{"id":54935,"date":"2026-04-11T10:24:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T00:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/?p=54935"},"modified":"2026-04-12T05:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T19:50:56","slug":"from-the-dark-side-of-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/journal\/from-the-dark-side-of-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Dark Side of the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Intersecting with Eternity<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u4f46\u9858\u4eba\u9577\u4e45\uff0c\u5343\u91cc\u5171\u5b0b\u5a1f<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Artemis II was a ten-day lunar flyby mission launched on 1 April 2026. It was the first crewed flight that travelled beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. Travelling in an Orion spacecraft, one named Integrity<\/em> by the crew, Artemis II was a test flight in a series of tests aimed at returning humans to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

Of the four-person crew, Victor Glover<\/a> was\u00a0the first person of colour, Christina Koch<\/a> the first woman, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen<\/a> the first non-US citizen and commander Reid Wiseman<\/a> was the oldest person to travel beyond low Earth orbit and near the Moon.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Intersecting with Eternity<\/i><\/a> is a mini-anthology of literary and artistic works, both past and present, that form part of the unbroken stream of human awareness and poetic self-reflection. Intersecting with Eternity <\/em>is a companion series to The Tower of Reading<\/em><\/a> and an extension of\u00a0The Other China<\/em><\/a> section of China Heritage<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In this chapter of Intersecting with Eternity<\/em>, we reproduce remarks made by Victor Glover, the pilot of the Artemis II mission, during Easter 2026. His words marked an extraordinary moment of human achievement, one that also coincided with one of the lowest points in modern American history. Glover told a reporter<\/a> that he listened to Whitey on the Moon<\/a>, twice a week on his commute to work. The first lines of Gil Scott-Heron<\/a>\u2019s 1970 prose poem \u2014 a mordant critique of the saccharine patriotism that was inspired by the Apollo 11 landing on the moon in July 1969 \u2014 read:<\/p>\n

A rat done bit my sister Nell.
\n(with Whitey on the Moon)
\nHer face and arms began to swell.
\n(and Whitey’s on the Moon)
\nI can’t pay no doctor bill.
\n(but Whitey’s on the Moon)
\nTen years from now I’ll be paying still.
\n(while Whitey’s on the Moon)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2018We live in a very complicated country\u2019, Glover observed:<\/p>\n

I live in the America that sent me to space, told my grandfather he couldn’t fly during the Korean conflict when he was enlisted, but he got to sit and watch me fly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Regarding \u2018space-flight sceptics\u2019, that is people who do not see any value in sending people to space, Glover remarked: \u2018Where we were in 1968, when humans first set out on this voyage, our country is in a very similar place now. And it’s important to recognize and respect those skeptics.\u2019 (The poem Whitey on the Moon<\/a> enjoyed renewed interest in 2021 following spaceflights by the billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson.)<\/p>\n

My brother Scot and our friends watched the moon landing on TV in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney shortly after midday on 21 July 1969. A particular point of pride was that the images transmitted to the world when Neil Armstrong took that \u2018giant leap for Mankind\u2019 were relayed from the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station<\/a>, a NASA installation located not far from Canberra, the capital of Australia.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The rubric of this chapter \u2014 \u4f46\u9858\u4eba\u9577\u4e45\uff0c\u5343\u91cc\u5171\u5b0b\u5a1f, \u2018May we all live long,\/ May we all share,\/ though a myriad miles apart,\/ the same fair moon\u2019 \u2014 are lines from a famous poem by Su Dongpo \u8607\u6771\u5761, one that has featured in China Heritage<\/em> a number of times (see, for example, The Same Fair Moon<\/a>). The ethos expressed in those lines, and in the sentiments of the crew of Artemis II, is as far from the ideology that prevails in the White House in 2026 as the moon.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Victor Glover is a devout Christian and it therefore also seems appropriate to add some lines from Philippians 4<\/em>, a text which Glover quoted during the Artemis II mission:<\/p>\n

\u2026 whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Victor Glover\u2019s message is a timely reminder from The Other America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Geremie R. Barm\u00e9
\nEditor, China Heritage<\/em>
\n10 April 2026<\/p>\n

Artemis II Splashdown<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Earthset, seen on the day of the flyby, Monday, 6 April 2026. Source: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

***<\/p>\n

From the Dark Side of the Moon<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Victor Glover<\/strong><\/h3>\n