Leaf 93 – Reflections
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| Jack Schmitt and Tracy's Rock (NASA) |
This is another poem which I
wrote about the NASA Apollo lunar-landing missions, the last one: Apollo 17, in
December 1972. There were two things which caught my imagination about this
particular mission when I was young. Firstly, a geologist was a member of the crew.
And second, was an image of that geologist standing beside a huge boulder,
simply lying there on the barren surface, dwarfing that small human figure in his
spacesuit. Geology was something I could relate to, and the idea that Harrison ‘Jack’
Schmidtt was not from the US military, but rather was an academic, really fired
my interest. I couldn’t help wondering what it must have been like to be a
geologist who got to go to the Moon. It must have been fascinating for him in a
way which I wondered if the other astronauts could comprehend. I’m sure they
were all equally fascinated with different aspects of the lunar-landing
missions, each in their own way. But Schmidtt’s perspective was genuinely
something which I felt I could connect with. Plus, the famous footage of him
falling over and saying “Dagnamit!” was all the more endearing because it was
so very human – (I’m sure if I went to the Moon, falling over would be one of
the first things I would do!) – Plus, the laconic commentary of “Jack Schmidtt,
having a few problems” seemed a marvellously understated contrast to the
enormous and awe-inspiring boulder which had sat undisturbed in the aeons-long
silence until Schmidtt approached it and surveyed it with both a human and an
expert eye. For me, this was the real pinnacle moment of space exploration.
Rock of Ages
– “Jack Schmitt,
having some problems.”
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| Jack Schmitt and Earth - Apollo 17 (NASA) |
