Edward Robert Durlak

The Pins
Here are my contributions to the Moon project. A few facts with these Astronaut pins. They were designed by each Mission crew, hence they are all unique. Apollo 8 was the first orbit around the moon and also the first to use the whole Saturn V booster rocket. I started work just prior to Apollo 7. Apollo 11 was the first moon landing. Apollo 13 had the oxygen tank explosion, and after looping the moon returned all crew safely to earth. The Space Shuttle, technically the Space Transportation System, never went to the moon, so I included only the first three STS launches. STS-51L was the mission that included the first civilian teacher (Mcauliffe) in space but tragically exploded about two minutes after launch, killing all the crew and losing the Challenger orbiter. If you look at the very bottom of this pin, you will see a golden apple, a tribute to teacher McAuliffe. The Philadelphia newspaper (with the headline MAN WALKS ON MOON 1969) I do not own, and the owner refused to sell it to me, but he allowed me to photograph it. The magazine pictures I made because they were good information. The very last picture are the pictures hanging in my hall wall, showing the famous view from the moon looking to earth. I bought that picture not 3 blocks away from the guy who would not sell the newspaper.

I cannot tell you how exciting it is to have some pictures fly to the moon with my daughter’s books. If somebody 30 years ago said this would happen, well I don’t know how I would react, but it would be unbelievable to say the least.

Apollo Missions and Lacus Mortis
For the Moon-o-philes of us, I got to wondering just where the landing site was for Lacus Mortis, the Moon Writers project resting spot. Assuming all goes well, the project data chip will reside well north of the furthest Apollo site, Apollo 17, and just about the same longitude of 27 degrees east. I’ve included an image from a BBC website with the Apollo Landing Sites with Lacus Mortis added, showing the relationship of all landing sites. For those that like data, here it is for all landing sites, expressed in latitude-degrees and longitude degrees.

Apollo 11—Mare Tranquillitatis—I N, 23E
Apollo 12—Oceanus Procellarum—3S, 23W
Apollo 14—Fra Mauro—4S, 17W
Apollo 15—Hadley-Apennine—26N, 4E
Apollo 16—Descartes—9S, 16E
Apollo 17—Taurus-Littrow—20N, 31E
Lacus Mortis—45N, 27E

As you can see, the majority of the landing sites lie close to the equator, with the outliers being Apollo 15 and 17, and Lacus Mortis. The moon diameter is 2159 miles, so you can calculate distance, if you wish. Might be nice to know just how the Astrobotic chose the site. 

[Ed. Note from SKQ: Astrobotic chose the site specifically to be far from the historic Apollo sites, to be somewhere with a large flat expanse hopefully free of too many large rocks that might wreck the lander, and also to be potentially near lava tube formations. These lava tubes may break near the surface and provide entry into protected areas that might have water. In future missions with Astrobotic rovers (which Sue’s husband was designing) might potentially explore those lava tubes.]

Lunar Love Story
Speaking of all these names, I will add a story and pose it in the form of a question for all the Moon Writers and whoever may read this. The Moon Writers payload, in the form of the small data card, may just be the smallest payload to be left on the Moon surface. So, the question is “what is the LARGEST item left on the Moon surface?” by us Earthlings. And, to be fair, I have an answer that is a little trick to it. So, you Moon Writers, what say you? Well, let me tell you what it is not, first. It is not the picture of his daughter, left by Gene Cernan, Apollo 17. It is not Al Sheppard’s golf club, and it is not whatever any other astronaut may have accidentally left behind. It is not the American Flag left by each crew. It is not the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) descent stage left on the surface at each site. It is not the LEM ascent stage either, even though it was allowed, after mating with the command module, to remain in moon orbit, eventually crashing on the moon. That is a lot of hardware on the moon, not to mention various Russian, Chinese, USA probes that crashed intentionally on the moon in the early days. As an aside, there was one LEM that was not left on the moon. That’s right, the Apollo 13 LEM never landed and was the lifeboat to bring the three astronauts back to earth. Jim Lovell was part of that crew. Remember him, because he is part of this story. So, what would the answer be. Well, as our famous President Abraham Lincoln was fond of saying, that reminds me of a story. You might even call it a Lunar Love Story.

On Apollo 8, the very famous mission that circled the moon on Christmas eve and the three astronauts took turns reading from the Bible story of Genesis, was an event that touched literally billions of people. That selection, by the way, was not made by the astronauts, but by Commander Borman’s wife who suggested it after the astronauts gave up trying to find the right words. Also on this mission, Astronaut Anders took the famous Earthrise picture that I have hanging on my wall. Which brings us back to our story and astronaut Jim Lovell. Lovell was not the commander of this mission, so his duties included the navigation responsibilities. In particular, he wanted to be sure to find a landmark that could be used to guide the landing team, which everyone was thinking would be Apollo 11, landing at Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility, Tranquility Base) in July 1969. So, as Apollo 8 approached the boundary between Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Fecunditatis. Lovell spotted a 1400 meter peak, that could be used as a guide to Tranquility Base for Apollo 11. And at mission time 72:05:40 hours Lovell made, what turned out to be, a very famous call, which you never heard in mission broadcasts. He said words to the effect, I have Mt. Marilyn in sight. In Mission control, it went mostly unnoticed, but what Lovell had just done was name a peak on the moon. Was this an accident, a slip up, a big deal or not? Not on your life was this accidental. Lovell had every intention of naming a peak after his wife, Marilyn, and he had just done it. Now you are thinking, so what is the big deal? Well, we give mission crews a lot of power, but naming peaks is not one of them. That is the province of The International Astronomical Union (IAU). Witness all the crazy names on the Moon, Mare Tranquillitatis, Oceanus Procellarum (Apollo 12), etc. When Apollo 11 flew to the moon, Neil Armstrong used Mt. Marilyn in exactly the way Lovell intended, as a 1400 meter easy to spot peak, as a guide path to the Sea of Tranquility landing site. Armstrong knew if he could see that peak, he would find the landing site. And that is my answer to the largest thing left on the moon, the 1400 meter Mt. Marilyn. I said it was a bit of a trick, but not unreasonable, don’t you agree. But what about the IAU and its naming authority? Did they eventually agree to this name? Yes, on July 26, 2017 Mount Marilyn became the official name of this peak by the IAU decision. Jim and Marilyn Lovell, still with us today (2021), have their peak name and their memories of the moon. And they may even appreciate an acknowledgement of this project and their story flying to the moon one more time. 

Love,
Dad