Fantastic pic: Shuttle Discovery on the pad, with lunar eclipse

[LongTomH]

I got the link to this NASA image from Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog.



Follow the link to the NASA multimedia page for larger versions, including some that can be used as wallpaper.

That image started a long chain of memories going back decades to a movie that appeared around 1950: "Destination Moon". The movie must have been on a second run when I saw it at a drive-in. And yeah, I know I'm really showing my age. That movie was one of the influences that sparked my interest in space. "Destination Moon" was one of the first, really scientifically accurate science fiction movies about space travel; the late, great Robert A. Heinlein was even a technical advisor for this film. The plot drew heavily on Heinlein's work, particularly the juvenile novel: Rocket Ship Galileo and the novella The Man Who Sold the Moon.

Where is the connection between "Destination Moon" and this image? There was a beautiful scene in "Destination Moon": The rocketship Luna on the pad at White Sands, with a full moon in the background (White Sands was our first rocket test range. The filmmakers apparently thought it would be a logical place for our first moonshot to take off from). I got a number of reminders of this image through the years. First, a fantastic laser print of the shuttle Challenger (I think it was Challenger!) with a full moon in the background.

A few years later, I had a chance to attend a session of Adult Space Camp at the US Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL. One of the exhibits at Huntsville is a rocket park, with rockets from various eras of the US space program on display. One evening, I was walking back to the dormitory and I happened to glance over at the rocket park display. You guessed it - Saturn I with a big, beautiful, nearly full moon in the background.

[Lucinda]

1. Niiice. Thank you so much!

:hi:

[classof56]

2. Amazing photo--thanks for posting!

Thanks, too, for sharing your memories--I am going to check out Destination Moon. How interesting that it was based on Heinlein's stories. Love that you saw Saturn I with the moon in the background. Very cool! When I was a kid, we lived for a short time in northern New Mexico (1949-51) and I recall the time I saw a giant rocket ship moving southward across the beautiful blue sky. Must have been headed for White Sands, but as a transplant from the Pacific Northwest, I really had no clue what was going on in those parts. But that rocket in flight definitely got my attention!

Peace.