May 22, 1969: The upper stage of Snoopy with Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan returns to the command ship, Charlie Brown, and John Young.

*****

First, let’s get this straight:  If you saw the Apple + TV series “For All Mankind,” they had it wrong that Apollo 10 could have, at the last moment, landed on the moon.  That was a plot element for dramatic effect.  Apollo 10, orbiting the moon 55 years ago today, could not — I repeat — could not have landed on the moon.  Their test version of the Lunar Module, LM # 4, was too heavy.  Plus the landing software wasn’t ready in May 1969.  Plus there were simply too many unknowns that needed to be shaken out.  Such as the lunar gravity field, seeded with “Mascons,” mass concentrations beneath the surface, dense lumps liked the raisins in an oatmeal cookie, whose higher gravity pulled a spacecraft lower and faster, changing its orbit.  Indeed, on it’s approach to Landing Site 2 chosen for the first landing attempt, Apollo 10’s LM, “Snoopy,” would be pulled nearly 5 mi. south of the site. 

On May 22, 1969, Snoopy, with Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan aboard, may two low passes over Site 2, the first little more than 9 mi. above the surface, the second 11 mi. overhead.  They flew more than three times as far from the command ship as did Apollo 9’s LM, nearly 350 mi. from the Command Module piloted by John Young.  They made a longer, much more difficult solo flight than Apollo 9’s test in Earth orbit.  Danger enough with attempting a landing.  Indeed, without Apollo 10, could Armstrong and Aldrin have achieved a successful landing?

***

Through a scrumble of fog,

through the trees we travel

back through time

Apollo 10 flings itself

yet again

toward but never touching

the lunar surface.

Through the shadow

. . . . of the moon

 . . . . . . . that echoes across the Earth

listen.

Voices pass between planets:

. . . . we just saw earthrise

. . . . . . . . and it’s gotta be

. . . . . . . . . . . . . magnificent

Stafford and Cernan come around the edge of the moon

descending toward the Sea of Tranquility,

so low that the horizon flattens,

so low that the rims of craters appear as mountains

so low boulders appear like tall buildings.

. . . . . We is down among them.

so low they can see by earthlight alone

        the details of shadowed areas in craters.

The approach the landing site etched in dawn,

shadows lengthening as they near the sunrise line,

the surface appearing close enough to touch.

. . . . . . We’re right there!  We’re right over it!

Then they soar out to 220 mi. above the farside

returning for a second close pass of  Site 2

*

See them swooping down again.

Here they come, beyond the bounds of time,

through a scrumble of fog,

through the trees separating us

from the last century

. . . . . here they come again.