Uncertain Landing

[krpalmer]

On Thursday afternoon, the thought popped into my head to check the NASA site. Once there, I saw a front-page notice that a new moon probe I think I’d heard about launching was preparing for landing, and took the chance to watch the streaming coverage. Some of that coverage did give me impressions of when I’d once seen a bit of a network presentation of Apollo 11’s landing, which had provided a special effects sequence to go along with the radio transmissions only for the sequence to go out of synch with the actual landing needing additional hover time to steer for open ground. I at least knew this “small-company mission” had got much closer to the moon than one from a different company some months before that had fallen back to Earth, but when there was a long pause in contact after the apparent moment of landing I did have a few uncertain thoughts. At last there was a report of a weak transmission, but the coverage cut off soon afterwards.

Supposing I’d wait for further updates in the hopes of a picture from the surface, I checked a news conference the next day, but in coming in partway through I was left to form an impression of the probe having fallen on its side. In this case, it was supposed to have landed on a “small end.” A few unfortunate thoughts of five of seven Surveyor probes having made successful moon landings back in the 1960s have come to mind, and I’m still waiting for pictures from another time-limited working stay on the surface, but I am trying my best to look on the bright side and suppose more worked out in this case than didn’t.