The Art of Integrity
--for the "What Comes Back" challenge.
Like a boomerang, we set you free.
Thrust into an open space,
Layers of invisible spheres
Penetrated.
Unnatural propulsion.
Intense.
First blooms of fuel ignited,
Visibly as impressive as the
Massive vibrations
Shaking the ground.
Thunderous roars.
Voices envelop,
Realization of impossible dreams.
Feats of engineering,
Magnificent.
So perfect, yet,
imperfection
Hung over us like a cloud of pensive doom.
Challenged by history
Hopeful, hope-filled.
We imagine.
Breaking the sound barrier,
Four brave souls experience four Gs.
Intense.
Cheers erupted
Boosters ejected.
Four souls aboard.
Challenge accepted.
Main engines detach
six minutes into the flight.
Thrusting forward farther,
An apogee of 1400 miles,
We make elliptical orbits.
Our “big blue marble”,
a sight to behold.
Tensions raise,
Anticipation.
The first orbital maneuver,
Sits heavy on our hearts.
Would the perigee raise to the apogee, or,
Boom!
Would we be returned to earth?
A first burn,
or be burned?
We hold our breath.
Hours into this,
Successful maneuvers.
First burn,
Second burn,
That long 15 minutes of fame.
Raising the orbital apogee to 43,500.
It’s all in a day’s work.
A day to circle the earth,
Could there be a more magnificent sight?
Four souls witness us.
We witness them.
Satellites deploy.
Joystick maneuvers.
A final burn,
That translunar injection.
We make the free return
Trajectory.
Four days to the moon,
Tweaks.
A little to eat.
A bit of sleep.
Exercises,
Experiments.
Matching earth-bound scientists'--
Test each hypothesis.
In sync,
In sequential fashion.
Integrity maintained,
Integrity managed.
Four days filled,
Lunar anticipation.
Integrity flies free,
Our “slingshot round the moon”.
Two hours to enjoy,
Just two hours of play.
Four voices unheard.
Only four souls witness the
Dark side.
We hold our breath.
Back in view,
Audio reception.
Incredible vistas, of greens and browns,
Change our perspective.
Large dark basaltic plains.
Lots and lots of regolith,
Deep gray powdery whites.
Big craters, and one newly named.
Then like a
boomerang,
we can’t remain.
Four more days,
Four days live.
Four days to breathe,
To test more hypotheses.
In sync,
In succession.
A little to eat,
A bit of sleep.
Time to recover,
Time to prepare.
Thirty minutes to final rotation,
Facing our final,
“The final frontier”.
One minute left to the Raise burn.
Rapidly descending.
A few more minutes until
Re-entry.
Massive blackout.
We hold our breath.
Heat and plasma pass by,
A shield in place.
We trust but we can’t hear.
We trust but we can’t yet,
See.
This pivotal moment,
Praying.
We are them.
They are us.
We pray we live,
to be dropped into the sea.
We hold our breath.
All eyes to the sky,
Finally in view.
Rapidly descending,
Parachutes deploy.
We hear their voice,
“Four green crew members”
Splash
Down,
Recovery.
We kept our Integrity.
The Journey of “ Artemis II”.
About the Creator
Mary Catherine Watson
Mary Catherine Watson, a.k.a. MCV Watson, or, Catherine Watson, is an artist that also writes. You could say she is a writer who also creates fine art. Like the “chicken or the egg” which comes first? Catherine loves challenges, and cares!
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