Space: A Novel
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‘Anathema!’ shouted Kellog. ‘I rue the day I granted you a degree in theology.’
Strabismus had far more friends in the hall than Kellog, and this condemnation of their leader was offensive, so a brawl erupted, and soon scientists were defending their right to exist, while Kellog’s men condemned them anew. The affair would have destroyed the workshop had not Dr. Mott gaveled the contestants to order and then abruptly terminated the stormy session.
He had little on which to congratulate himself, for at seven the next morning his phone began to jangle, and in quick succession he had three agitated calls from NASA headquarters and a stern one from Senator Pope: ‘You were sent there to keep those tigers in their cages, Stanley. Throw them some warm meat and bring this thing under control.’
‘How did you hear about it?’
‘New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor. Front pages are full of it. Do you think you should terminate the workshop?’
‘Never.’
‘Then knock some sense into their heads. That’s your job.’
He skipped breakfast, spending the time drafting a few concise notes which he hoped would quieten things, but when he stood at the podium he could see that the conferees were still eager for battle, and he knew he must conciliate them:
‘Yesterday evening we witnessed an unfortunate manifestation of the ancient and unnecessary quarrel between religion and science, and the chair feels obligated to make a statement.
‘I would remind my scientific brethren, to whom personally I owe so much, that whereas each arriving piece of new evidence supports the theory of an original big bang which launched at least this portion of the cosmos into being, no one, and I repeat no one, has provided even one acceptable scientific guess as to what agency activated that primordial bang. If our religious participants insist that it was God, their reasoning is at least as good as anyone else’s, and I think better.
‘Now I must remind my religious brethren, and I feel justified in using that familial word, since my father was a clergyman, that all available evidence does point to a very old beginning for our Earth and to an immensely old beginning for our universe. Even though I believe in God as firmly as I do, I simply cannot deny the evidence, and I hold it to be the task of knowing men to reconcile the two points of view which erupted here last night with such violence.
‘My conclusions are threefold, and because this question is so vital to this workshop and to humanity in general, I have taken the precaution of writing them down on this small slip of paper lest I misspeak myself on what is proving to be the heart of this meeting.
‘First, society cannot exist without a referee to judge the good and evil of any proposed act. Without this constant guidance, encouragement, and censorship we must revert to barbarism, as we have seen societies do in our lifetime. Science has not the moral force to provide this guidance, nor has politics. Only an ethical system can do this, and our inherited ethical systems have been given the hallowed name religion.
‘Second, I am not much concerned with the doctrinal debates and differences of religion, nor are many of my scientific brethren, but I am deeply supportive of the solid work religion does in helping to structure society. I would not wish to live in any community which lacked churches. I have sometimes phrased it this way: If I were an unmarried young man of twenty-four, sent by my corporation to a new job in its Detroit plant, there is no possibility whatever that I would go to a bar to find my wife, or to a dance hall. I would join a church, or associate myself with a library or college, because I would want to meet people who supported the same ideals I did. Most sensible citizens support churches, and therefore the religious impulse which creates them.
‘Third, as a scientist who did not attain that august title till he was a mature man of forty-four, so that he did not accept generalizations easily, I cannot deny or obscure the accumulated evidence that piles up before me. Our scientific probes of Voyager II, the photographs it returned to Earth, told us the nature of the planet Saturn, and regardless what ancient religious texts claim in their poetic form, that is the nature of the planet and I am bound by that truth.
‘I am told that last night Reverend Hosea Kellog of Red River Bible University and Professor Hiram Hellweiter of Indiana University came to blows during the heat of their debate. Such partisanship is understandable and certainly forgivable, for decisions of great moment confront us, and it is inevitable that defense of one’s priorities should become furious. But in the quietness of this beautiful morning I ask you two distinguished gentlemen to embrace, as I embrace each of you.
‘For all of us must grapple with problems of tremendous import, and we must strive together in harmony, not in destructive discord. We can now reach out to the farthest galaxies and peel back the layers of confusion which in the past have obscured our understandings. What shall we do with this new knowledge? We have seen that we can harness the hydrogen atom. But how will we utilize and discipline that capacity? And perhaps of even greater significance and peril, we can now move into the structure of the human gene to create new forms of life. How can we supervise the exercise of that terrible power?
‘Finally, the time may not be far distant when we shall be summoned back to this hall to discuss in secret not the exploration of other galaxies but the steps in which America can utilize her stations in space in mortal warfare with some other power which has also learned how to function in this medium and is determined to use it to destroy us.
‘This first assembly of great minds must not be divided. We must work as partners in our exploration into the structure of matter, into the workings of the human mind, and into society’s chances for survival. If we divide, we can destroy ourselves. If we unite, we can bring order to a threatened Earth.’
When he sat down, the participants, most of whom sought the conciliation he represented, cheered, but he was so exhausted nervously that he could not resume conduct of the session and excused himself. As he walked unsteadily toward the rear of the hall he felt his arm being taken by Leopold Strabismus, who whispered as he led their way to the sun-filled lawn, ‘Forget them for a moment. They’re resuming where they left off last night.’
‘I noticed that you stayed out of that fray, Leopold. Uncharacteristic.’
‘I wanted to find out what the more sensible men like you believed.’
‘All of us scientists are convinced that this Earth upon which you and I stand this afternoon was brought out of chaos four and a half billion—”
‘There it is, Mott! You said it yourself. Brought out of chaos. Who brought it out?’
‘That has never concerned me. It could easily have been God. Or the Primal Force. Or Divine Chance. I have no problem with that whatever.’
‘There’s the difference. Men like me want to nail things down.’
‘So you halt the teaching of evolution? You put a stopper on geology?’
‘The common man must not be confused.’
Mott pointed over his shoulder toward the noisy session. ‘Practically every man in there, including you and me, is a common man, and for sure we were the sons of common men. If we can grapple with these questions, and one day solve the easier ones, why not the common man? You and I are the common man.’
And so the grand debate continued. It had started eons ago along the camel trails in Mesopotamia and in the barren highlands of Judea. Ancestors of Mott and Strabismus had chosen opposing sides in Assyria and at Stonehenge. These precise questions had been raised in the temples of Thebes and Machu Picchu, and in the ancient universities of Bologna and Oxford. Now they were being revived on a hillside in Vermont, and a thousand years from now they would still be debated on some other planet orbiting some other star in some other galaxy.
THE FOUR FAMILIES
Mott, Stanley. Born Newton, Massachusetts, 1918.
Mott, Rachel Lindquist. Born Worcester, Massachusetts, 1920.
Millard, born 1943.
Christopher, born 1950.
Pope, Penny Hardesty. Born Clay, Fremont, 1927.
Grant, Norman. Born Clay, Fremont, 1914.
Grant, Elinor Stidham. Born Clay, Fremont, 1917.
Marcia, born 1939.
Kolff, Dieter. Born near Munich, Germany, 1907.
Kolff, Liesl. Born Peenemünde, Germany, 1916.
Magnus, born 1947.
THE SOLID SIX ASTRONAUTS
Claggett, Randolph. Born Creede, Texas, 1929. U.S. Marine Corps.
Claggett, Debby Dee Cawthorn Rodgers. Born Laredo, Texas, 1926.
Lee, Charles ‘Hickory.’ Born Teacup, Tennessee, 1933. U.S. Army.
Lee, Sandra Perry. Born Nashville, Tennessee, 1937.
Jensen, Harry. Born Orangeburg, South Carolina, 1933. U.S. Air Force.
Jensen, Inger Olestad. Born Loon River, Minnesota, 1935.
Bell, Timothy. Born Little Rock, Arkansas, 1934. Civilian test pilot.
Bell, Cluny. Born Little Rock, Arkansas, 1937.
Cater, Edward. Born Kosciusko, Mississippi, 1931. U.S. Air Force.
Cater, Gloria. Born Kosciusko, Mississippi, 1931.
Pope, John. (See The Four Families above)
THE OTHERS
Von Braun, Wernher. Born Wirsitz, Germany, 1912.
Funkhauser, Helmut. Born Hamburg, Germany, 1896.
Butler, Gawain. Born Detroit, Michigan, 1921.
Glancey, Michael. Born Magnolia, Red River, 1904.
Strabismus, Leopold. Born (Scorcella, Martin) Mount Vernon, New York, 1925.
Thompson, Tucker. Born Columbus, Ohio, 1912.
Rhee, Cynthia. Born (Rhee, Soon-Ka) Osaka, Japan, 1936.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
On 4 July 1976 I was invited by Dr. Donald P. Hearth of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to participate in a round-table discussion of the meaning of America’s Viking landing on Mars, and with that heady introduction to the greatest minds of the space age I began my serious study.
In the spring of 1979 I was appointed to the NASA Advisory Council, which advises NASA, and there I met repeatedly with men who conducted our space effort, and visited several times the great NASA bases at which the work was done. I was allowed to participate in the full life of the agency. I did this uninterruptedly for four years.
Lacking specialized training in science, I was disadvantaged, but my long experience with mathematics and astronomy repaired some of the deficiency, and my work with various aspects of our program repaired other gaps. Most of all, I talked incessantly with experts, visited laboratories, and studied procedures.
My acquaintance with NASA engineers and scientists was extensive, and to them I owe a great debt, especially those at Langley, Wallops, Ames, Houston, Huntsville, Goddard and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
My acquaintance with astronauts was more spotty, for I met only those who bumped into me as I went about my other duties. Deke Slayton was most helpful. John Young was an inspiration. Donn Eisele, a neighbor, gave me many insights. Because the Shuttle dominated the horizon in the years of my incumbency, I knew its pilots: Robert Crippen, Joe Engle, Dick Truly. Ed Gibson was extremely helpful in my study of the Sun, about which he has written brilliantly. Joe Kerwin, a medical astronaut with weeks in orbit, was unusually helpful on four different occasions. I had brief but rewarding interviews with Mike Collins, a graceful writer about space, and the two elegant women astronauts Judith Resnick and Anna Fisher.
At headquarters I was accorded courtesies by Dr. Robert Frosch, the administrator, and by Dr. Alan Lovelace, his assistant. They made available the consultative services of General Harris Hull, Dr. John Naugle, NASA’s chief scientist, Nat Cohen, the executive secretary of our council, and Jane Scott, who supervised my movements. Before his untimely death in the Himalayas, Tim Mutch met with me many times to discuss scientific and managerial points.
Certain experts were recommended to me as unusually informed and helpful in their fields, and to these I am indebted:
Battle of Leyte Gulf: Admiral Felix Stump, who commanded one of the baby flattop squadrons in that historic naval engagement, and Bill Lederer, his witty assistant.
Peenemünde: Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger and Karl Heimburg, both of whom made the hegira from Peenemünde to El Paso to Huntsville.
Patuxent River: Marshall Beebe, USN, who explained the area in 1952. Admiral John Wissler, who showed me around in 1981.
Operation of a Large NASA Base: The following were especially instructive during my extended stay at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville: Dr. William Lucas, James E. Kingsbury, Thomas Lee, Robert Lindstrom, John Potate, Harry Watters, Joe Jones.
Mission Control Operations: Dr. Chris Kraft, the distinguished expert who handled the major sequence of flights; Gene Krantz, in charge of present flights, who allowed me to sit in for an entire day to watch how it was done.
Astronomy: Dr. George Field, Dr. A. G. W. Cameron, both of Harvard; Dr. David L. Crawford, Kitt Peak; Dr. Jacques Beckers of the Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory, Tucson; Dr. Anthony Jenzano, University of North Carolina.
Communications: Dean Cubley of Houston.
Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous: Dr. John C. Houbolt of Langley, who led the fight for this mode.
Supersonic Flight: John V. Becker of Langley, who pioneered this field.
Wind Tunnels: William P. Henderson of Langley, who twice demonstrated his 16-foot tunnel.
One-Sixth Gravity: Donald E. Hewes of Langley, who invented the device for creating an approximation of Moon gravity on Earth.
Interplanetary Navigation: Frank Hughes, Richard Parten, Duane Mosel, all of Houston. Frank Jordan of JPL. Dr. Philip Felleman of MIT was especially instructive.
Image Processing: Torrance Johnson of JPL.
Space Telescope: Dr. C. R. O’Dell, of the University of Chicago and Huntsville.
Earth Handling of Messages from Space: William Koselka and Chuck Koscieliski of the Goldstone Station in California; at the NASA stations in Australia, Lewis Wainright, Thomas Reid and Kevin Westbrook were helpful, and Bill Wood in Canberra provided living quarters.
Interplanetary Exploration: Charlie Hall and C. A. Syvertson, both of Ames, who were responsible for developing and supervising several pioneer missions to Jupiter and Saturn.
Life on Other Planets: Dr. Carl Sagan of Cornell, who has written brilliantly on this arcane subject.
I am particularly indebted to the following distinguished scholars and administrators who agreed to read portions of the manuscript to help me weed out error. They gave help beyond the call of duty or friendship. Such errors as remain are my fault.
Korea Air Battles and Patuxent River Test-Piloting: Captain Jerry O’Rourke, USN, who taught me dive-bombing in 1953 for my early novel The Bridges at Toko-Ri and who conducted a seminar for me in 1981 regarding Patuxent River and test pilots.
Wallops Island and Atmospheric Research: Abe Spinak, long an official on the island and a formidable research man.
Photo Imaging on the Mars and Saturn Expeditions: Dr. Bradford A. Smith, University of Arizona, who served as Imaging Team Leader during the Voyager missions to Jupiter and Saturn.
Solar Flares: Dr. Jack Eddy, High Altitude Observatory, one of our leading authorities on solar physics.
Circadian Rhythms: Dr. Richard J. Wurtman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Technical Communications between Flight Control at Houston and the Astronauts of Gemini 13 and Apollo 18: Joe Kerwin, who served as CapCom during the fateful aborted flight of Apollo 13.
Medical Data Regarding Apollo 18: Joe Kerwin, astronaut and medical doctor.
Movement of Earth and Sun: Dr. A. G. W. Cameron, Harvard University, kindly read the brief but important section on multiple movements.
The Entire Manuscript: John Naugle, who lived at the heart of NASA operations for many years and who first suggested that I try to write this book. He taught me a great deal.
I shall always remember with a
ffection and envy those brilliant men who served on the Advisory Council or who participated in our various seminars, and who gave me so much help in understanding the things they were talking about: Freeman Dyson of Princeton, Arthur Kantrowitz of Dartmouth College, John Firor of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Daniel Fink of General Electric, George Field and A. G. W. Cameron of Harvard, who helped especially in advanced astronomy, and the three aeronautical experts who proved instructive in this field which concerns me deeply: Robert Johnson of Douglas Aircraft, Holden Withington of Boeing, and everybody’s friend and counselor, Willis Hawkins of Lockheed. My special appreciation to William Nierenberg, Director of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, who chaired our group. I never had an abler group of colleagues.
JAMES A. MICHENER
St. Michaels, Maryland
February 2, 1982
BY JAMES A. MICHENER
Tales of the South Pacific
The Fires of Spring
Return to Paradise
The Voice of Asia
The Bridges at Toko-Ri
Sayonara
The Floating World
The Bridge at Andau
Hawaii
Report of the Country Chairman
Caravans
The Source
Iberia
Presidential Lottery
The Quality of Life
Kent State: What Happened and Why
The Drifters
A Michener Miscellany: 1950–1970
Centennial
Sports in America
Chesapeake
The Covenant
Space
Poland
Texas
Legacy
Alaska
Journey
Caribbean
The Eagle and the Raven
Pilgrimage
The Novel
James A. Michener’s Writer’s Handbook