Changes

== Allusions to actual history ==

== Allusions to actual history ==

This novel recounts a modified J-class mission profile from [[Project Apollo]]. It also makes references to certain launch vehicles that were planned for later lunar exploration projects, but never used.

This novel recounts a modified J-class mission profile from [[Project Apollo]]. It also makes references to certain launch vehicles that were planned for later lunar exploration projects, but never used.

Furthermore, the novel makes allusions to the institution known originally as the Manned Spaceflight Center and today as the [[Johnson Space Center]] in [[Houston]], [[Texas]]. Multiple historical figures, most notably [[Gene Kranz]], the famous [[Project Apollo]] flight director, appear in their historical roles. Perhaps the most poignant allusion of all is to Mr. Kranz' habit of wearing a white vest while on watch for the duration of an Apollo mission, the notion being that the vest was a mystic talisman that protected the astronauts while in flight. When only one man returns from Apollo 19, Kranz tears his vest down the middle and throws it to the floor of the Mission Operations Control Room. The author might or might not have intended, in addition to alluding to Gene Kranz' vest, to allude as well to the ancient [[Hebrew]] custom of ''clothes rending'' as an expression of mourning or other deep sorrow.

Furthermore, the novel makes allusions to the institution known originally as the Manned Spaceflight Center and today as the [[Johnson Space Center]] in [[Houston]], [[Texas]]. Multiple historical figures, most notably [[Gene Kranz]], the famous [[Project Apollo]] flight director, appear in their historical roles. Perhaps the most poignant allusion of all is to Mr. Kranz' habit of wearing a white vest while on watch for the duration of an Apollo mission, the notion being that the vest was a mystic talisman that protected the astronauts while in flight. When only one man returns from Apollo 19, Kranz tears his vest down the middle and throws it to the floor of the Mission Operations Control Room.

The water ice on the Moon is an actual finding suggested by the NASA unmanned probes ''Clementina'' and ''Lunar Prospector'', though the finding is disputed. [[NASA]] and the [[India]]n Space Research Organization are now (as of 3 June 2009) planning a joint mission to investigate the Aitken Basin, the Lunar south polar region in which the ice was found, further to provide definitive confirmation.<ref name=isro>Atkinson N, "Ice on the Moon? NASA, ISRO May Collaborate to Find Out," ''The Universe Today'', 1 June 2009. Accessed 3 June 2009. <http://www.universetoday.com/2009/06/01/ice-on-the-moon-nasa-isro-may-collaborate-to-find-out/></ref>

The author might or might not have intended, in addition to alluding to Gene Kranz' vest, to allude as well to the ancient [[Hebrew]] custom of ''clothes rending'' as an expression of mourning or other deep sorrow.

The allusion to the [[Great Flood]] is obvious. Less obvious is the suggestion that [[antediluvian civilization]] commanded an advanced technology that might seem extraterrestrial in origin.

The allusion to the [[Great Flood]] is obvious. Less obvious is the suggestion that [[antediluvian civilization]] commanded an advanced technology that might seem extraterrestrial in origin.