The Origin of "The Moon by June"
In 1955 I was in the development unit for the rocket engine for the Atlas Missile. As our group struggled to achieve a successful firing from one day to the next, we were painfully aware of the multitude of conditions that would result in a premature termination of a test, or worse a fire or explosion: a marginally designed part, wrong valve setting, bearing failure in a pump, unsatisfactory pressure condition at some point.
There were phenomena that occurred that were not explained or predicted by the engineering principles we relied on to make things work. One could fall prey to the thought that lurked in the back of your mind that maybe getting a rocket engine to start smoothly and run the specified duration on an as-needed basis was not feasible. This concern took on even greater significance when considering the prospects for space travel and the demands that would be placed on an engine for performance and reliability.
In a series of articles in Collier's Magazine in the 1950s, Wernher von Braun laid out his plans and visions for space exploration. In particular, the March 22, 1952 issue Collier's published his design for a vehicle to travel to the moon. It required 51 rocket engines, similar to the one we were developing.
Being aware of that article, and the magnitude of the task to build such a system, I asked myself, "How can we expect to successfully build a vehicle with 51 engines that must all start and run without failure on command when we aren't able to get a single engine to do that from one day to the next?"
That recurring thought was the basis of a "playlet" I composed in the form of a movie script that I circulated to the half-dozen or so fellow engineers in my unit. It was written as a satire of real problems we encountered on a daily basis, trying to get the engine to work. It was intended for limited distribution. Unfortunately people began making copies and giving them to friends and people outside of the company. The word spread and I began receiving calls from engineers in other cities asking for a copy. Rather than being buoyed with pride in my creation, I began to worry. I feared I would be reprimanded to distributing material that satirized important work. A moment of panic arrived many, many years later when I was sitting at my desk at work and a call came. The caller said he was on the staff of Sam Hoffman, the company President. He asked if I was the author of "The Moon by June". I gulped and said, "Yes". I thought, "They finally caught up with me after all this time". The caller said, "Well, as you know, Sam is retiring soon, and we wanted a copy of your story to get some ideas of what happened in the old days. Can you send me a copy?"
Without hesitation I sent a copy to the President's office. The link "moon.pdf" below takes you to a copy of that piece.
moon.pdf | |
File Size: | 214 kb |
File Type: |