring species physically, to earn that Nixon-free plaque? Or can robots earn it for us? I am torn between the two scenarios - the glorious "getting one's hands dirty" human endeavor and the vicarious, virtual travel via machines whose success or demise will require neither a celebratory nor a back-up speech.
Posted by: Ruchira | Jul 21, 2009 12:55:48 PM
Ruchira:
Me too; torn that is. The more I learn about the demands of "manned" space travel (the "bit" about the effects on the body of continuous low and zero gravity is a real problem)the more I think that one would have to modify the human body radically or hand the gig entirely over to our robotic offspring.
Maybe the compromise is to make it so that if we ever get to the point where we achieve some kind of cybernetic immortality we make it compulsory that said immortals go off-world and leave the planet to younger, larval stage humans. Think of it as Yeats' "Sailing to Byzantium 2.0", only you get to be something with more power under hood than a Grecian urn or a clockwork bird. We get to be both the Borg and Captain Kirk; hopefully without either one's abysmal fashion sense or creepy imperialism. Just a thought.
Posted by: Pete Chapman | Jul 21, 2009 3:25:00 PM
Post a comment