I was the only English astronaut chosen for the Artemis Moon mission<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This said I had lived in the US for many years <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were a number of heated discussions when I was chosen <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I was not an American <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I argued that God was an Englishman <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which did not go down very well
At present we are on the dark side of the moon <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And for a short while we would be out of contact <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As hundreds of photographs were being taken <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the other members of the crew I sat silently <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Staring into eternity <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was taking notes about my feelings and my fears <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And whether another English poet <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would be sent into space <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was I knew the first English poet from Hull <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To have made this short journey
Lopez interrupted my line of thought <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wondered what would happen <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If due to a malfunction we did not return <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And followed Voyager 1 on its endless journey <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was launched in September 1977 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was the world a better place then <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We know more now but can we cope with it <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wars are still being fought and people were being killed <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not much had changed as the lunatics were still running things <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had the knowledge and capabilities to destroy ourselves <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But did not understand the Mathematics of Coincidence
Regan who was the only woman selected was making tea <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I preferred coffee but we had run out of coffee beans <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was famous as being the youngest Grand Master ever <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mission Control had packed a chess set as a surprise <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we had not unpacked the Fun in Space parcel <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I commented that if this was the dark side of the moon <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then it was not very dark as I could read without hindrance
And then Mission Control piped up <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They read a poem by Stephen Crane
In the desert<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who, squatting upon the ground,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Held his heart in his hands,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And ate of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I said, \u201cIs it good, friend?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is bitter\u2014bitter,\u201d he answered;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut I like it<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause it is bitter,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd because it is my heart.\u201d
It was then that I realised it was my birthday <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And at that very moment <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President of the United States <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was extinguishing the candles on my birthday cake <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I pretended to shed a tear but I did not care <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I disliked buttercream with a vengeance <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A piece would be waiting for me<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I bothered to return
Jackson from Ashland VA suddenly let out a shout <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first I thought that something had gone wrong <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it was more serious than that <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As he had beaten Regan at Pretend Chess <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was upset and had locked herself in her room <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was her first defeat since she was twelve years old
Playtime was over and we were on the way back <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My spacewalk had been cancelled<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because my old football injury has flared up<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lopez said he would take my place <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he had forgotten his little Chihuahua<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who suffered badly from Agoraphobia
It was Easter Sunday and we all prayed <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was then I spotted a bright star<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That I could not immediately identify <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Things were about to get very exciting <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was the only English astronaut chosen for the Artemis Moon mission This said I had lived in the US for many years There were a number of heated discussions when I was chosen As I was not an American I argued that God was an Englishman Which did not go down very well At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33304"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33314,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33304\/revisions\/33314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}