I never intentionally wake up at 4:15 in the morning. A barking dog or earthquake or the necessity of a trip to the bathroom are all will stir me at that hour. Until this week, that is. Before I went to bed, I heard on the 11 o'clock news that NASA's planned lunar mission, in which it was going to crash a rocket into a crater on the moon, was going to be televised at 4:30 the next morning. I figured I didn't need to see that live, so I went to be thinking that I would catch the highlights on the "Today" show at 7 a.m. Then, for some odd reason, I was stirred awake at 4:15. Normally when this happens, I readjust my pillow, pull up the blankets, and let out a sigh of contentment knowing that I have a couple of hours left before I have to wake up. On Friday morning, however, my inquisitive side took over and I got out of bed and went to the family room to watch the lunar show on TV. As soon as the tube flickered on, I saw the camera feed from NASA, as the spaceship beamed back images as it neared the moon's surface. I made the right choice, I thought, even though it was dark outside and I was sacrificing valuable sleep time. Within a couple of minutes, scientists were shown celebrating the mission's success, as TV anchors on various networks wondered what had happened. There was no big explosion to see. The people back on Earth who stayed up all night to watch the expected explosion though telescopes saw nothing, except the moon looking the same as it always has. The 14 minutes I devoted to watching this historic mission wasn't the fascinating, spectacular show that was billed to be. And it took me more than 45 minutes to fall back asleep as I argued with myself about why my head was in the stars on this night/morning. The thing is, I'd do it again because I don't want to miss history -- or a chance at it. It was a gamble I took and one that didn't pay off. But sometimes you shoot for the moon and miss. (photo courtesy of Kevin Collins' Photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevincollins/)
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Shooting for the moon
I never intentionally wake up at 4:15 in the morning. A barking dog or earthquake or the necessity of a trip to the bathroom are all will stir me at that hour. Until this week, that is. Before I went to bed, I heard on the 11 o'clock news that NASA's planned lunar mission, in which it was going to crash a rocket into a crater on the moon, was going to be televised at 4:30 the next morning. I figured I didn't need to see that live, so I went to be thinking that I would catch the highlights on the "Today" show at 7 a.m. Then, for some odd reason, I was stirred awake at 4:15. Normally when this happens, I readjust my pillow, pull up the blankets, and let out a sigh of contentment knowing that I have a couple of hours left before I have to wake up. On Friday morning, however, my inquisitive side took over and I got out of bed and went to the family room to watch the lunar show on TV. As soon as the tube flickered on, I saw the camera feed from NASA, as the spaceship beamed back images as it neared the moon's surface. I made the right choice, I thought, even though it was dark outside and I was sacrificing valuable sleep time. Within a couple of minutes, scientists were shown celebrating the mission's success, as TV anchors on various networks wondered what had happened. There was no big explosion to see. The people back on Earth who stayed up all night to watch the expected explosion though telescopes saw nothing, except the moon looking the same as it always has. The 14 minutes I devoted to watching this historic mission wasn't the fascinating, spectacular show that was billed to be. And it took me more than 45 minutes to fall back asleep as I argued with myself about why my head was in the stars on this night/morning. The thing is, I'd do it again because I don't want to miss history -- or a chance at it. It was a gamble I took and one that didn't pay off. But sometimes you shoot for the moon and miss. (photo courtesy of Kevin Collins' Photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevincollins/)
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