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Originally Posted by gethen
Kucharek, is that your own? I'm impressed.
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Uh, no! It really happened on Apollo 8 and was read up to the crew by Jack Schmitt. The almighty ALSJ also covers this story - as the Apollo 8 Flight Journal hasn't reached the moon yet...
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/a17.launch.html
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183:36:46 Schmitt: Hey, Gordy. In honor of one of your comm handovers last night, and in the tradition of Apollo 8, I've got a paraphrase of a familiar poem for you.
183:37:01 Fullerton: Okay; go ahead.
183:37:03 Schmitt: Well, "It's the week before Christmas and all through the LM, not a commander was stirring, not even Cernan. The samples were stowed in their places with care, in hopes that with you, they soon will be there. And Gene in his hammock and I in my cap, had just settled our brains for a short lunar nap. But up on the comm loop there rose such a clatter, I sprang from my hammock, to see what was the matter. The Sun on the breast of the surface below, gave the luster of objects, as if in snow. And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature Rover and eight tiny reindeer. And a little old driver so lively and quick, I knew in a moment, it must be St. Nick. I heard him exclaim as over the hills he did speed. Merry Christmas to all and to you all Godspeed."
183:38:22 Fullerton: Very good.
183:38:27 Cernan: Gordo, that was the first time I heard that and I got to say that is beautiful!
[Cernan - "I still think it's a classic. That's what I meant (a little while ago) about the tone of the moment."]
183:38:33 Fullerton: I agree. Did the LMP get any sleep or did he spend all night composing that?
183:38:43 Cernan: People always said we ought to have a poet in space.
183:38:48 Schmitt: I don't think we've made it yet. (Answering Fullerton) No, for some reason I really woke up with one of your handovers last night, and that was how I went back to sleep. (Pause) Gordy, that's for the kids. They are the future.
183:39:20 Fullerton: Rog, Jack. (Long Pause)
[Gene thinks Jack may have made some notes and was using them as he recited his creation. Jack has a vague recollection of having used notes.]
[Schmitt - "The Apollo 8 reference is that somebody in the MOCR wrote a paraphrased version of 'The Night Before Christmas' and I read it up to the crew. As a kid I had given recitations of it."]
[On Christmas Day 1968, about 45 minutes after Apollo 8 had a successful engine burn to put themselves on a homeward-bound trajectory, the following conversation was recorded for posterity, starting at 89:59:18.]
[CapCom: Jack's been watching you since LOI (Lunar Orbit Insertion), and he has a few words he wants to give you.]
[Borman: Go ahead.]
[Schmitt: Typhoid Jack here, and we have some good words here that originated at the Cape with a bunch of friends of yours. And It's sort of a paraphrase of a poem that you probably are familiar with. Do you read me, Apollo 8?]
[Borman: You are loud and clear, Jack.]
[Schmitt: Okay. "'Twas the night before Christmas and way out in space, the Apollo 8 crew had just won the Moon race. The headsets were hung by the consoles with care, in hopes that Chris Kraft soon would be there. Frank Borman was nestled all snug in his bed, while visions of REFSMMAT's danced in his head; and Jim Lovell, in his couch, and Anders, in the bay, were racking their brains over a computer display. When out of the DSKY there arose such a clatter, Frank sprang from his bed to see what was the matter. Away to the sextant he flew in a flash to make sure they weren't going to crash. The light on the breast of the Moon's jagged crust gave a luster of green cheese to the gray lunar dust. When what to his wondering eyes should appear, but a Burma Shave sign saying 'Kilroy was here.' (Laughter) But Frank was no fool; he knew pretty quick that they had been first; this must be a trick. More rapid than rockets, his curses they came. He turned to his crewmen and called them by name. Now Lovell, now Anders, now don't think I'd fall for an old joke you've written up on the wall. They spoke not a word, but grinning like elves, and laughed at their joke in spite of themselves. Frank sprang from his couch, to the ship gave a thrust, and away they all flew past the gray lunar dust. But we heard them explain ere they flew around the Moon: Merry Christmas to Earth; we will be back there real soon." Great job, gang.]
[Borman: Thank you very much. That was a very good poem; but in order to win the race, you have got to end up on the carriers (the recovery ship).]
[The cultural references in the poem are to Kilroy, "a mythical soldier of World War II whose name was inscribed in unlikely places all over the world by American soldiers" (Webster's Third International Dictionary, 1968) and to the thousands upon thousands of Burma Shave signs that kept American motorists entertained between 1927 and 1963. As detailed in Frank Rowsome's Verse by the Side of the Road, the Burma-Vita Company advertised its brushless shaving cream with sets of six, red-and-white signs spaced far enough apart that there were easily read by passing motorists. Each set of six carried either an advertising message or a public service message, usually in funny verse with two or three words per sign and the last sign always saying "Burma Shave". Two examples from the 1960 campaign are "We've Made Grandpa / Look So Youthful / His Pension Board / Thinks / He's Untruthful / Burma Shave," and "Henry the Eighth / Sure Had / Trouble / Short Term Wives / Long Term Stubble / Burma Shave." A combination of rising costs, increasing urbanization, the development of the Interstate Highway System, and opposition to roadside advertising killed this much loved piece of Americana.]
[Schmitt, 2003 e-mail to David Woods - "During the last week of Apollo 8 training, with which I was deeply involved, I came down with a case of intestinal flu. As a result, I immediately isolated myself from physical contact with the crew. Frank, however, initially thought that his bout of space adaptation intestinal discomfort was the consequence of being exposed to me. Thus, references to 'Typhoid Jack.' If you look at his book, I think that he later admitted that it was a result of space adaptation."]
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I hope, this leaves no open questions on the subject...
Harald
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"Flying in space is risky business, but just staying on this planet is risky business too." - John Young, astronaut
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