Joy of Flying

"trust your body - it needs to fly
your body knows what to do,
it is wind against wind
cloud over cloud,
sky beyond sky..."
- Peter Horn.

Turbines roar, their rush surges through us
lights dim, a hush descends
mid-deck silence: only ailerons creak
as they lean into the wind, shoulder us up:
our fuselage bumps & rolls on waves of air
winds tug with wings, high-minded.

Tail-flaps rudder us, awash with direction
speeding this ocean, so insubstantial & infinite:
we praise our cities, long-surviving
we gaze down in awe on galaxies of lights
their streets recede below, the great fields too;
all shrink into pixels.

Port pulses red, starboard's green
Moon's above, clouds below:
aluminium is lighter than air
as we slalom through snowscapes of sky
wings dance us past cloud-cornices. airy sastrugi
these névé of atmosphere, soaring.

Now rocketing power to leap up steps of air
ascend this stairway of sky, until horizon bends to a ball
heaven crackles indigo, & weight's only a memory
summit beyond summits, ascent above aurora
sound faster than sound, mach 25, orbit:

Now to begin.

__________
Glossary
pixel (US) - smallest bit into which picture can be broken
sastrugi (Rus) - polar explorers' term for wind-blown ridges of snow, hardened into ice
névé (Swiss Fr) - mountaineers' term for patch of snow on bare rock

Now To Begin

ode to Mir (1986 - ) & ISS (1998 - )

here, no angels sing
nor winged cherubim
nor seraphim that hover over a god's throne

                            here are only

                           Bortinzhener Korablya
                           Komandyr Korablya
                           Kosmonavt Issledovatel

                                              here are only

                                              the song of antennae
                                              wingnuts seeking quorum of thread
                                              circuits who commune with quantums

here, urging the bow on

Leif Eriksson, Cheng Ho,
& Phoenicians & Polynesians
whose names only the winds recall

                            here, squaring the circle

                            Fernão de Magalhães
                            Lowell Smith
                            Yuri Gagarin

                                             here, we cast off umbilicals

                                             Magellans of the 92 minutes
                                             construct a kite of cabins
                                             a flock of tetrahedrons

here, chaos of airhoses & seals

the hatching of crew
motherboards, software, templates
our learning curve is ballistic

                           here we calibrate

                           gauges, docking radar
                           for all who start this journey
                           so others may complete

                                             here we celebrate

                                             all who explore
                                             where curiosity leads
                                             now to begin!

____________
Notes:
Bortinzhener Korablya (Rus) - Flight Engineer.
Komandyr Korablya (Rus) - Spacecraft Commander.
Kosmonavt Issledovatel (Rus) - Cosmonaut Researcher.
Leif Erikkson - 1st Viking to reach America.
Cheng Ho - led westermost Chinese expedition, reaching Africa.
Phoenecians - the 1st to circumnavigate Africa, c. 600 BC.
Polynesians - navigated as far afield as Hawaii & New Zealand.
Fernão de Magalhães - (real name of Ferdinand Magellan) led first circumnavigation of the world, by
sea, 1519-22, until killed; voyage completed by Juan Sebastian de Elcora.
Lowell Smith - led first round-the-world flight, 1924.
Yuri Gagarin - first to orbit the world, 1961.
Magellans of the 92 minutes - duration of an orbit at the 400 kms height of the space station.

Fast Track

Eugen Sänger 1905-1964
Irene Bredt 1911-1983
David Urie 1932-

the visionary with a slide-rule named you: Silbervogel
the wind tunnel technicians joked: bügeleisen,
but you could never iron out the funding snags,
could never fly out of that wind tunnel into a playful sky.

since a physics teacher
chose a book prize for that 16-year old kid,
chose Auf Zwei Planeten,
three generations have taxied down this empty runway.

today's "the next chapter in our ride to new worlds"
David sketched on a sheet sheer geometry of power,
matched the engineers' epigram:
looks good, flies good.

Eugen & Irene's flatiron
crafted from materials born after their time:
hypersonic wave-rider with engines to pole-vault horizons
you open the throttle, toss back your head.

Silbervogel laughing at gravity,
streamed delta of wings & speed, you
stand on your shock wave, surf the skies
& slide onto the silver strands of orbits.

___________
glossary:
Silbervogel (Ger) - Silver Bird
bügeleisen (Ger) - an iron
Auf Zwei Planeten - (Ger) On Two Planets; sci-fi novel next chapter ... - US Vice-Pres Al Gore's
speech on X-33 project