Michel Fustier
NEIL ARMSTRONG ON THE MOON
The rockets conceived in Germany by Werner von Braun at the end of the second
World War gave to Man the idea that gravity could be overcome. Following that
discovery Russians and Americans competed with each other to conquer space.
Finally, the Americans made up their minds to send a man to the Moon. They succeeded.
The adventure was a collective one, even if the memory of it crystallized around
Neil Armstrong.
CHARACTERS
God, An angel
The President of the United States
Neil Armstrong
1 - (in heaven, the anteroom of God)
ANGEL - I have always wondered, ô Lord, why exactly did you create the
Moon?
GOD - Why did I create the Moon, dear angel… ? I don't know. Do I need
to have reasons to create things?
ANGEL - You know how they are, I mean men: they are rational, they want reasons.
GOD - Must I give them any? So far the Moon… a poet's affair: "It
was, in the dark night, on the yellowed steeple, the Moon like a dot on an i…"
ANGEL - They are not satisfied only with poetry. Let me repeat, what is the
use of the Moon?
GOD - Well, first of all, it inspired a good many goddesses, Astarté,
Séléné… and others as well! I'm not jealous, not
at all. And then, how can I have forgotten, it's the Moon that moves the tides…
ANGEL - Yes, that's a good reason, but they have known it since long ago…
By the way, if you could have put the tides at regular times, their life would
have been much simpler.
GOD - Some things are quite impossible… Moreover the Moon gives light
during the night.
ANGEL - Not for all of them. There are moonless nights!
GOD - Yes, there have been hiccups… I'm only too aware of that! But really,
what else? And after all, once again it is not up to me to find reasons for
what I do.
ANGEL - Here comes somebody who has found a new reason… May I introduce
him?
GOD - A new reason! Who is he?
ANGEL - The President of the United States.
GOD - The country where people still believe in me and invoke me without rhyme
or reason?
ANGEL - That is so… they are great children!
GOD - Well, what are you waiting for… Bring him in.
2 - (same place)
PRESIDENT - I am the President of the United States… We want the Moon
so that we can go there!
GOD – Just so that you can go there! Are you crazy?
PRESIDENT – No, we are Americans, and though we have our feet on the ground,
still we want to go to the Moon.
GOD - Tell me more.
PRESIDENT - You can't ignore that our world, which is also yours, has lately
been perturbed by terrible wars. And even today we wage a particularly stupid
and devastating one in Vietnam… Very respectfully it's your fault, all
these wars!
GOD – That's very easy to say!
PRESIDENT - You have pent us up on too small a territory!. That is the reason
why we keep fighting one another. Once more, very respectfully, we need space.
GOD - You need Space, is that what you mean?
PRESIDENT - You are quick to understand!
GOD - But before conquering all of Space, you would like to start with the Moon?
PRESIDENT - Super quick! Yes, to reunite men by concentrating their energies
by a peaceful conquest of the Moon. There is nobody on the Moon.
GOD - Won't you also try to impose American superiority on the rest of the world?
PRESIDENT - I was about to say so! I can't prevent you from anticipating me…
Between you and me, the Americans have become so powerful that it's absolutely
necessary to allow them to demonstrate it. Otherwise they could cause a lot
of damage…. Let them play with the Moon. It's me, their president, who
is humbly asking you.
GOD - Is that an ultimatum? …After all, there doesn't seem to be much
risk.
PRESIDENT - I promise you that they will say they came in your name and for
the love of humanity.
GOD - You, hypocrite! Well, go ahead… By the way, what does the Pope think
of all this?
PRESIDENT - Oh! Him… I'm a Protestant and when I feel like speaking to
God, I do it directly.
3 - (on earth. The two characters look at the sky when so indicated in the
text)
PRESIDENT - Well, dear Armstrong, I hear that you have been chosen to …
(gesture upwards)
NEIL ARMSTRONG - Yes, Mr President. But I don't want to go without knowing where
I am going to set foot.
PRESIDENT - Of course. It's planned: Gemini program, Apollo program. Plenty
of money!
NEIL ARMSTRONG - Good! First of all, let us send one of our men out into space…
(binoculars). Here we are, it works!
PRESIDENT – Did he really go out of the cabin and really walk in the cosmos?
NEIL ARMSTRONG - Yes. But to be sure, we'll do it again… (binoculars)
Everything is O.K.! Now let us go around the Moon: we are going to have a look
at its hidden face… They say it's so peaceful.
PRESIDENT - It's already four days since they left… Are you sure they
will come back?
NEIL ARMSTRONG - (binoculars) Here they are! Glad to say… Now we are going
to locate the place where we'll land… (binoculars) Over there, can you
see it, on the sea of Tranquillity! (handling binoculars to president)
PRESIDENT - Yes I see it… Very poetic! But don't you believe that you
should have a second go… to see how it turns out to be in orbit around
the Moon.
NEIL ARMSTRONG - Of course… After landing, one has to be sure to be able
to come back.
PRESIDENT – For sure. My dear friend, we are very anxious to see you here
again.
NEIL ARMSTRONG – That's nice of you, thanks… Let's go… (taking
back the binoculars) Perfect, this first time it worked. Now we'll try again.
PRESIDENT - No, no, we have no more time… The Russians could beat us!
NEIL ARMSTRONG - Well, then I'll go. We'll be the first… (shaking hands
with the President) I hope I'll see you soon.
PRESIDENT - I'll be happy to greet you when you come back … If you find
time, plant the American flag there… (gives it to him). So there will
be no doubts, everybody will know it's us who landed first.
4 - (in the White House, the president's office)
GOD - Since I can address my Protestant friends without the permission of the
Pope, I am taking advantage of it…
PRESIDENT – My goodness, is it you, my Lord… I'm honoured. Please,
sit down in this armchair
GOD - Usually I don't pay visits, but you are so busy… So I have had to
come to you. But I would prefer to remain incognito.
PRESIDENT – I understand you perfectly well.
GOD - I just wanted to tell you… From heaven, I saw you passing by…
Well, not exactly you, but your spaceship. Congratulations! To tell the truth,
I had left the earth to man and I had reserved the cosmos for myself…
But now, you’ve come!
PRESIDENT - Yes, elliptic orbits, inertia, attraction, escape speed …
We have discovered all your secrets… I hope you are not annoyed?
GOD - No, not at all… If I created you more clever than I thought, it
rather pleases me. And anyhow you still have much to learn. But now, I'd like…
Well, what are your intentions?
PRESIDENT - Concerning Space?
GOD - Of course, concerning Space.
PRESIDENT - What can I say…? Man has no intentions… He just feels
an urge to push forward, always forward. He goes daringly and searches everywhere
in the world to find his good… We don't think too much about it. Certainly
it would be more sensible to stop, but…
GOD - I don't ask you to be more sensible, it would be inhuman! (rising) I just
want to solemnly state… I have left the earth to you, the men, to fight
as much as you like, I can't prevent it. But I wish you would not wage war in
heaven. And I am giving you a new commandment, "Peace in heaven to men
of good will." As God, it is the least I can do.
PRESIDENT - The commandments, we know them very well.
GOD - Yes, I am well aware that you, Americans, know the commandments. But this
one, try to obey it. I am happy to have met you… (exit)
PRESIDENT – Luckily, he came incognito… I'll feel all the more free…!
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In 1957 the Russians launched a satellite called Sputnik into the sky which
circled the earth while emitting the first bip-bip of History. Again, on April
the 12th, thanks to a Vostok rocket they sent Gagarine into orbit, the first
man in space. After a flight of one hundred and eight minutes they recovered
him safe and sound.
It is the time of the cold war and the Americans, who are just beginning experiments
in space, are deeply mortified by the Russians' successes. The spirit of the
nation, also bogged down in the Vietnamese war, is at its lowest level. For
all these reasons, President John Kennedy makes an important speech before the
Congress (May the 25th 1961) in which he announces that within ten years the
goal of the United States is to send a man to the moon. The Americans calculate
that Russian technology and organisation will be unable to compete and that
their landing on the moon will allow them to display their unquestionable superiority.
Thus they will recover their pride.
The scientists in charge of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
proceed very methodically and, making test after test, progressively acquire
the knowledge necessary to the conquest of the moon by Apollo 11… (The
number 11 gives leave to understand that ten other rockets had been already
launched, not mentioning those of the Gemini program). On July the 16th 1969,
three astronauts, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, take their
place in the Apollo 11 cabin. First stage, the orbit of the earth. Second stage,
they are put into orbit around the moon. Lastly, while Michael Collins stays
in orbit, his two companions leave the space craft and Neil Armstrong –whose
name History will remember- is the first human being to set foot on the soil
of the moon. After a few hours, the two explorers return to their spaceship,
the LEM, and are put again into the moon's orbit, from where they retrace their
way to earth. The trip lasted eight days. The whole world was able to follow
the feat on television.
It can be considered that the conquest of the moon started in the XVIIth century
when Kepler and Newton discovered the laws that regulate the movement of celestial
bodies. ( Kepler: the orbits of the planets are elliptical, the sun being one
of the foci; the surfaces swept over in equal times are equal; the square of
the times of the revolution of the planets is proportional to the cube of their
average distance from the sun… Newton: two bodies, of whatever size, are
attracted to each other in direct proportion to their mass, and in inverse proportion
to the square of the distance of their centres of gravity)
And why speak of God in all this? First of all because the God of Christianity
is often considered by tradition as the great watchmaker who adjusted the movements
of the universe. Now, for the first time, by the conquest of space, man has
interfered with that celestial machinery. Also because God is continuously present
in the minds of Americans, not only individually but collectively. The name
of God is in fact written into the American constitution and, during the conquest
of space, it happened that he was officially invoked or thanked more than once.
Hence it is not unsuitable to have him play his part in this play.
Non commercial use allowed. Reg. SACD - Michel Fustier, 4 Chambfort, 69 100
Villeurbanne, France. Tel: 00 33 (0)4 78 84 25 28.