The Lunar Mission Gallery
The frozen image of light rushing from the moon to the earth
At the Speed of Light
Streaks of blue and white rush toward the indistinct abstract form of the earth.
Speed equals change. Whether it be the speed of a blade of grass growing, or the speed of a lightening bolt striking. Speed equals time.
Without time, there is no speed.
Watching the first episodes of Star Trek as a young boy it seemed clear our exploration of space will only begin in earnest once we understand how to circumvent time. We play with this idea the moment a static image touches our imagination. We wrap time up in digestible containers of meaning when we read a sequence of letters or numbers, and we most closely connect with time when we listen to music as its nature is so profoundly connected with our experience of it. Time and speed are one in our island world. We will remain close to our shores until the day we experience the true speed of light and sound as part of a bigger picture we move freely through.
Although the speed of light is breathtakingly quick, it is not so fast as to be incomprehensible - so long as we consider the speed of light between two celestial objects. If we divide the speed of light by the distance to the moon we get close to 1.5 seconds as the time taken for light reflecting off the moon's surface to reach us here on earth. That's about the same time as it takes to say "We will travel to the stars"...
