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Edgar Dean “Ed” Mitchell is dead. Born in Texas 1930. Died in Florida, across the state from where I live. We never met, though we both served in the Navy. I walked on runways picking up cigarette butts. Mitchell walked on the moon.
Imagine that. Walking on the moon. Just one of a dozen. Yet, when I saw his name, it meant nothing. Nothing at all. Did it mean something to you? (Be honest.)
Mitchell was picked to be a space man in 1966 — the year I flunked out of college. (Some say I was thrown out, but that’s another story.)
On Feb. 5, 1971, Mitchell stepped onto the moon, the sixth person to do so. He died one day before the 45th anniversary of that touch-down. During his 33-hour visit, Mitchell collected rocks and took measurements. He also snapped a photograph of fellow astronaut Alan Shepard, standing next to an American flag.
The year after his historic, out-of-this-world experience, Mitchell left the Navy. In 1973 he founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences (http://www.noetic.org).
According to its website, Noetic comes from the Greek word nous. It means “intuitive mind” or “inner knowing.” The Institute says it “serves an emerging movement of globally conscious citizens dedicated to manifesting our highest capacities.”
That fits well with something Mitchell once told the Utica (NY) Phoenix:
“We are not alone in the universe,” he said. “We are just one grain of sand on a huge beach.”
Now that Mitchell has “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God,” he’s on an out-of-this-world journey even more significant than that historic day his foot tapped softly moon’s dusty shell.
What wonder has he found? What terror, awe or joy?
PS: Of the dozen men who’ve been to the moon, seven are alive: Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, David Scott, John W. Young, Charles Duke, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt.
Jim Lamb is a retired journalist and author of “Orange Socks & Other Colorful Tales,” the story of how he survived Vietnam and kept his sense of humor. He never stepped on the moon; nor did he want to. For more about Jim and his writing, visitwww.jslstories.com.
