Some time in the next decade, something will happen that hasn’t occurred since President Nixon was in office and the Soviet Union bestrode the world like a colossus. A spidery shaped space vehicle, which we will call the Artemis after the Greek Moon goddess, will descend from lunar orbit, firing bursts from a descent engine to slow its fall. The gray, blasted lunar landscape will loom closer and closer. Computer readouts on board the space vehicle will indicate the distance of the vehicle from the lunar surface, the rate of descent, available fuel, and other data. Finally, the flame of the descent engine will kiss the lunar surface, probably at the Aitken Basin near the lunar South Pole, kicking up dust. The landing pads will touch the lunar surface and the descent engine will switch off.
A voice, which will be heard not only around the Earth, but certain places in orbit around the Earth, will say something like this: “Houston, Aitken Base here, the Artemis has landed.”
The four person crew, with the assistance of Mission Control in Houston, will do a diagnostic of all the systems on board their space craft. Meanwhile, the space craft that brought then to lunar orbit, the Orion, will orbit silently overhead, various instruments pointed at the Moon for the opportunity to gather data.
A few hours after the Artemis has touched down, one of the astronauts, clad in a Moon suit, will enter the airlock, close the inner door, and depressurize it. Then he will open the outer door and be the first person to see the magnificent desolation of the lunar surface with his own eyes for about four and a half decades. The Earth will be low over the northern horizon.
He will descend down a ladder stopping briefly on the landing pad to check to see how the Artemis has landed. Then he will stop off the landing pad and place upon the Moon the first foot prints in four and a half decades. No doubt he will say something as profound and as historic as Neil Armstrong’s, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
A voice, which will be heard not only around the Earth, but certain places in orbit around the Earth, will say something like this: “Houston, Aitken Base here, the Artemis has landed.”
The four person crew, with the assistance of Mission Control in Houston, will do a diagnostic of all the systems on board their space craft. Meanwhile, the space craft that brought then to lunar orbit, the Orion, will orbit silently overhead, various instruments pointed at the Moon for the opportunity to gather data.
A few hours after the Artemis has touched down, one of the astronauts, clad in a Moon suit, will enter the airlock, close the inner door, and depressurize it. Then he will open the outer door and be the first person to see the magnificent desolation of the lunar surface with his own eyes for about four and a half decades. The Earth will be low over the northern horizon.
He will descend down a ladder stopping briefly on the landing pad to check to see how the Artemis has landed. Then he will stop off the landing pad and place upon the Moon the first foot prints in four and a half decades. No doubt he will say something as profound and as historic as Neil Armstrong’s, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Comments
Your opening really captured the joy I felt watching 11 touch down. The nit I can pick is the "He" that begins paragraph 5 will probably be a "She." The fullness of time and the 21st century await.
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