The Dread of Radio Silence

Flash back with me. I’ve been contemplating the dark side of the moon, the part you never see. In 1995, Tom Hanks starred in Apollo 13, the gripping account of the failed 13th mission in NASA’s famed Apollo series. The movie is a dramatic retelling of actual events that epitomized Murphy’s Law, insofar as everything that can go wrong does. With Apollo 11, the miracle of space flight was Neil Armstrong setting foot on the lunar surface, uttering his immortal line, “One small step for mankind…” Victory! America wins. Humanity wins. The world stares in wonder. With Apollo 13, the miracle was very different. It was the crisis of a small crew hurtling through space in a flimsy tin can, unable to complete their mission to the moon, dependent quite literally on duct tape and wits to overcome countless, harrowing obstacles on their beggars’ journey home. (If you haven’t seen it in a while, Netflix it.)

Perhaps the most poignant scene in the movie is when Hank’s character, astronaut Jim Lovell, realizes he and his crew will never READ MORE >>>