To The Moon! And Back!

[MineralMan]

I watched the splashdown and recovery of Artemis II yesterday evening. As always, I was a bit anxious until I saw the parachutes deploy. It has been a long time since I watched a Moon shot. Over 50 years. Sobering!

During the endless talking during the coverage, some news person said something that really got to me:

"For three quarters of the population of the US, this was their first Moon mission."

So, there is just one quarter of the population left who remember all of the Moon shots and more. That made me feel old, but many things make me feel old these days.

Not only do I remember all of the Moon shots, my memory of our exploration of space goes all the way back to the first Sputnik launch by the Soviet Union. I was just a junior high kid when that happened. I was also a reader of science fiction novels, and a newby to listening to shortwave radio stations from around the world. My parent, at my enthusiastic pleading, got me a Knight Kit one tube, regenerative radio kit.

My Dad felt certain that I, at the age of 12, would not succeed at assembling that kit. I was just as certain that I would. I did. It worked the first time I turned it on, and I learned how to solder connections and how to follow instructions precisely. So, when the Sputnik was launched, I noticed that one of the stories in the LA Times provided the frequency that the Sputnik used to send back its telemetry. There was also a chart of the days and times of day when Sputnik would pass over California.

So, at my first opportunity, I tuned my little 1-tube radio closely to that frequency and waited. When the time came, I tuned around carefully until I heard the revolutionary "beep...beep" of the signal from Sputnik. Of course, I called my parents in to hear it. A couple of days later, I helped some family friends tune it in on their big 1940s Zenith console radio when we were visiting their house.

Suddenly, I was the Whiz Kid in the neighborhood. In demand. For the first time in my young life, I felt competent at something. It was great!

Now, though, I'm the only one left alive from the people I introduced to listening to the Sputnik's "beep." That inspires a different set of emotions.
For three quarters of the US population, Artemis II is the first Moon shot they have witnessed! Think about that and what it means.