Flying to the Moon Read Online Free PDF

change greatly as you descend the Grand Canyon. There is one zone, high up in the shadows, that is cool enough to allow the growth of fir trees usually found only much farther north. Then, near the bottom, there is cactus of the same variety found in the deserts to the south. It is quite a contrast, of rocks and plants, like a slice of Canada piled on top of a piece of Mexico. The animals are equally varied, ranging from mountain goats to horned toads. Not to mention the burros, the most stubborn creature known to man. These burros were not wild ones, but had saddles on them, and we rode them back up the Canyon wall after spending the night in an inn at the bottom.
    I picked my burro because he looked young and strong and eager, but he was the worst loafer in the bunch. Every time I stopped kicking him, he stopped walking, so I got more exercise riding him up than I had the day before, walking down.

    In addition to geology, there were a number of other reasons for us to take trips. For example, we were concerned that one of our spacecraft might have to get back on the ground in a big hurry and might come down in a remote area of the ocean or the jungle or the desert. We didn’t have to worry about very cold regions, because, whether returning from earth orbit or from the moon, our flight path stayed near the equator, where the climate is warm. If we came down unexpectedly in the ocean, we had no choice but to stay with the spacecraft until rescued, but in the desert or jungle there are a lot of ways to keep alive, and they had to be learned. To learn about the jungle, we spent nearly two weeks in Panama. The first couple of days we spent in a classroom, studying an Air Force manual designed to help pilots who made emergency landings in strange places. I thought the manual itself was kind of strange. It started by saying that “anything that creeps, crawls, swims, or flies is a possible source of food.” While I was thinking that statement over, it went on to say that “people eat grasshoppers, hairless caterpillars, ant eggs, and termites.” Ugh! You’d have to be pretty hungry to eat a caterpillar, with or without hair. Couldn’t we please find something a little nicer to eat? The manual continues: “Look on the ground for hedgehogs … porcupines … mice … wild pigs; in the trees for bats, squirrels, rats, and monkeys …” Anyone for mouse pie, bat stew, porcupine soup, or squirrel soufflé? Apparently there is no peanut butter and jelly in the jungle. About the only advice from the manual with which I agreed a hundred percent was: “Don’t eat toads.” Now that is a promise I shouldn’t have any trouble keeping!

    In addition to animals which one hunts for food, there are others—according to the manual—that should be avoided: “ … Tigers, rhinoceroses, elephants—are rarely seen and best left alone … Avoid many-legged insects … Scorpions are real pests, for they like to hide in clothes, bedding, or shoes.” I can just see it now, getting up in the morning and looking for a dozen scorpions. Let’s see. Here’s one in each shoe, two in my hip pocket, three trying to hide in my hairbrush. I wonder what happened to the rest of the gang. Oops! There’s one now, trying to sneak into my box of waterproof matches—and another, peeking out the arm of my sweater!
    As these thoughts ran through my mind, I decided that the classroom wasn’t such a bad place after all. There were plenty of scorpions and snakes here, but they were all dead, floating in bottles filled with alcohol. After a couple of days, our instructors decided it was time to see the real jungle, not just talk about it, so they loaded us into helicopters and landed us in a small jungle clearing. We were to spend three days by ourselves, in teams of two, learning to live off the land.
    My partner was Bill Anders, and he was great, because he knew