The astronauts of Apollo 15 Paid tribute to Robert Heinlein and his inspirational work by quoting one of Heinlein's characters, "Noisy" Rhysling, the Blind Poet of the Spaceways, whose story is told in the short, "The Green Hills of Earth" (found in The Past through Tomorrow). This excerpt is taken from Eric M. Jones' compilation of Apollo 15 lunar surface journal transcripts, The Hammer and the Feather. Apparently, Apollo 15's crew wanted to pay homage to Heinlein "on the record."

From "The Hammer and the Feather" 167:51:20 Allen: As the space poet Rhysling (the blind poet in Robert Heinlein's The Green Hills of Earth) would say, we're ready for you to "come back again to the homes of men on the cool green hills of Earth." [Scott - "That's from the Green Hills of Earth. That's one we talked about before the flight. Have you read that one?"] [Jones - "Oh, yeah! That was a favorite when I was a kid. Had you read it?"] [Scott - "Sure. (Quoting from memory) 'We pray for one last landing, on the globe that gave us birth. To rest our eyes on fleecy skies, and the cool green hills of Earth.'"] [Scott - "In thinking about perception kind of stuff, if you think about where we are (at Hadley), the thing that's really different about the Earth is 'cool green hills' with the fleecy skies and the blue sky. So Heinlein's perception of a meaningful thing for the Blind Poet of the Spaceways is pretty good. That he could transport himself out."] [Jones - "It was written sometime in the 40s, I think."] [Scott - "And here we have black skies, and a gray surface. Dramatic difference. I always think it's amazing. Some of those science fiction guys can really project themselves out there that way."] [Jones - "The good ones could."] Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 1996 by Eric M. Jones. All rights reserved. Last revised 21 March 1998. Home | Links | Reviews | News | Essays | Archives