Chris McDonnell, UK
christymac733@gmail.com

Previous articles by Chris   Comments welcome here

December 26, 2018

Earth rise over our Moon

In January of last year, I wrote some words about the many significant events 50 years back, in 1968. With our recent celebration of the feast of Nativity we have now the closing event of 68, the circumnavigation of our Moon by Apollo 8. Launched from Cape Canaveral Florida on December 21, 1968, it became the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, reach our nearest neighbour, the Moon, and return safely home.

Without that journey, the Moon Landing in late July 1969 could not have taken place. I have always remembered a remark made to a Maths class by a one of my teachers - "...the proof that Maths is correct is that it works!". The achievement of that first Lunar journey was proof indeed. The navigational accuracy and the precision of timing when the service module's engines were fired was phenomenal.

What the three man crew must have experienced at different stages of that epic journey, fear, exhaustion and utter elation, all part of the story. They were the first humans to see the surface of the far side of the Moon as their small craft skimmed some sixty miles above its cratered surface. As the crew members, Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovell, circled the Moon the words of Genesis were transmitted back to Earth on Christmas Eve. "In the beginning God created heaven and earth....". Jim Lovell was the Commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 Mission when an explosion in the Service Module put paid to the intended landing as the world watched the epic rescue mission that was to end with the safe return of the three man crew.

A rough year finished on a note of spiritual encouragement.

Among the many 'firsts' was the famous image of the Earth rise over the Moon. They looked out from their small temporary home over the vastness of space and saw a blue planet flecked with white cloud, the home they had left and to which they hoped soon to return.

All this took place with primitive computer technology compared with that available to us now, some fifty years on. Progress is made one small step at a time. Seven years ago, President Kennedy had stood before Congress on May 25, 1961, and proposed that the US "...should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth". The challenge he put down to the US scientific community was in direct consequence to the orbital flight the previous month of the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The race to dominate space had been engaged and ran the length of the 60s reaching the climax of the Lunar landing in 69.

The beauty and significance of the Genesis Reading that Christmas Eve was later challenged in the US courts. An atheist, Madalyn O'Hair, caused controversy by bringing a lawsuit against NASA over that reading from Genesis. O'Hair wanted the courts to ban American astronauts - all government employees -from public prayer in space.

In 1969, the United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp commemorating the Apollo 8 flight around the Moon. The stamp featured a detail of the famous photograph of the Earthrise over the Moon taken by Bill Anders on Christmas Eve, and the words, "In the beginning God ..."

Public prayer has always been a sensitive issue in the US. When Congress first met following Independence, it was a matter of debate whether or not deliberations should begin with prayer. The suggestion failed, not on grounds of religious principle, but because they couldn't agreed how the funds would be raised to pay the Chaplain!

That raises two interesting points, that the Chaplain expected a fee and, more to the point, that it had to be an ordained minister who would lead Congress in prayer.

That awesome event, leaving Earth, marked a significant point in our human journey, the first time that we had left the safety of our planetary home, moving into an hostile environment and returning safely. We have just celebrated Mary's journey, also at times fearful and hazardous, the Annunciation of her pregnancy concluding with the birth of the Christ-Child.

Risk is something that is inherently part of our human condition, each step we take is a challenge. Faith is the fulfillment of courage and demands that we help each other as we go.

Now we face a New Year that will be politically hugely significant for our United Kingdom and the European Community that we have chosen to leave. Whatever the arguments put forward in an attempt to justify leaving or remaining the EU, one thing is sure. Reconciliation between the protagonists will take considerable care and mutual understanding. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. No easy matter after harsh words.

====