Volume XVI, Issue VII
A Great Gift
Sometimes the greatest gifts are simply the spontaneous expressions of those special souls who drink from those special deep wells. This past week I have been out of commission with the dreaded five-day flu and one of our contributors introduced me to the wonderful first journey of John Muir – his ‘Thousand Mile Walk’ which I found as an audio book. Following Muir’s journey from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico was invigorating. After an industrial accident nearly blinds him, a young Muir sets out on a botanical journey of discovery that takes him through the wild and dangerous country that was the South after the Civil War. Marveling at Kentucky’s great caves, facing robbers and guerrilla bands in the mountains and wandering malaria infested swamps, the journey is an exciting one. Be sure to enjoy the journey yourself, found at the end of this issue!
Apollonius
By Bob Kirchman
Copyright © 2019, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved
Chapter 7: Setting Course for Mars!
Unlike the Apollo Program, which had been built from the ground up through the Mercury and Gemini flights, The mission to Mars had been assembled in less than a year by using “off the shelf” technology. The Space station was simply attached to a long shaft that in turn was connected to the engine array. Of course, much testing was required to assure the flight worthiness of the combined systems but there were no ‘unknown’ systems being added. The closest thing to ‘unknown’ were the ten re-usable Mars landers. They had originally been created for a lunar mission but in anticipation of Mars flights, they had been ‘over engineered’ as far as power accordingly. The landers were not large. They carried a crew of five to seven people, anticipating that two people would be able to operate it for a return to the mother ship. Since each craft was capable of returning by free trajectory to Earth orbit, they were going to remain on the Martian surface as ‘lifeboats.’ There was also a missile to be delivered to the colony as a sort of ‘last resort’ signal (sort of like a distress flare). Since help was a year away, the flight directors wondered about this, but in the end it was decided that it should be kept.
Ben Gurion and his crew ran through the required test procedures for Great Northern and the landers. It was decided that he and Sarah would take the first lander down and so ‘fine tune’ the approach sequence. They would indeed set foot on the planet and deliver the first round of more delicate supplies. Less critical components would have already been parachuted down in one-way craft to a ‘drop zone’ outside the camp. This would allow the rapid deployment of a lot of construction supplies from the orbiting mother ship. On the mother ship was the master navigation computer, dubbed ‘Katherine’ in honor of NASA’s Katherine Goebbels Johnson, a very human ‘computer’ who in the 1960’s had calculated the paths of Apollo missions. One must remember that you can’t simply jump into a space ship and steer for the coordinates of your destination and then travel straight until you reach it. Everything in space is moving in elliptical orbits and to move from one place to another involves taking that into consideration. You must calculate an elliptical path between two objects moving in elliptical paths. You need to be aiming for the place your objective will be when you arrive.
That is why so many space dramas are simply unbelievable. You can’t pilot a spaceship looking out the window, so to speak. In the end it was decided that after the initial visit and return by Ben-Gurion and Cohen, the colonists would be ferried down in the landing craft under control from Great Northern and ‘Katherine.’ All ten would remain as escape vehicles should evacuation of the colony become necessary. They would fire the distress rocket, then begin the complete evacuation of the settlement. A medical emergency might be handled by the return of a single craft and it was probable that an Earth craft could depart with needed resources to join them in free return trajectory. The procedures and redundancy were all taken from work done in the preceding Century. Werner Von Braun had written a novel: Project Mars’ in 1952 which pretty much detailed the physics that would carry Ben-Gurion’s mission to the planet. Edgar Rice Burroughs had written A Princess on Mars and somewhat predicted the ‘atmosphere factory’ that would make it possible for men to live on Mars.
Contrary to the 'point and shoot' idea, an actual trip to mars looks very round a bout as the figure above shows for a typical 'minimum cost' trajectory. This, by the way, is called a Hoeman Transfer Orbit, and is the main stay of interplanetary space travel. It depends on the details of the orbit you take between the Earth and Mars. The typical time during Mars's closest approach to the Earth every 1.6 years is about 260 days. Again, the details depend on the rocket velocity and the closeness of the planets, but 260 days is the number I hear most often give or take 10 days. Some high-speed transfer orbits could make the trip in as little as 130 days. NASA Website
Though Arthur C. Clark and Kim Stanley Robinson predicted the terraforming of the entire planet, it was clear that only greenhouse/biosphere habitation could be made fit for humans to live in. The solar wind continually stripped the lean Martian CO2 atmosphere and scientists had pretty much disproved the global effect of manufacturing ‘greenhouse gasses.’ Planets, they had discovered, tend to balance themselves out in equations produced by a much larger equilibrium. Indeed, human pollution could create harmful inversions in Los Angeles and the Katmandu Valley, but the vastness of planet oceans and atmospheres tended to mitigate the effects on a global scale. George Apollonius had insisted that equipment be carried on the mission to test the theories that Mars could be terraformed, but at Cape Lisbon, scientists shook their heads knowing that even if it WAS possible it would require Centuries to accomplish.
The research they were anxious to see, on the other hand, was that of Dr. Stanley Kline, the flight surgeon. The observations of men and women in prolonged space environments was still very incomplete. Long-term exposure to cosmic radiation, lowered gravity and many aspects of life away from Earth were simply not well-enough known. Dr. Kline was the only unmarried member of the crew but he was a bit of a solitary melancholy fellow and seemed to thrive on his somewhat hermit-like existence. He had excelled in medical studies and had pioneered a lot of advances, but it had come at a cost. He had started medical school with a young wife and children but sacrificed them as he was driven by an unrelenting drive to be the best of the best. Finally the man who many thought was a machine started breaking down. He took the opportunity with the space program and moved out of his high-pressure world just in time to avoid the inevitable break-down. Somehow he felt the two-year voyage would take him back to the simplicity of his days working with white mice at Bowman Gray Medical Center. Astronauts tended to be a healthy lot, and the trip should provide little in the way of drama.
Dr. Kline looked forward to logging a rather mundane report, useful for future ventures into space, to be sure, but not at all Earth-shattering. He looked forward to Skype time with his sons, who would likely take some pride in their father’s accomplishment. Still, two years of their young lives would pass without human touch. Sometimes he thought about that and felt a twinge of remorse. The remainder of the crew were two more couples who were also pilots, but who had unique scientific or engineering backgrounds, deepening the crew. Finally there were the stewards, chief cook Maria Giuliano and her husband Salvador. Final supplying of the ship took place and with very little fanfare, the Great Northern’s engines began pushing her out of Earth orbit toward her rendezvous with Mars. The actual departure was governed by the orbits of the planets and was timed to allow for the shortest possible trip. Still, it was about nine month's journey nonetheless. Economy was important due to the sheer magnitude of the journey and Zimmerman’s setting of a pretty austere budget.
Cape Lisbon Command kept constant communication with the crew. Flight director Joseph West had worked with Ben-Gurion and his wife long enough that they could pick up much information beyond their spoken words in voice inflection and hesitation or pauses. “Cleared for Mars transit insertion,” West blandly stated. “Hold course 1129 as directed by ‘Katherine.’ Dorothy/Mary confirm. Inform command of all corrective burns/maneuvers en route.”
The computer was essentially flying the ship. Human monitoring was a redundancy but in an unknown environment it was a most necessary redundancy.
Ground computers received ‘Katherine’s’ calculated trajectory numbers and continually verified them. Should the computer on Great Northern fail, there was a backup named ‘Dorothy.’ On the ground they were backed up by ‘Mary.’ Since it was impossible to fly the ship without continual input from the computers, this was essential redundancy. The three computers would be in constant communication except for those minutes where the spacecraft was orbiting the far side of Mars. Then ‘Mary’ would have to catch the position and trajectory of the starship and account for any discrepancy.
(to be continued)
In the Year 2889
by Jules Verne
Moon Shot, 1994 PBS
Deke Slayton Narrates the Story of American Spaceflight
Mohomony
Sketch by Bob Kirchman
Virginia's Natural Bridge is known to the Monacans as Mohomony.
Mohomony, the "Bridge of G-d"
Unique Natural Formation Saved Early Monacans
One can almost imagine the battle...
...raging above this deep chasm.
Amazing Story of Deliverance in Monacan Heritage
Running desperately through the forest, the small band of Monacan men, women and children were vastly outnumbered by their pursuers. Powhatan warriers were overtaking them. Suddenly they came to the edge of a vast chasm! They could see no way to cross it.
They closed their eyes and prayed. Then they looked up and saw the formation we know today as Natural Bridge, one of Virginia's most unique wonders, spanning the chasm. Hurrying their women and children across the stone span, they followed. Then they turned to make their stand. The much larger army was constricted by the narrow bridge and could only attack the Monacans in a much smaller number. The bridge became a great equalizer between the two forces and the Monacans were victorious that day.
Passed from generation to generation, the story of Monacan survival has made Natural Bridge a sacred place to the Monacans. They named it Mohomony, meaning 'Bridge of G-d."
Today a recreated Monacan village stands at the base of the bridge. Because the story predates written accounts, it is easy to dismiss it as legend, yet as we considered it my wife said: "I believe it recounts an actual event." The strategic element inherent in the story (the narrow bridge equalizing the battle) is too much like something another Rockbridge County resident, Thomas Jackson, would want to remember.
Like Homer's accounts of the Trojan War and the Odyssey home, some unknown Monacan warrier seems to have recounted this amazing story, remembering the time when geography aided them in battle. I walked across the bridge on route 11, imagining an epic battle like something out of Tolkien (like Gandalf facing the Balrog)! Young Monacans standing shoulder to shoulder to protect children and wives from an overwhelming enemy, who prevailed that day, passed the story to their children.
It just seemed to me like one of many grand moments in history where the unseen hand of G-d was seen as deliverer.
Today visitors walk beneath the bridge...
...but her greatest story may have played out above!
Photos by Bob Kirchman.
Water Wheel, Capon Springs, West Virginia. Photo by Bob Kirchman.
Dressed for Success (Spiritually)
You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” – Colossians 3:7-10
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” – Colossians 3:12-14
Prayer of Saint Francis
Albrecht Dürer, Praying Hands.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Motherhood and Invention
Mom Taught Us How to See the World
Addie Pollack's Massanutten Lodge at Skyland under an early Autumn snow. Photo by Bob Kirchman.
During the great World War my mother went to work at the Martin Company in Baltimore. She worked in the engineering department and helped develop the airplanes that fought in the Pacific. Her background in mathematics and physics gave her a unique perspective, to say the least. She proudly stated of her tenure at Martin: "I REFUSED to make coffee for them!" Yes, this was the late forties and early fifties you have to remember.
How cool is it to have a mother who pointed out beautiful airplanes! She grew up in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains so she pointed out many other wonders as well. Her drawing skills were amazing. So was her ability to convey lessons about the way the world works in everyday tasks. Her kitchen was a laboratory and once she continued to divide the last piece of pie to show us kids how you could divide something in half for infinity. There were five of us kids and Mom could cut a pie into seven equal pieces flawlessly. Her good eye was often not appreciated when we did home improvement projects. If something was crooked, Mom saw it!
Mom could show you "all the colors of grass." Something I always mention when I do workshops with students. She knew the subtle signs that the seasons were changing. I am eternally grateful for her teaching me how to see!
We took her ashes and Dad's to the beloved mountains overlooking her girlhood home and it is always a sacred time for me to step into that little spring valley that is green all the year and remember.
Volume XVI, Issue VIIa
Phantasies
By George MacDonald, Chapter 16
Ev'n the Styx, which ninefold her infoldeth
Hems not Ceres' daughter in its flow;
But she grasps the apple--ever holdeth
Her, sad Orcus, down below."
~ Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, "Das Ideal und das Leben".
Ever as I sang, the veil was uplifted; ever as I sang, the signs of life grew; till, when the eyes dawned upon me, it was with that sunrise of splendour which my feeble song attempted to re-imbody.
The wonder is, that I was not altogether overcome, but was able to complete my song as the unseen veil continued to rise. This ability came solely from the state of mental elevation in which I found myself. Only because uplifted in song, was I able to endure the blaze of the dawn. But I cannot tell whether she looked more of statue or more of woman; she seemed removed into that region of phantasy where all is intensely vivid, but nothing clearly defined. At last, as I sang of her descending hair, the glow of soul faded away, like a dying sunset. A lamp within had been extinguished, and the house of life shone blank in a winter morn. She was a statue once more--but visible, and that was much gained. Yet the revulsion from hope and fruition was such, that, unable to restrain myself, I sprang to her, and, in defiance of the law of the place, flung my arms around her, as if I would tear her from the grasp of a visible Death, and lifted her from the pedestal down to my heart. But no sooner had her feet ceased to be in contact with the black pedestal, than she shuddered and trembled all over; then, writhing from my arms, before I could tighten their hold, she sprang into the corridor, with the reproachful cry, "You should not have touched me!" darted behind one of the exterior pillars of the circle, and disappeared. I followed almost as fast; but ere I could reach the pillar, the sound of a closing door, the saddest of all sounds sometimes, fell on my ear; and, arriving at the spot where she had vanished, I saw, lighted by a pale yellow lamp which hung above it, a heavy, rough door, altogether unlike any others I had seen in the palace; for they were all of ebony, or ivory, or covered with silver-plates, or of some odorous wood, and very ornate; whereas this seemed of old oak, with heavy nails and iron studs. Notwithstanding the precipitation of my pursuit, I could not help reading, in silver letters beneath the lamp:
No one enters here without the leave of the Queen."
But what was the Queen to me, when I followed my white lady? I dashed the door to the wall and sprang through. Lo! I stood on a waste windy hill. Great stones like tombstones stood all about me. No door, no palace was to be seen. A white figure gleamed past me, wringing her hands, and crying, "Ah! you should have sung to me; you should have sung to me!" and disappeared behind one of the stones. I followed. A cold gust of wind met me from behind the stone; and when I looked, I saw nothing but a great hole in the earth, into which I could find no way of entering. Had she fallen in? I could not tell. I must wait for the daylight. I sat down and wept, for there was no help.
(to be continued)
Truth in Myth, C. S. Lewis
Mohomony. Photo by Bob Kirchman.
The value of the myth is that it takes all the things we know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by “the veil of familiarity”. The child enjoys his gold meat (otherwise dull to him) by pretending it is buffalo, just killed with his own bow and arrow. And the child is wise. The real meat comes back to him more savoury for having been dipped in a story; you might say that only then is it the real meat. If you are tired of the real landscape, look at it in a mirror. By putting bread, gold, horse, apple, or the very roads into a myth, we do not retreat from reality: we rediscover it. As long as the story lingers in our mind, the real things are more themselves.” — C. S. Lewis
Cedar Key, Florida, John Muir
Photos by M. K. Hand
Sunset on Cedar Key. Photo by M. K. Hand.
In 1867, John Muir, age twenty-eight, was blinded in an industrial accident in a wagon wheel factory. He lay in bed for two weeks in a darkened room wondering if he would ever see again. When his sight miraculously returned, Muir resolved to devote all his time to the great passion of his life -- studying plants. He quit his job in an Indiana manufacturing plant, said good-bye to his family, and set out alone to walk to the Gulf of Mexico, sketching tropical plants along the way. He kept a journal of this thousand-mile walk and near the end of his life, now famous as a conservation warrior and literary celebrity, sent a typescript of it to his publisher. The result is a wonderful portrait of a young man in search of himself and a particularly vivid portrait of the post-war American South. THYME contributor M. K. Hand has followed the path of the great conservationist from Indiana to Cedar Key, Florida where the young Muir recovered from malaria in the home of a stranger before sailing for Cuba and then on to California. A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf [click to listen] is the story of the walk that changed Muir’s life.
Map by John Muir.
Cedar Key Pelicans. Photo by M. K. Hand.
