POP, POP, POP.
Corks were flying all over the living room from folks opening bottles of Cold Duck to celebrate the successful landing. Virginia was giddy as she approached Anne with an open bottle of the bubbly along with a healthy stack of colorful paper Dixie Cups.
Virginia gave Anne a hug. “Looks like our Tom did it.”
Anne smiled as she grabbed one of the cups. Virginia poured the sparkling wine.
Tom’s dad approached, giving both his daughter and daughter-in-law a hug. Hank was beaming as he nabbed a Dixie Cup. “How about that?”
Anne continued to show a happy face, but her stomach was still in knots. It was tough for her to let loose and enjoy the party. Her husband was over 200,000 miles away in a dangerous and unforgiving place. There was no guarantee he would return, and that weighed heavily on her.
Hank put an arm around his daughter-in-law and toasted her cup. “Sweetheart, I know this is just round five of a fifteen-round fight. But Tom did a great job up there. I have every confidence in the world he will be sitting in this living room this time next week, probably asking you to make him a martini.”
Virginia chimed in, “Yeah, and you can tell Mr. Superstar to go make his own.”
Anne appreciated the two trying to comfort her.
Others came up to Anne, offering toasts and passing on their congratulations. She showed an excited composure as she hugged them all. After a while, she wondered where Peter was. She wanted to give her son a hug. She set out on a lone search for the boy. Unable to locate him in the house, she opened the back sliding glass door and popped her head outside. There sat Peter in the middle of the yard, his back to her, Dino obediently lying by his side. The boy petted his dog as he stared up into the early night sky.
“There you are.” Anne peeked up in the direction Peter was looking and saw the faint moon. She looked back at her son and crossed to him. “Peter, what are you doing?”
Peter spoke in a determined voice as he kept staring skyward. “I’m trying to see Daddy on the moon.”
The innocent and adorable comment touched Anne’s heart. A single tear welled up in her eye. She sat on the ground next to her son, her leg touching his. She looked up at the moon. “Have you found him yet?”
“Not yet, Mommy. Can you help me?”
“Of course, dear.”
TOM WAS HELPING Dusty put on his Portable Life Support System in preparation for their first moonwalk. The PLSS backpack was practically half as big as the astronauts, and getting it positioned on Dusty’s back within the cramped cabin was tricky. With close to a hundred hours training in the LM simulator, both men knew how to move around expertly without knocking into controls or each other. But during all that training, Tom never had the two-inch-wide metal cylinder in his front leg pocket. That bulge was just enough to cause him to change his routine slightly, forcing him to stand in a different position. It also reminded him of the covert operation he was a part of. He quickly put the thought out of his mind. His focus was on the lunar EVA coming up. There would be plenty of time the night before the third and final spacewalk to review how he was going to snatch the lunar material.
With their spacesuits still connected to the spacecraft’s cooling system, Tom’s suit was starting to get cold inside. “Damn, I’m freezing my ass off.”
Dusty laughed. “Me too.”
The sound of mission control suddenly filled the cabin. “Explorer, Houston. We copy that.”
David was now the CAPCOM to support the men on their lunar EVA. Tom was caught off guard by his friend’s response. He stopped for a moment wondering if the entire world just heard his comment. “What did you say?”
“Roger. We are just noting your hot mike.”
Tom almost cursed again when he heard that he had forgotten to shut off their transmission back to Earth. “Roger, Houston.” He switched off the voice-activated radio in frustration. “So much for a ‘G-rated’ mission.”
Dusty chuckled as Tom went back to work.
“So, Tom, any idea what you’re going to say when you first step on the moon?”
Tom smiled at the question. He looked out at the spectacular backdrop outside his window. “Who cares what I have to say? I’m not the first, the second, or even the third man to step on the moon. I’m the ninth, and nobody cares what the ninth man has to say, especially history.”
“Your family will.”
“Maybe, but that’s about it.”
“Of course, you could shock the world.”
With the backpack in place, Tom jostled around in front of Dusty to help hook up his partner’s hoses. Tom looked up at his LMP. “And how do I do that?”
Dusty said with a sly grin, “Tell them what you told me, that there are tiny green men running all around.”
Tom laughed. “Not sure Dick will go for that.”
“Perhaps, but it will get a lot of press and probably go down in history.”
“Yeah, as the stupidest statement ever made. I think I’ll stick with something less shocking.”
ANNE WAS PLEASED to see a news break on the television announcing that the Apollo 16 astronauts would be shown live disembarking from the spacecraft in approximately thirty minutes. She felt a soft hand on her shoulder and turned to see Joan holding a glass of wine.
“Would you like me to go upstairs and get Peter?”
“Thanks, Joan, but I promised I would wake him.” Anne excused herself and made her way through the excited crowd. Hank stood at the foot of the stairs.
“Off to get my grandson?”
“I am.”
“Need any help?”
“Thanks, but I got it.”
“Tell you what. I’ll wait right here, and if you’d like, I’d be more than happy to watch over him.”
Anne smiled. “That would be great. Thanks, Hank.” Knowing Peter was so afraid he was going to miss out on the big event, Anne wondered, as she climbed the steps, if her son had been able to get any sleep. When she approached Peter’s room, her suspicions were answered when she heard sheets rustling through the cracked-open doorway. As she gradually opened the door, the hall light inched across the bedroom floor.
Once the glow reached Peter’s bed, the boy shot straight up. “Is it time, Mommy?”
With a big grin, Anne flipped on the light. “Sweetheart, you were supposed to be asleep.” She crossed the room and sat on the bed next to her beaming son.
Peter’s hair was a mess. “I can’t sleep, Mom, I’m too excited.”
Anne tried to groom the boy’s hair with her hand. “I understand, dear. I’m excited too. Well…it’s time. Your dad will soon be walking on the moon. So let’s get you out of bed and downstairs with the others.”
Peter hopped out of bed and was at the door before Anne could even get up. The eager boy started bouncing on his feet waiting for Anne. She took Peter’s hand and proudly escorted the boy downstairs to his waiting Opa.
“HEY, TOM, HURRY UP!”
Considering Tom had just exited the spacecraft, he had to smile at Dusty’s impatience. His LMP couldn’t leave the ship until Tom was safely down the ladder and on the moon. “I’m hustling.”
After crawling out backward through the small hatch, Tom was currently on all fours on the Lunar Module “porch.” He reached over and pulled the release cord to deploy the cover of the equipment stowage. He watched the bay door slowly swing down toward the lunar surface. “Houston, MESA is released.”
David answered calmly from mission control, “Excellent, Tom.”
Using the low porch railings to guide him, Tom cautiously shimmied backwards on his hands and knees. Though he had practiced this exercise many times, it was still a challenge in a pressurized suit. He also couldn’t see behind him. He simply moved backward until his legs started to fall off the ledge. He positioned his boots on the second rung before standing straight up. Holding onto the railing, he radioed, “Houston, I am on the ladder, heading down.”