And which lead me, in a nauseatingly slick segué, to this photo I took last week at the Science Museum in olde London Town.
Meet Charlie Brown.I kid you not. This little fella is the actual command module from Apollo 10, and has been around to the dark side of the Moon.
And yes, it was named "Charlie Brown".
Somewhat predictably, the lunar module was named "Snoopy".
If there are any kids (persons under the age of thirty-seven) reading this, who may not know what a lunar module looks like, there's a photo of one a couple of posts down; it's the big gold crinkly thing with the ladder up the side.
So anyhoo … This is a photo taken from Charlie Brown coming back round from the dark side of the Moon. That's us over there, waving.
And this is Charlie Brown as seen from Snoopy.Back in May of '69, Thomas Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan squeezed themselves into that little tin can and went whizzing round the Moon in a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 landing a little while later.
Eugene Cernan actually manœvred Snoopy to within 8.4 nautical miles of the Moon's surface. NASA never showed the footage of him gnashing his teeth in frustration and bitching about that "fucking Neil Armstrong … That bald bastard's gonna get all the credit".
My favourite Apollo 10 factoid is that Snoopy is still sniffing around.
While every other lunar module either got burned up in the Earth's atmosphere or crashed back onto the Moon, Snoopy got parked in a heliocentric orbit so, just like a puppy called to heel, he's following us around the Sun for ever more.
Cool, huh?
Next time you look up into the sky, give him a wave.
The other thing NASA didn't reveal is that the dark side of the Moon never got finished.
God set it up so that one side of the Moon perpetually points down at us, and He drew that silly face on it, too.
But us apes were never supposed to get uppity and go look around the back.
The Apollo missions found the dark side was just a load of scaffolding, littered with cigarette butts and empty beer cans the Angels had left when they decided to call it a day and go fishing.
NASA also faked the conspiracy theory footage by shipping a big shed up to the Moon and filming themselves dicking around in there.
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
"And if the cloud bursts thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear.
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes,
I'll see you on the dark side of the Moon. "
14 comments:
Dive, the scaffolding bit is so funny. I actually said out loud, "that is so funny." It's a bit like The Truman Show.
It true!
Would I tell a porky on my blog?
I've seen the photos.
Angels drink Guinness, by the way, and smoke roll-ups.
Dive, angles are into angel dust. Everyone knows that.
Nice photos. I know all about the lunar module, even though I'm so young. And I've seen the photos with the scaffolding and butts. The aliens took me there.
The little buggers wanted to give me an anal probe but I declined.
What IS their fascination with the insides of our butts?
Weird, pervy little critters.
"I'm not afraid of dying.. why should I be afraid of dying"? "We all have to go some time"
Ah, The Great Gig In The Sky.
Thanks for the reminder, Rich. It's something to look forward to.
Great pic. Love the "bronze" look. Ours is just plain white. How boring.
Since I just turned 38, it looks like I am no longer a child! Wow. Who knew adulthood would be so much fun?
It's FUN?
Yikes!
It's supposed to be a never-ending carnival of pain, shame and humiliation.
You must be doing something wrong, Katherine.
Just for Rich, and to keep with the space theme, the watch I spent so much money on is the only type which is flight qualified by NASA for manned space missions.
Check out Apollo 13 when Tom Hanks timed the "burn" to put the ship back on course for the return journey. He used his Omega Speedmaster Professional.
I will think of you next time I am around the dark side. (I'm a deity after all, and we pop into space from time to time).
I'm not consumed by time, I just liked the look of it really.
The band I was in did indeed start playing different tunes. I'd much rather hang out with the scaffolding and add to the cigarette butt collection.
From Mme:
Thanks for these amazing photos Dive and the history lesson. I've been LMAO at the comments and I particularly like "weird, pervy little critters" and "never-ending carnival of pain, shame and humiliation". I'm going to memorise those phrases and use them repeatedly in my conversations (mostly with myself).
You make me scream with laughter. I LIKE you.
xxx Mme xxx
Vic: Your Pink Floyd Week is FUN!
Though if I run out of ideas I may just post pictures of animals … or a wall …
Mme: As ever, you are too kind.
I have so many friends who really have been to the dark side of the moon and back. But, I think doing it in Charlie Brown would have been great.
And carnival of pain is me. I wrenched my back out. I am officially a crone in blogdom, actually reading this hunched over and thinking that I really need to get my ass in gear and listen to some Pink Floyd to see what all the fuss is about with youse guys.
The old Dark Side of the Moon album is reputedly very good for back pain, Maria.
At least you won't be tempted to dance to it anyway.
Get better real soon.
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