I've just discovered this quite interesting and rather disturbing fact about the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
Richard Nixon's speech writer Bill Safire had written a speech entitled: "In the event of Moon disaster". This was the speech that Nixon would have given if Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin could not return to Michael Collins's command ship and were therefore going to die on the Moon. It was written two days before the landing.
The speech has recently been uncovered. It laid with Nixon's private papers in America's national archives, which where laid aside after the mission was completed.
If the disaster had occured, Nixon would have first called the widows and then would have read the following speech.
The last line in the speech is an allusion to Rupert Brooke's World War One poem The Soldier.
Once the speech had been maid, Mission Control would have closed communications and a clergyman would have conducted a burial service like the one used at sea.
Source: Sunday Express
Richard Nixon's speech writer Bill Safire had written a speech entitled: "In the event of Moon disaster". This was the speech that Nixon would have given if Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin could not return to Michael Collins's command ship and were therefore going to die on the Moon. It was written two days before the landing.
The speech has recently been uncovered. It laid with Nixon's private papers in America's national archives, which where laid aside after the mission was completed.
If the disaster had occured, Nixon would have first called the widows and then would have read the following speech.
Quote:
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the Moon to explore in peace will stay on the Moon to rest in peace.
These brave men know there is no hope for their recovery but they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood. Others will follow and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied but these men were the first and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the Moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.
These brave men know there is no hope for their recovery but they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood. Others will follow and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied but these men were the first and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the Moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.
The last line in the speech is an allusion to Rupert Brooke's World War One poem The Soldier.
Once the speech had been maid, Mission Control would have closed communications and a clergyman would have conducted a burial service like the one used at sea.
Source: Sunday Express
"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. " - Bertrand Russell
The Triumph of Stupidity in Mortals and Others 1931-1935
The Triumph of Stupidity in Mortals and Others 1931-1935
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