Poems from Space: Opportunity's Last Call

[In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing (July 20, 1969), I am re-posting some previous entries inspired by some of NASA's achievements. Here is one that was written recently, in February of this year. - CK]

Tim Lennox shared the news of the last photo taken by the Mars Rover, Opportunity on his blog.

                   Here is my own poem inspired by the news and the photo from NASA:

Opportunity’s Last Call

One day,

In my ninth-grade civics class

Taught by the coach

In the classroom by the gym,

There was a knock at the door.

“Open the door,” Coach said,

“It might be opportunity!”

To my young teenage self,

“Opportunity knocks” was already

Old hat enough

For me to laugh at Coach’s pun.

The living never cease

To look for opportunity.

It comes in all shades:

    great opportunity

    poor opportunity

    new opportunity

    limited opportunity

    missed opportunity

    last opportunity

And it always comes with a promise

Wearing a smile

And raising an inquisitive brow.

Most live for it.

Some die for it.

On a distant Martian plain

Opportunity traveled much longer

Than the experts predicted.

New Opportunity

Became on-going Opportunity

Became continued Opportunity

Became old hat

Until that last grainy transmission

Of off-world twilight

Signaled one more lost Opportunity.

                                                         ~ CK

                                                                   *    *    *

From the NASA press release:

Yesterday, Nasa told the world that it’s most successful space voyager ‘Opportunity‘ Mars Rover was dead eight months after it was caught in a gigantic Martian dust storm. The solar-powered rover last communicated with Earth on June 10, 2018 just as a planet-wide dust storm was covering the Red Planet. NASA had launched the twin rovers Opportunity and Spirit in 2003 to explore Martian rocks and soil. Spirit has not been operational for several years but Opportunity persevered.

On Mars Rover Opportunity's final photograph:

Bill Nelson, chief of the Opportunity mission’s engineering team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in an interview just after NASA declared the mission over. “This was the last image we ever took. We are looking at an incredibly small amount of sunlight — .002 percent of the normal sunlight that we would expect to see. If you were there, it would be late twilight. Your human eye would still be able to make out some features, but it would be very dark.”

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Monday Music: Grapefruit Moon

During the month of July, I'm celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The moon has been an inspiration go humankind for at least as long as recorded history, and surely even longer than that. Something about its beauty, mystery, and distance often inspires songs of love such as "Blame it on the Moon," Fly Me to the Moon," "By the Light of the Silvery Moon," or Tom Waits' beautiful ballad, "Grapefruit Moon."

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Saturday Haiku: Moon and Stars

[In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing (July 20, 1969), I am re-posting this haiku which speaks to our age-old fascination with the moon ~ CK]

Moon and stars at night

call the soul to distant planes,

inward and outward.

                    

                                                 ~ CK

__________________

Photo: "This view shows the thin crescent Moon setting over ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. As well as the bright crescent the rest of the disc of the Moon can be faintly seen. This phenomenon is called earthshine. It is due to sunlight reflecting off the Earth and illuminating the lunar surface. By observing earthshine astronomers can study the properties of light reflected from Earth as if it were an exoplanet and search for signs of life. This picture was taken on 27 October 2011 and also records the planets Mercury and Venus." (European Southern Observatory)

Credit: Babak Tafreshi at http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1210a/
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons



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A Very Shatner Rocket Man

As we celebrate space exploration in light of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, here is another fun version of Elton John's "Rocket Man" presented by William Shatner. Is it a serious dramatic reading or is it a comedy? Is it satire, or just plain campy? You be the judge.

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Earthrise

[In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, I am re-posting some previous entries inspired by some of NASA's achievements. - CK]

Until the Apollo missions with NASA in the late 1960s and early 1970s, we had not seen the earth from the vantage point of space. We did not know how blue and beautiful we were from afar. For the first time, we saw an image of one earth. It was different from those world maps we had seen in geography textbooks, or the globes that sat in the classrooms. Those were contrived by artists and showed divisions, countries, and boundaries. For the first time, we saw through the astronaut’s lens a single, beautiful, living thing – a lovely oasis of life illuminated in the darkness of space. Though we did not feel it down on the ground, with all our conflicts and divisions, we could see it in that photo taken from the moon.

Even now, all these years later, it is difficult to realize what was seen so clearly from space. We are one planet, one people, one life, one earth. We indeed have a treasure to celebrate and preserve.



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A Gathering of Artists, Authors, and Poets

The Public Is Invited - Tonight Is the Night

For anyone interested in an enjoyable evening of authors, poets, and artists, it will be my pleasure to once again read from my own works at the upcoming Birmingham Arts Journal event. See details below:

Produced without profit by dedicated volunteers who believe that 
exceptional works by the famous, not-yet-famous, and never-to-be famous
 deserve to be published side by side in a beautiful and creative setting.

You Are Invited!

Birmingham Arts Journal Quarterly Meeting

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 6:30PM

Free reception and reading
featuring artists, photographers, poets and authors
who appear in the latest editions
of the BIRMINGHAM ARTS JOURNAL.

Emmet O'Neal Public Library
50 Oak Street, Crestline/Mt. Brook, AL 35213
205-879-0459
(Parking on the street and in the parking lot)
See you there!

www.birminghamartsjournal.com

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Monday Music: Rocketman (Iron Horse)

[During the month of July, I'm thinking about space exploration since we're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. This re-post is a fun romp with a bluegrass version of Elton John's "Rocket Man."]

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Come to the Birmingham Arts Journal Quarterly Meeting!

The Public Is Invited

For anyone interested in an enjoyable evening of authors, poets, and artists, it will be my pleasure to once again read from my own works at the upcoming Birmingham Arts Journal event. See details below:

Produced without profit by dedicated volunteers who believe that 
exceptional works by the famous, not-yet-famous, and never-to-be famous
 deserve to be published side by side in a beautiful and creative setting.

You Are Invited!

Birmingham Arts Journal Quarterly Meeting

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 6:30PM

Free reception and reading
featuring artists, photographers, poets and authors
who appear in the latest editions
of the BIRMINGHAM ARTS JOURNAL.

Emmet O'Neal Public Library
50 Oak Street, Crestline/Mt. Brook, AL 35213
205-879-0459
(Parking on the street and in the parking lot)
See you there!

www.birminghamartsjournal.com

And here is a further announcement from the desk of Jim Reed:

What do these artists & authors have in common? Glenn Wills Pamela Manasco Charles Kinnaird Richard Luftig Tim Suermondt Bonnie Roberts Tina Braziel Ryder Jack Evers Allen Johnson Jr. Jennifer Horne Emma Bolden Jim Reed Rae Meadows Margaret Buckhanon Elise Alisande Terry Barr Brenda Michael Ann Hite Max Johansson Mike McKensie Marcia Mouron Glenn Wells Andrew Tyson Amber Orr Fabrice B. Poussin THEY ALL APPEAR IN THE NEWEST ISSUE OF BIRMINGHAM ARTS JOURNAL! Come appreciate them in person. FREE! A beautiful evening brought to you by beautiful poets, authors, artists, photographers...and their beautiful muses. Refreshments served.  FREE AND OPEN TO EVERY LOVER OF ART & POETRY & PROSE & FINE MUSIC TUESDAY, JULY 23, 6:30PM Free reading and reception featuring artists, photographers, poets and authors who appear in the latest editions of BIRMINGHAM ARTS JOURNAL. Unite for a Lively Evening Get ready for three FREE events. If you love art, photography, prose and poetry, these are for you! Y'ALL COME! ArtLovers Unite for a Lively Evening Emmet O'Neal Library  in historic Crestline, Mountain Brook (Birmingham), Alabama See you there! BIRMINGHAM ARTS JOURNAL new copies will be available beginning July 23 at the reception and at Reed Books and the Birmingham Museum of Art gift shop editor@birminghamartsjournal.com SEE YOU THERE THEN!    BIRMINGHAM ARTS JOURNAL

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Poems from Space: Distant Sun

[In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, I am re-posting some previous entries inspired by some of NASA's achievements. ~ CK]

on another world

the rays of the setting sun

are like an old friend

_________________________________
Photo: Martian sunset taken by the Curiosity rover
NASA photograph, courtesy of National Geographic:

Sunset on Mars

The rover caught this stunning view of the sun setting over the rim of Gale crater on April 15, 2015. Unlike our red-hued sunsets, Martian views are tinted blue thanks to fine particles that allow more blue light into the atmosphere.

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Friday Funnies: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin Reminisce

[A few years back I did a satirical bit over at The Vidalia Onion about Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin reminiscing about working for NASA. I'm repeating it here in good fun and in celebration of the 50th anniversary of that first manned lunar landing in 1969. ~ CK]

NASA photo from Buzz Aldrin's Facebook page

“As I made my way down the ladder, I partially closed the hatch, being 

careful not to lock it on the way out (there wasn’t a handle on the door).”

This Saturday marks the anniversary of the first manned lunar landing on July 20, 1969. It was Apollo 11, and Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” There were a couple of items about that mission that I learned this week. Buzz Aldrin (the second man on the moon) posted on his Facebook page, “As I made my way down the ladder, I partially closed the hatch, being careful not to lock it on the way out (there wasn’t a handle on the door).”

The second item of interest was a Reuters headline from 2009 that a friend sent: “Moon landing tapes got erased, NASA admits.” With these two bits of information, I came up with an imaginary conversation between Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Since Neil Armstrong died in 2012, it is possible that this conversation, or one like it, could have taken place.

Neil Armstrong's telephone rings. It’s his Apollo 11 colleague, Buzz Aldrin on the line:

Neil:  Hello?

Buzz: Neil, it’s me, Buzz.

Neil:  Oh, hi, Buzz. What’s up?”

Buzz: Hey, did ya hear about what happened at NASA?

Neil:  No, what?

Buzz: You know that scratchy staticky recording of your first words on the moon?                        Well NASA accidentally erased it!

Neil:  Erased it? What the ––! So I said it was one small step – I didn’t mean it was    

          insignificant. But that’s what it’s like in government work, isn't it?

Buzz: Yeah, apparently they taped over it by mistake.

Neil:  Taped over it! What did they tape, for cryin’ out loud?

Buzz: Who knows? Hubble pictures from deep space, maybe – or Martian shots

          from Rover? Hell, they could have even used it to tape Oprah’s final

          broadcast for all we know. You remember Finnegan? He used to use all that

          fancy NASA equipment to record Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In on  

          Monday nights!

Neil:  Get out!

Buzz: If I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’. You know Finnegan had that photo of Goldie Hawn in

          a bikini at his work station.

Neil:  And all in the name of science! Go figure!

Buzz: Well, I don’t know how it happened, but they erased it, alright. I guess you

           and I are just old news, buddy.

Neil:  That sounds like NASA.

Buzz: Yeah, you remember when we were doing all those trial runs before the big  

           launch? And that first time they told us to make sure we didn’t lock the

           hatch on the way out?

Neil:  Yeah, can you believe it? “There’s no handle on the door,” they said.

Buzz: That’s it! I had this fear that I’d follow you down the ladder and hear a

           crazy “click” when I shut the hatch. Uh-oh! That would have been some fix.

Neil:  Yeah – then I’d be thinking, “one small step – and one big dufus for a moon

          partner!”

Buzz: Can you imagine what Collin’s would be saying up in the command

           module? He’d be like, “Houston, we’ve got a problem – and his initials are

           Buzz Aldrin!”

Neil:  I’m just glad we remembered all the steps and made it back home.

Buzz: You know, Neil, I think I’ve still got a tape of that lunar landing down in the

           basement. It’s over there with the vinyl LPs that I can’t play anymore. You

           want me to send it?

Neil:  No, Buzz, you don’t have to send it. I saw it last week on YouTube. I can see

          it any time I want, as long as nobody takes it down.

Buzz: Well, I gotta go Neil. I’ve got a lecture date. There’s a third grade class over   

           at Park Elementary waiting to hear about the Apollo missions.

Neil:  Well just tell ‘em the good stuff, Buzz. Leave the tape glitches and Goldie

          Hawn out of it!

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To the Moon! Apollo 11's Great Adventure

CBS Sunday Morning aired an 11-minute story last Sunday looking back at the historic moon landing on July 20, 1969. I remember following that adventure as a child on television as it unfolded.

The CBS Sunday Morning website states: Jeffrey Kluger, editor-at-large at Time magazine, recounts the human landmark of landing men on the lunar surface. Kluger talks with Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins and astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and, in archive footage, hears from mission commander Neil Armstrong about the achievement of the first Moon landing, and of the "magnificent desolation" they found there.

You can watch it here...

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The First Apollo Moon Landing

[In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, I am re-posting some previous entries inspired by some of NASA's achievements. ~ CK]

This Week in History

Where were you on July 20, 1969? That was the day when we realized the goal set forth by President John F. Kennedy “to put a man on the moon in this decade.” I know, some of you had not even been imagined yet, but if you're a boomer, you probably know where you were that night.

It was on a Sunday, and in my hometown at the First Baptist of Dadeville,  Alabama, some petitioned the preacher, Rev. Murray Seay, to cancel the Sunday night service so we could all watch. He came to our Training Union class to announce that the first step on the moon had been delayed and we would have time for worship and the moonwalk.

Our family gathered around the black and white TV. The moment came at 9:56 p.m. Central Daylight Time.  We heard Neil Armstrong declare, “That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.” We were all amazed that two guys were actually up there walking around on the moon. We watched along with Walter Cronkite, of course, as he anchored the CBS News desk.

The first Apollo mission had ended in tragedy when a flash fire engulfed the capsule during a test run the day before the scheduled launch. Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed that day. Then later, there was the dramatic mishap on Apollo 13 in which the crew were fortunately brought back safely after a rupture disabled the service module of the Apollo spacecraft on the far side of the moon.
 
In the years that followed, I was dismayed that the Apollo missions became so routine that there were no network interruptions to carry sustained coverage. It was treated as old hat, when I wanted to follow each mission as it unfolded.

Later we would see the Space Shuttle program, the deployment of the Hubble telescope, the building of an international space station, and missions to Mars with the robot rover explorers, “Opportunity” and “Curiosity.” You can see it all at NASA’s website, https//www.nasa.gov. 

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Monday Music: Rocket Man (Elton John)

Since we're celebrating NASA's space exploration this month, here's some space fantasy in a song by Elton John and Bernie Taupin that was  inspired by Ray Bradbury's short story, "The Rocket Man."

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The Peaceable Kingdom

Last week I said goodbye to an old friend when a memorial service was held for Jerry Moye. Today I am posting an excerpt from one of his sermons in which he draws upon the image of the peaceable kingdom foretold by the prophet Isaiah. An Old Testament scholar, the book of Isaiah was among his favorite writings in the biblical canon. He also loved the artistic representation of The Peaceable Kingdom by the American painter, Edward Hicks*.

The Peaceable Kingdom

By Dr. Jerry Moye

Hear now the description of a new world order given in Isaiah 65. It is a time of peace and prosperity. We are told the events of the past are now forgotten. In other words, we are no longer paralyzed by a history of grievances and hatred, of old prejudices and old policies. The dominating note is that of joy, for there are now new beginnings…

Those living out of a biblical vision are led to be pro-active in solving problems of a damaged and diseased world…We are all interrelated. We are all eventually affected by what happens in all parts of the world…

How do we motivate people to work for a better world in which resources are shared and all peoples are respected? …

The prophet even sees a change in the animal world. Wolves and sheep will live together and leopards will lie down with young goats. Calves and lion cubs will feed together and little children will take care of them…

[Isiah’s vision] seems unrealistic. Though the picture seems unlikely, there is an element of truth. I have seen a documentary of Buddhist priests in Thailand who have befriended tigers. While the tigers still eat meat, they are not ferocious among the gentle Buddhists who respect all living creatures.

Many modern Westerners have seen nature and the animal world as existing totally for their benefit. There is little respect for the life of God’s creation. There are some people, however, who have great affection for animals and work for their survival. In an earlier time, many lived closer to the land and to the animal world. There was not wholesale slaughter of any species. In a better age, we will respect all of God’s creation.

Let us cooperate with God in building his peaceable kingdom. A worthy king has come, Jesus gifted with the Spirit, Jesus called to be administrator of justice and compassion, Jesus our brother and divine savior, Jesus our wounded healer, Jesus re-maker of nature and society, Jesus our Christmas hope.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the vision of a better world and thank you for calling us to be a part of making it real. Save us from the cynicism of those who cannot believe in change;

Save us from the despair of those who feel crushed by circumstances of life;

Save us from the power of those who create private empires built on greed.

We believe, O God, in a peaceable kingdom because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who liberates us from every unworthy bondage. We pray with our Lord, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Amen

_____________________

*About the painting by Edward Hicks:

Although it is not considered a religious image, Hicks' Peaceable Kingdom exemplifies Quaker ideals. Hicks painted 61 versions of this composition. The animals and children are taken from Isaiah 11:6-8 (also echoed in Isaiah 65:25), including the lion eating straw with the ox. Hicks used his paintings as a way to define his central interest, which was the quest for a redeemed soul. This theme was also from one of his theological beliefs. (from Wikipedia article) 

Poems from Space: Moon Dance

[In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, I am re-posting some previous entries inspired by some of NASA's achievements. - CK]

with ordered motion

the earth and her moon traverse

in a graceful dance

______________________

Photo: The earth and the moon taken by OSIRIS-REx

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Retrieved at https://www.asteroidmission.org/?latest-news=osiris-rex-images-earth-moon-color

(My thanks to Tim Lennox, who posted the photo on his blog, where he explained, “A new NASA photo, taken from some three million miles away by the OSIRIS-Rex craft....shows the earth and its Moon in one frame, making it easier to understand how far apart they are. NASA says 30 earths would fit in between the two places in space.”)

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Friday Funnies: Be Here Now

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Poems from Space: Curiosity Takes a Turn

[In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, I am re-posting some previous entries inspired by some of NASA's achievements. - CK]

I was inspired to write a poem about NASA's new rover "Curiosity" when I saw this image from an article in the Los Angeles Times.

Images taken by the Curiosity rover on Mars show a plume of dust, left, which had disappeared when 
another photo was snapped 45 minutes later. Engineers say the plume indicates the crash-landing 
of the spacecraft that delivered the rover to the Martian surface. (NASA)

Curiosity Takes a Turn 

Arthur C. Clarke whispers from his grave –

Strains from Songs of Distant Earth –

As the images transmit

From Curiosity on Mars.

The robotic cruiser had descended

Onto a barren landscape.

Her mission: to gather data;

To find any possible evidence of life;

To take note of even a distant notion of cellular being;

To employ scientific curiosity at every turn.

True to her mission,

Curiosity began at once

Surveying the undiscovered country –

A land not seen by human eye.

Then turning,

A plume of dust

Registers in the unblinking lens:

An impact cloud upon the horizon.

The mother ship that dropped her in this

Strange new place –

Now scattered remnants.

She records the data:

No way back home.

Nothing left but to proceed as planned

In silent isolation.

                                                                               Charles Kinnaird

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