The Poetry of Apollo

Fifty-two years ago today, on July 20, 1969, human beings first set foot upon the Moon.

My mother claims I watched the landing, at the tender age of two, hiding underneath the coffee table. If so, I don’t remember it. My lovely bride Francine, however, does. Her birthday is July 21, and she clearly remembers having a lunar module on her birthday cake.

I have had a life-long fascination with space exploration. Humanity must become a multi-planet species. From the purely practical point, it’s a silly idea to keep all your eggs in one basket. On the theological level, God clearly tells us humans to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28), and at some point we’re going to run out of room on just one planet. It’s simple math.

It’s been 52 years since human beings first walked on the Moon. And it’s been more than 48 years since we left, never yet to return. Why the long wait?

The technology has done nothing but improve – the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) had roughly the computing capacity of an Apple II. Its ROM was core rope memory, for crying out loud, and that managed to get us to the Moon.

And given the advances that SpaceX has had in the past few years, it’s pretty clear that rocket technology has made similarly amazing advances. And let’s not even talk about the “race of the billionaires” into space. Space is a rich man’s game, but that’s hardly their fault. Our governments have largely ceded their human exploration of the final frontier.

Some folks complain about the cost. Well, NASA’s entire budget, even in the heyday of Apollo, never exceeded 4.5% of the Federal Budget. Since 1980, it has only exceeded 1% two or three times, and for 2021 is almost exactly 1%.

By contrast, the Defense Department will spend more than 25 times this amount this year, not counting war outlays that are not considered part of the DOD budget. The interest payments on the Federal debt will be more than 12 times NASA’s budget. (Source)

No, the problem is not lack of technology, it’s not the cost, it’s lack of will. Politicians, like most business leaders, can’t look past next quarter, or next year at the most. Strategic thinking is no longer possible for them, it seems. Today US astronauts are paying to fly in Russian space capsules because it’s the only way we can get into orbit. How the mighty have fallen.

The project that took us to the Moon was called Apollo, ostensibly after the Greek god associated with hunting, harmony, and healing.

Perhaps the folks over at NASA had sense of humour, or maybe God the poet was at work again, for July 20 is also the memorial of Saint Apollinaris.

Saint Apollinaris was born in Antioch, where he was ordained a Bishop by Saint Peter. He served as a missionary in eastern Italy during the reign of the Emperor Claudius.

He became Bishop of Ravenna, a city of perhaps 30,000 people which would eventually become the capital of the Western Empire.

Apollinaris quickly made a name for himself as a healer. His name may have had something to do with it – it’s probably easier to remember a healer named after a healing god than, say, a healer named Plutonius.

Many miracles were ascribed to him, which brought him to the attention of the Imperial authorities. He was exiled, tortured, and imprisoned for the faith. After several rounds of this, he was martyred, probably by being run through with a sword.

This optional memorial is relatively new to the USA liturgical calendar. It was dropped from the General Roman Calendar during the calendar reforms in 1968, just a year before Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Apparently, Apollinaris wasn’t going to take his holiday’s removal lying down!

I am often amused by God’s poetry, facilitated no doubt in this case by folks who saw the connections and ran with them.