Man on the Moon

By Queuebot in Science & Tech on Apr 23, 2009 at 1:17 am

A speech prepared in the event of the unimaginable happening during the Apollo 11 moon landing mission has recently surfaced. The document was prepared by President Nixon’s speech writer for the President to read should The Eagle be unable to leave the surface of the moon.

It is a hauntingly somber speech. One I am glad we are only learning about today.

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the Moon to explore in peace will stay on the Moon to rest in peace.

Link – via regalbeagles

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by no not that alex.

Tags: apollo 11, disaster speech, nixon

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Kalel
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 1:40 am
How chilling.
VonSkippy
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 1:46 am
What about the speech in case there was a slip up and one of the studio cameras or lights showed up in a shot?

//kidding, kidding, I’m snarky not stupid.
Foreigner1
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 2:49 am
Well, not quite recently. It was known for several years that this speech existed. In view of all the risks and the absolute impossibility to mount any rescue, from the getgo 2 sets of any speech to comment on key-moments were written. …At least, that is what I learnt here in my History-lessons.

But it sure does make you wonder about all those other occasions how the alternative speech would have gone…
angstrom
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 6:49 am
the oddest thing about this speech is that the deaths are still future tense, because they are marooned without hope of rescue. Most similar speeches these days relate to past tense tragedies, a plane has crashed or a shuttle exploded.
ted
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 7:04 am
Well, there is the alternative “I AM a crook” speech by Nixon.
seefish3
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 8:15 am
So, there’s an archive of mirror-universe speeches somewhere?

Why would anyone save this crap? And on PAPER,no less?

And am I paying to preserve this?
MadMolecule
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 9:23 am
Parts of the speech are shown in the 2007 documentary “In the Shadow of the Moon,” which is an absolute must-see for anyone interested in the space program: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925248/

Seefish: No, it’s not on paper. It’s film of Nixon delivering a prerecorded speech.
Gauldar
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
@Seefish3

You have no idea the amount of information is boxed up and archived. It’s not a surprise to me that it’s not digital concidering that Nixon didn’t like computers in his administation and felt they would never make it into common use. Lots of information out there that is classified, much of it doesn’t really need to be.
epfroth
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 10:50 am
A beautiful piece of writing from William Safire, but unfortunately I couldn’t stop thinking about the clip of Dana Carvey as Tom Brokaw exploring alternate outcomes for Gerald Ford:

http://www.truveo.com/SNL-Dana-Carvey-Tom-Brokaw/id/2943001551
Caesar_X
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 3:01 pm
This reminds me of the speech Dwight Eisenhower kept in his pocket in case the D-Day landings failed.

“Our landings have failed and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”
stephen
Apr 23rd, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Tacky last line. The bowdlerising of lines from The Soldier by Rupert Brooke introduces a note of inappropriate humour.
Ajan
Apr 27th, 2009 at 3:16 am
The speech would’ve been seriously effective..

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