Splash Down!

By W. F. Twyman, Jr.

The best is yet to come.

I don’t know about you but today’s splash down off our San Diego coast brought to mind all of those Gemini and Apollo splash downs of my youth. No offense to the courageous astronauts on the Shuttle missions but there is something elegant as three main parachutes deploy, catching the breath of pioneers who were 13 minutes earlier speeding along at over 23,000 miles per hour. Imagine breaking from over 23,000 miles per hour to a gentle descent of 20 miles per hour. Within minutes.

My inner child remembers these moments on the silver screen.

I asked my wife if she watched the splashdown of Artemis. Was it exciting? She said, yes, and yes. But I could tell she was born too late to remember the Apollo splashdowns like I do, to feel the grace of elegant descent like I do.

We are at the very beginning this afternoon. Flights on a yearly basis to the Moon are coming as soon as the year 2028. And I want to live to see many more graceful descents from outer space.

I once asked my daughter if she would ever want to spend a night at a lunar hotel. She replied, why would I ever want to do that? There is nothing there. The “why” is simple to me. Because it is there. To boldy go where no man has gone before. To engage the larger universe.