Riding Along

Onboard LRO is a microchip containing about 1.7 million names of those who submitted them online. "Send Your Name to the Moon" was jointly sponsored by NASA, The Planetary Society, and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab about a year ago.

Among the names is my Uncle Ruso, who passed away after a long illness last year. I entered his name and mailed his certificate to him before he passed away. Also the names of a number of my friends (too many) who died young are onboard: Paul DeHaven, Tim Warner, Catherine Livingston, and Gregory Elbo. I added the name of my father, historian Charles Snell, about a year after he died.

Also on the chip is poetry submitted by LRO team members. My favorite is written by LRO itself (okay...actually ghost-written by my colleague Maxine "Max" Saylor, a member of the Mission Operations Team and a TC (Test Conductor) during LRO Integration and Testing):

TCs
by LRO
I patiently wait day by day
For one of you to come and play
You give me life through day and night
You touch some keys to give me flight
From breadboards you’ve helped me grow
You’ve nursed me through my days of woe
To you, TCs, I will be true
'Cause no one knows me like you do
Keep those sys engineers away
Or, I swear, I'll fire my NEAs [non-explosive actuators]
I'm on my way to the Moon
I'll be leaving you, my family, soon
If anything happens to me in space
I know you'll be my saving grace
Farewell to Bob, Mike, Dan and Jeff
Adieu to you Rich, Max, and Tim
Jabari, Mehul and George, fare thee well...
Thanks for the memories.