Lunch on the Moon

Have a seat, join us for lunch on the moon.

You know, we’re funny. For time untold, mankind has sat on earth dreaming about the moon. More than 50 years ago, man finally set foot on it surface. Helping to get a much clearer picture of what it’s like to actually be there and see for ourselves this beautiful big blue marble from afar.

Let’s do that! Imagine we’re sitting in a diner on he moon and we have a window seat. And right there is that big blue marble. Since we’re imaginary, we can have great imaginary powers, like imagining we can invite anyone we want to launch on the moon. Let’s start off with the actual real life first lunch on the moon. We’ll scope in on Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

Setting aside any antediluvian or supernatural alien cultures that may have inhabited the moon, the first lunch enjoyed on the moon was in the summer of 1969. Apollo 11 made it spectacular launch from Cape Canaveral that Wednesday, July 16. The moon landing would be on Sunday, July 20 at 3:17 PM.

If we were watching on TV, we would hear Mission Control announcing, “We now have a live transmission from the LEM, that’s the lunar excursion module.”

The television screen went black and the horizon of the moon appears on the lower right. It’s slowly filling the right side of the screen, cut off at a roughly 45° angle, which is the edge of the LEM’s window. The moon surface now fills half the screen, small, craters, growing larger, and moving out of the picture.

Walter Cronkite says, “the Eagle has begun its descent to the surface of the moon, the Sea of Tranquility. “Auto feed trickles in from the LEM, “60 seconds… Lights on… 30 f 30 feet down… 2 1/2 down… Forward… Drifting to the right a little… 30 seconds. “
Rays of light cut to a squirrel of dust disturbed by the Eagles engines.
“Contact light… OK… Engine stop…
“Tranquility Base here… The Eagle has landed.“
“Roger Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You’ve got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.“

A unified cheer echoes throughout the huge room, filled with joy and hope that mankind seldom experiences. Walter Cronkite, overwhelmed, shakes his head and removes his Horn-rimmed glasses. He wipes the tears welling in his eyes. Then, after replacing his glasses, he rest his elbow on the desk. Rubbing his palms together, he issues the immortal words, “Whoo… Boy! “

The moment could not have been more eloquent. We wept with them. But in the interim before, Neil Armstrong makes his historic footprint in the dust, Buzz Aldrin has a breakfast of bread and wine – communion.

This communion was not broadcast, and it was not an oversight on the part of NASA. They were still reeling from a lawsuit brought as brought as a result of the Apollo cruise reading of Genesis. The experience was originally meaningful to Buzz, but even he admits in his memoir that, had he the opportunity to do it over again, he wouldn’t. “Apollo 11 came to the moon in the name of mankind,“he said.

Now, lunch is another matter. Would you imagine they had a cheeseburger, shake, and fries? Well, we can imagine it here, but the reality they faced was a different story. Hamburger buns are banned because of potential crumb casualties. The same with fries and salt.

Maybe they could’ve gotten away with the shake, since it would be pretty welcome contained. But who’d want a warm milkshake? Oh, they didn’t have freeze dried ice cream, either.

To quell their lunchtime, tummy rumble, Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin‘s first lunch on the moon was – drumroll please – gelatin-coated, bacon squares, peaches, strawberry cubes, and the choice of orange or grape drink. Yum! Now, onward and upward.

Diner-rama!