Tagged: space program

“Splashdown” (science fiction)

100_1027…confined in some kind of plummeting spacecraft, unfamiliar controls, banks of switches and gauges, a bewildering array.

Extreme disorientation, not helped by the jolting descent, my capsule pitching and rolling, a sense of increasing speed and friction–

Fire! Fire! Engulfed in a sheath of flame, watching helplessly as long, thin tracks of plastic slide down the porthole-like windows.

I’m melting.

Turbulence reaching maximum intensity, violent gyrations and bumps, hearing the roar even through my helmet.

A shooting star.

100_1028

Something…heaviness! Good old gravity. Like a slow-settling weight. Or turning to stone.

The fires are going out, leaving behind a blackened cinder.

Me.

Outside: purple. Purple-blue. Blue.

100_1031Landing on water.

Bobbing on a choppy sea, weeping with relief.

Waiting for someone to come and get me.

Wondering how long it will take.

 

 

Copyright, 2014 (All Rights Reserved)

“July 20, 1969” (A Tribute to Apollo 11)

We’re fast approaching the 40th anniversary of the first landing on the moon.  My recollections of that day are very clear;  it made a deep and long-lasting psychic impression on me.  I’ve tried to express something of that magical time in this short film, titled “July 20, 1969”.  My wife Sherron helped me put this snippet together (using the wonders of this here new iMac).  The pictures are from the public domain, the music plucked from Garageband…the text derived from a short prose work I completed years ago.

This anniversary (Apollo 11) seems to be affecting me more than this sort of thing usually does.  I firmly believe watching those fuzzy pictures from 250,000 miles away was an absolutely seminal moment from my childhood, those few days igniting my fascination with science fiction, other worlds, distant spaces, journeys into darkness, etc.  I’m pleased to be able to pay tribute to the exploits and achievements of the Apollo program and I hope our little film gives some small hint of the sense of wonder and excitement I felt back then…emotions I retain today when I look at the pictures, see their faces, and have a clearer understanding of the daunting obstacles they faced, the sacrifices they made and the grandness of vision our forays into space represent.

This film is dedicated to the lads of Apollo 11:  Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins

And the crew of Apollo 1:  Roger Chaffee, Edward White, Virgil I. Grissom

Thank you.