Poem: [You can't see earth]

By Jack Brummet

1 
You can't see earth
From the dark side of the moon
But maybe that changes

With the accelerating deceleration
Of the moon and earth.
A waning Gibbous moon

Dangles 1.3 light seconds away,
The Sea of Tranquility
A menacing sinkhole.

2
The moon
And fog
Are in cahoots.

Do our brains have a tide?

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Air Force Project A119 was a plan to detonate a nuclear weapon on the moon

By Jack Brummet, Mad Science Ed.

Illustration by George Melies

I recently learned about Project A119, one of the most twisted science projects of all time. A119 was a top secret Air Force plan to explode a nuclear bomb on the moon. . .as a show of force to the Soviets and a morale builder at home.

Check out the story on Wikipedia, here.

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The International Space Station Passes By The Moon

By Jack Brummet, Stellar Ed.

A Romanian astrophotographer, Maximilian Teodorescu. recent used a Maksutov telescope to photograph the International Space Station passing in front of the moon in daylight. Wow.  He shot the photograph with a Canon 550D--an ISO 800 image with a shutter speed of 1/1250s.

The International Space Station flies about 220 miles over the earth, or, a three hour drive in your Honda, if it could drive straight up.

The international space station zoomed up a bit (image courtesy of NASA/JPL):

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Standing on the moon

By Jack Brummet 

Here I am, standing on the moon.

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R.I.P. Neil Armstrong, one of the people who helped us dream

By Jack Brummet, Aerospace Editor

R.I.P. Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) .  Neil Armstrong was an American astronaut, test pilot, university professor and navy aviator. He was the first human to set foot on the Moon (we're pretty sure!).

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40 years ago today, we, yes, WE, walked on the moon. I remember looking up at it, thinking "one of us is up there."

40 years ago today, we, yes, WE, walked on the moon. I remember looking up at it, thinking "one of us is up there." What has it brought us, after all, but a couple boxes of rocks, and Tang [tm]? I know there have been various materials, processes, and other inventions that have probably benefited the world (aside from Tang). But, all that aside, there was something so magnificent about knowing we were up there, striding in the dust, where (most likely) no one had ever been before. In another connection, I think I remember the recently departed Walter Cronkite saying as Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon "hot diggity dog."

It wasn't great that we beat the Russians there--although that was cool too--but more that we had done it. And when you think about the crude computer technology and the materials that went into the rockets and spaceship, it was absolutely amazing we made it. I know that before we abandoned going there, something like 40 or 50 people walked on the moon. For what it's worth, I'd like to see us get there again.

There were the naysayers, of course. And their stories have again been circulating again around this anniversary. Here are a few of the stories and poems that have appeared over the years on All This Is That about the moon, and moon landings (I think my favorite is "The Skeleton on the moon):

Alien Lore No. 81 - The Skeleton on the moon
Life on the moon?
Nixon's back pocket speech in the event of a moon landing disaster
Michael Jackson moonwalk video clips
Alien Lore No. 134 - Moon-walker claims alien contact cover-up
Poem: The Moon Race
Poem: The Moon's In Tune
The Six Faked Moon Landings?
Alien Lore No. 29 - Nazis On The Moon!!
Alien Lore 53 - The Moon Dust File
Alien Lore No. 108 - The spaceship on the moon
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Poem: The Curtain

1
There are pockets of sanity
Scattered among us

And light years between those
Shimmering Seas of Tranquility.

2
The puzzle we face every day
Is keeping our tiller

Aimed away from
The Sea of Madness.

3
The silver rain

Is drawn like a curtain

Between us

And God.

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Poem: Midnight Madness

1
You can't see earth
From the dark side of the moon
But maybe that changes

With the accelerating deceleration
Of the moon and earth.
A waning Gibbous moon

Dangles overhead tonight
And The Sea of Tranquility
Looks like a menacing sinkhole.

2
Back in Seattle,
1.3 light seconds
From the moon,

A fog slithers in,
Wraps itself around houses,
Trees, shrubs, and churches,

And creeps along the ground,
Insidiously threading its way
Like a horror movie fog

Or a gauzy stage flat
Framing something terrible about to happen.
I wonder if the moon and fog

Really do cause madness and murder?
I've never bought the stories
About a full moon triggering mayhem,

But then I don't actually know
If our brains have tides
And if they do, if it matters.

3
The moon
And the fog
Are in cahoots.
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Alien Lore No. 108 - The spaceship on the moon

In the preflight study for APOLLO 20 (the anaglyphic study preflight of Apollo 20), an object was recorded on the surface of the moon that many people claim is an alien spacecraft, parked, abandoned, or crashed there. Some of these pictures and movies can be seen on the offical sites of NASA. At around 00:59 into the video is where you probably have the best view of the alleged spacecraft (it is cigar shaped)



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