The New Moon last Friday night, just the barest sliver in the evening, inspired me to reflect on the wonder of the cosmos. All the pressured political events, spilling over into religious squabbles, can quickly muddle awareness of the mystery and majesty of Life on Earth. Of course, this new moon holds added intensity--with 7 planetary bodies hovering in astrological formation in Ares. In addition, while the moon is still crescent, the annual Lyrid meteor shower will be more visible, with as many as 10-20 shooting stars per hour at it's peak Tuesday night! The Lyrid meteors are actually debris from the Thatcher comet, which itself is only visible every 415 years. The earth passes over the meteor showers every year around this same time and records of the meteor event go back over 2,5000 years.
Even more phenomenal, collectively, we are still processing new visions of our moon, across the backdrop of space mission Artemis II. I am still absorbing the Artemis Flight. Evidently, so are the astronauts, along with anyone fascinated by human capacity to launch outside the atmosphere, and beyond. They launched on April 1, and flew, 230,000 miles out into space, returning to the Pacific Ocean, on April 10, setting the new record for human travel from Earth, a total trip of 695,081 miles. The flight took me back to 1969, and Apollo 11, and earlier flights, my family waking up early in the morning to watch launches on T.V. Growing up in Houston, the "Space Age City", meant being prepared to discuss the latest flight events when summer was over and it was back to class. With Artemis II, though, there is a greater depth of meaning, that the star-struck astronauts brought home to us. Yes, in 2026, the space above the sky, the lower Earth orbit, is now filled with satellites, and even holds the amazing International Space Station, which I often forget is accessible to us via cameras. (In fact, I stopped to take a peak right now, and learned there are 7 astronauts on board, saw their names and bio's, 408 km above earth, passing over Mongolia as I write...https://isslivenow.com/). But the impact of Artemis II, is the Wonder and Awe the crew has conveyed.
That Wonder seemed particularly palpable when speaking of their time that stretched further than any previous flight--beyond radio contact with Mission Control, relying only on each other. That reliance revealed the true depth of human connection. Consider these quotes from the crew as they faced the reporters when back on the ground. Astronaut Jeremy Hansen: "Humans are just great people...What I have seen has brought me more joy and more hope for our future." What he was left pondering was "the depth of the galaxy". Astronaut Christine Koch: "Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbedly in the universe. Planet Earth, you are crew." Astronaut Glover, coming home to a neighborhood celebration for him, spoke of love for all, and loving "our neighbors as ourself." "Lets be neighbors."Astronaut Hansen, spoke of the love they shared, and expanded it, "When you look here, you're not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you. And if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper. This is you."
This seems like the week to take the Cosmic View, beyond power plays, marketing, and tired scripts. We may never board a space craft, but our awareness can and does expand. It's a good week to move beyond tight frames of reference and binding social constructs. What is that view from the Cosmos?...Love as connection that is not Earth bound... Consider, not just outer travel, but inner as well. (Susan Nettleton)
For poetry: https://poets.org/poem/when-i-heard-learnd-astronomer https://magazine.uc.edu/editors_picks/recent_features/armstrong/poem.html https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/C/CarpenterEdw/Freedomdeep/index.html https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/157986/high-flight-627d3cfb1e9b7