William Safire's role in the Apollo Moon landing

Buzz Aldrin on the Lunar Surface (Courtesy NASA)

William Safire, the famous New York Times columnist and author, has recently passed away. Before Safire was a journalist, he worked for President Richard Nixon as a speechwriter. One of the more obscure stories of the early space age was William Safire’s role in drafting a contingency speech that would be given just in case the Apollo 11 astronauts met with disaster, for instance finding themselves unable to lift off from the Moon.

Two days before Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon, William Safire sent a memo to then White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman with the speech and suggestions about what should take place should the Apollo 11 astronauts be trapped on the Moon. The memo is reproduced here:

To: H. R. Haldeman

From: Bill Safire

July 18, 1969.

IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER:

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by the nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

PRIOR TO THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT:

The President should telephone each of the widows-to-be.

AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT, AT THE POINT WHEN NASA ENDS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MEN:

A clergyman should adopt the same procedure as a burial at sea, commending their souls to "the deepest of the deep," concluding with the Lord's Prayer.

It was fortunate that the speech, which Safire wrote, was never required to be delivered to the American people. While three Apollo astronauts perished during a ground test in the mid 1960s, no Apollo flight ever resulted in the loss of a crew. The closest America came to losing a crew in space was during the Apollo 13 mission when an explosion in the service module crippled the Apollo space craft leading to a harrowing few days in which the Apollo 13 crew was obliged to use the lunar module as a life boat while mission control in Houston worked franticly to make certain that they made it home safe and alive. The Apollo 13 mission was dramatically portrayed in a hit film starring Tom Hanks, directed by Ron Howard.