Void

A monochromatic animated GIF by digital artist <n>Carl Burton</n>, 2014.

The Moon as seen from the <n>Gemini 7</n> spacecraft in 1965. Photo by <n>NASA</n>.

When you reach escape velocity



do you feel at home yet in zero gravity?

Digital illustration '<n>Apollo bootprint on the Moon</n>' by artist <n>Detlev van Ravenswaay</n>.

Across the flat gunmetal sky



do you feel like little gods as you fly?

Have you reached your apogee



with a touch down in Tranquility?

How well does it show on screen



moon’s cratered Webb, her cavity?

<n>Astronaut, Wooster Street, New York</n>, a photograph by <n>Phil Penman</n>.

A photograph of a plaster model of the moon by <n>James Nasmyth</n> and <n>James Carpenter</n> from 1874.

The <n>SpaceX</n> <n>Falcon Heavy</n> rocket transits the moon on December 28, 2023. Photo by <n>John Pisani</n>.

And from your place of prominence



does the void seem bottomless?

The <n>Lunar surface</n> photographed by <n>Lunar Orbiter 3</n> in 1967. Photo by <n>NASA</n>.

And is the moon still bright or hard to see



from your perch above humanity?

And up there is it lonely,



to be the one and only?

A still from <n>Al Reinert</n>'s 1989 film <n>For All Mankind</n>, composed of <n>NASA</n> footage from the Apollo program.

<n>Comet NEOWISE</n> photographed by <n>NASA</n>'s <n>Parker Solar Probe</n> on July 5, 2020.

A recreation of the black hole <n>Gargantua</n> from the film *Interstellar* by artist <n>Andrew_D</n>.

Do you question the blueness of sea



or the earth’s tectonic anatomy?