“A Babel Rocket Revival!”
Thu May 29, 2008 at 08:27:05 PM PDT
“Taxes takin' my check, the junkies make me a nervous wreck, the price of food is goin' up, and as if all that crap wasn't enough a rat done bit my sister Nell with whitey on the moon, her face and arms began to swell with whitey on the moon, with all that money I made last year put whitey on the moon, how come I ain’t got no money here? Hmmm whitey on the moon ya know I just about had my fill of whitey on the moon. I think I'll send these bills air mail special to whitey on the moon.”1
“Taxes takin' my check, the junkies make me a nervous wreck, the price of food is goin' up, and as if all that crap wasn't enough a rat done bit my sister Nell with whitey on the moon, her face and arms began to swell with whitey on the moon, with all that money I made last year put whitey on the moon, how come I ain’t got no money here? Hmmm whitey on the moon ya know I just about had my fill of whitey on the moon. I think I'll send these bills air mail special to whitey on the moon.”1
I used to have a counseling client who was permanently disabled by epilepsy that routinely joined the “whitey on the moon” chorus. In his Texas dialect he wailed; “The world is goin’ to HAIL (that’s hell in non Republic of Texas English), and we are sending people into space! As long as there is one hungry person on earth, we ain’t got no business spending money on this.”
There is a substantial part of me that resounds with both of the above perspectives. Yet, something in my innards won’t let me go all the way there. With my client I would reason, “I agree that there are manifold challenges on earth ignored and unmet. But, I don’t think our need to explore can be denied. Addressing the injustices of the planet and exploring beyond it are not mutually exclusive. We can do both and each can enhance the other.”
Late afternoon on May 25th the first spacecraft designed to taste the water of an alien planet landed safely on Mars' northern pole, successfully ending a 422 million-mile journey through space. Thus beginning a three-month mission to determine whether the Red Planet ever did, or still might, support rudimentary forms of life.
Phoenix plunged into the thin Martian atmosphere traveling at more than 12,000 mph. Over the next seven minutes, friction — which raised the temperature on the heat shield to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit — slowed it enough to deploy the parachute.
About half a mile from the surface, and with only seconds remaining before touching down, 12 small rocket thrusters fired to slow the lander's descent speed to 5 mph.
The landing was an elegant feat of engineering and artistry. About two hours after touchdown, the spacecraft beamed to Earth about four dozen images of its landing site. 2
“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. They said to each other, ‘Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’ So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.” 3
Space exploration has gifted us with life saving medical devices like the Debakey Blood Pump, the automatic external defibrillator, non-invasive breast biopsy technology, MRI and CAT scan imaging, anti-shock garments, remote medical monitoring devices; satellite technologies that power telecommunication include cellular phones, terrestrial networks, and commercially satellite broadcast television and radio communications; health improvement technologies include LASIK eye surgery, implantable pacemakers and hearing aids, and many other devices that improve the daily quality of life for millions. 4
When you see a NASA style tent going up, stop and lend a hand or honk with a hearty thumbs up! It’s time for a Babel Rocket Revival!! And the Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” 5
- Gil Scot –Heron, “whitey on the moon.”
- Relief, cheers greet elegant Mars Landing, John Johnson Jr, Los Angeles Times, May 26, 2008.
- Genesis 11: 1-8, NIV
- http://www.spacetechhalloffame.org/h...
- Genesis 11:6
