ATICKETTOTHEMOON TRANQUILITYLODGENo.2000 MOONANDFREEMASONRY (1.)Symbolic,evenamongthe ritualsofFreemasonry,themoonplays anessentialpartintheesotericnature ofFreemasonry.Notaprimary componentoftheritual,thecelestial bodynone-the-lessfeatures prominentlyintheritesofthelodge harkeningbacktoolderandmore esoterictraditions. Thenumberofastronautsknowntobe Freemasonsisastonishing;
Ten,participatedintheApollo,Gemini, Mercury,Skylab,andChallenger missionsforatotalnumberof22, flightsintoSpace. BuzzAldrinJr.(Gemini12,Apollo11), GordonCopperJr.,(Mercury9,Gemini 5),DonnEisele(Apollo7),JohnGlenn Jr.,(Mercury6),VirgilGrissom(Apollo 1&15,Mercury5,Gemini3),James Irwin(Apollo15),EdgarMitchell (Apollo14),WalterSchirraJr.Apollo7, Sigma7,Gemini6,Mercury8). ThomasStafford.(Apollo10&18, Gemini7&9),PaulWeitz(Skylab2, Challenger).
DidyouknowthereisaMasonic LodgeontheMoon? OnJuly20th,1969,twoAmerican AstronautslandedontheMooninan areaknownasthe“SeaofTranquility”. OneofthosebravemenwasBrother EdwinEugene(Buzz)Aldrin,was authorisedbytheGrandMasterof TexastoclaimMasonicTerritorial JurisdictionfortheGrandLodgeof TexasontheMoon. (2.)BuzzAldrinconductedthe ConsecrationofthefirstMasonic LodgeontheMoon,thussecuringthe righttoopenabranch–theGrand ProvincialMoonLodge.Thelandingof thelunarmodulehadbeenmadein theSeaofTranquillity;therefore,the
newlodgehadreceivedthename TranquilityLodgeandreceivedthe number2000. Theastronautsdidnotdoubtthatby 2000therewouldbeapermanent lunarbaseanditwouldbenoharderto gettherethantoflyfromSanFrancisco toBostin.Itwouldonlybeatransfer pointonthewaytoMarsortherings ofSaturn.Givenhowmany FreemasonstherewereinNasa’s astronautsquad,itwasquitelogicalto openaspeciallodgeforthem. BrotherEdwinEugene“Buzz”Aldrin. ClearLakeLodgeNo.1417. ClearLake,Texas.
Aldringraduated3rdinhisclassatWest PointMilitaryAcademy.Hewas commissionedintotheAirForceasa fighterpilot,andflew66missionsin Korea,shootingdown2Mig-15 aircraft.HewasalsothePilotforthe Gemini12Mission;onthismissionhe wastowalkinspace3times. UponleavingNASAin1971hewas appointedCommandantoftheAir ForceTestpilotSchool. HOUSEOFTHETEMPLE (3.)AstronautvisitstheGrand Commander ThehistoryofMasonryinthespace agetookanotherstepforwardon
September16th,1969,whenBrother EdwinEAldrinJr.,32Degreevisited theHouseofTheTemplein WashingtonD.C. AccompaniedwithhisfatherEdwinE AldrinSnr.,alsoaScottishRiteMason, AstronautAldrinpausedinhisbusy scheduletogreetGrandCommander Smithandpresenthimwiththe handmadeScottishRiteflaghehad takentothemoon. (4.)Theflagismadeofwhitesilk, measures22x30centimetres,andis edgedbyabandofgold.Itis embroideredwiththewords“The SupremeCouncil,33Degree,Southern Jurisdiction,USA”andthemotto,
“DeusMeumqueJues.” ( ) Itisalsodecoratedwiththedouble headedeagle,thecrownoftheThirtythirddegree,theinsigniaofthe SovereignGrandCommander,andthe insigniaofaMasterMason. OnthathistoriclunarflightfromJuly 16to24,1969,thepresenceofthisflag symbolizedMasonry’suniversal importance.Whenmanreachesnew worlds,Masonrywillbethere. (5.)Therewere10Freemasonsin theearlyastronautprograms,only3of themsetfootontheMoon.
TopRow,lefttoright, LtCol.Virgil“Gus”Grissom. MemberofMitchellLodgeNo.228. Mitchell,Indiana. OnJanuary27,1967,whiletrainingfor whatwouldbethefirstApollomission afirewassparkedintheoxygenrich capsulecabinwhichkilledGrishamand histwofellowAstronauts.Themission wasrenamedApollo1intheirhonour. Col.JamesBenson“Jim”Irwin. MemberofTajonLodgeNo.104. ColoradoSprings,Colorado.
WhenwasalsotheApollo15Lunar Modulepilotwhenhewalkedonthe Moon. Col.LeroyGordon“Gordo”Cooper. CarbondaleLodgeNo.82.Carbondale, Colorado. Honorary33rdDegreebytheScottish Rite. (6.)Inhisprocessiononthisflightwas aSupremeCouncil33rdbanner.Hewas alsothefirstAmericantosleepin spacein1965,andtheCommandpilot ofGeminiVforthismission. Col.DonnF.Eisele. MemberofLutherB.TurnerLodge
No.732Columbus,Ohio. Eiselecompleted11daysonboard Apollo7,orbitingtheEarth163times. Onthismissionheperformed simulatedtranspositionanddocking manoeuvreswiththeupperstageof theirSaturn1Blaunchvehicle,and actedasnavigator,takingstar sightings,andaligningthespacecraft’s guidanceandnavigationplatform. BottomRow,LefttoRight. Capt.EdgarDean“Ed”Mitchell. MitchellisamemberofArtesiaLodge No.28Artesia,NewMexico. (7.)Mitchelltooktheiconic photographofAlShepardraisingthe
AmericanflagontheLunarsurface withMitchell’sshadowintheframe. Capt.WalterMarty“Wally”SchirraJnr. MemberofCanaveralLodgeNo.339. CocoaBeach,Florida. Oneoftheoriginal7astronautchosen forProjectMercury. Schirraflewthesix-orbit,nine-hour Mercury-Atlas8onOctober3rd,1962, becomingthefifthAmerican,andninth human,intospaceintheGemini program.Healsoachievedthefirstthe firstspacerendezvousin1965.In1968 hecommandedApollo7ona11-day lowearthorbittotestthethree-man ApolloCommand/Servicemodule.
Schirrawasthefirstastronauttoenter Spacethreetimes. Lt.ThomasPatten“Tom”Stafford. MemberofWesternStarLodgeNo. 138.Weatherford,Oklahoma. In1969StaffordwastheCommander ofApollo10,thesecondmanned missiontoorbittheMoon. In1975Staffordservedasthe commanderoftheApollo-SoyuzTest Projectflightwhichwasthefirstjoint USA-Sovietspacemission.Hebecame thefirstBrigadierGeneraltoflyin space. Capt.PaulJosephWeitz.
MemberofLawrenceLodgeNo.708. Erie,Pennsylvania. Weitzflewintospacetwice.Firstasthe pilotonthethree-mancrewonboard Skylab2(SL2)missionthatwas launchedonMay25thandsplashing downonthe25thofJune1973.Onthis missionWeitzandhisfellowastronauts performedextensiverepairstothe seriouslydamagedSkylablogging672 hoursand49minutesaboardthe orbitalworkshop.Weitzwentonto serveasthecommanderoftheSTS-6 whichwasthemaidenjourneyofspace shuttleChallenger.Thismission broughtWeitztotalspacetimeto793 hours.
(8.)Col.JohnHerschelGlenn,Jr. ConcordLodgeNo.688. NewConcord,Ohio. DeMolayInternational. JohnGlennwasthefirstAmericanto orbittheEarthaboardFriendship7on the20thofFebruary1962,onthe Mercury-Atlas6mission.Hecircledthe globethreetimesduringaflightlasting 4hours55minutesand23seconds. GlennwentontobecomeaU.S. senatorforOhioin1974servinguntil 1999. In1998Glennreturnedtospaceonthe SpaceShuttlebecomingtheoldest persontogointospaceasaPayload
SpecialistonDiscovery’sSTS-95 mission. JOHNGLENN:QUOTE LowestRocketBidder. (9.)JohnGlenn,MoneyQuote, sayinghislifewasdependentona complexrocketthathadbeen constructedbythelowestbidder, contractors,andmanufacturers.John Glennsaid, AsIhurtledthroughspace,one thoughtkeptcrossingmymind,every partofthisrocketwassuppliedbythe lowestbidder. Brethrenwhenyouhavetime,turnon yourcomputer,typein:
JohnGlenn’sQuotes.Therearemany thatyouwillfindtrueandinteresting. BACKTOTHEFUTURE (10.)Thisarticle,waswritten by AlexMitchell.NewYorkPost, 21stNovember2022. Astronautswillsoonliveandworkon theMoon:NASA That’sonesmallbedforman. AsNASAeagerlyawaitsputtingitsfirst humanpresenceonthemoonsince theApollomissionsofhalfacentury ago,thespaceagencysaiditisonpace tomakethelunarlandscapeliveable
forastronautsby2030.TheBBC reported. “Certainly,inthisdecade,wearegoing tohavepeoplefordurations, dependinghowlongwewillbeonthe surface.Theywillhabitats,theywill haveroversontheground,” HowardHu,headofNASA’sOrion lunarspaceprogramtoldtheTV channel. (8.)TheOrionrocket–whichrecently launchedwiththreetestdummiesfora 26-daytestflightfromCapeCanaveralisavehicleworkingintandemwith NASA’sArtemismissionsthatwill historicallyreturnastronautstothe moon.
“We’reworkingtowardasustainable program,andthisisthevehiclethat willcarrythepeoplethatwilllandus backonthemoonagain”,Husaid.“We aregoingtobesendingpeopledown tothesurface,andtheyaregoingtobe livingonthatsurfaceandscience”. Similar,towhatNeilArmstrongsaid whiletouchingthelunarsurfaceforthe firsttimeinApollo11,Husaidthiswill beamajor“step”forfuturedeep spacemissions. “It’sthefirststepwe’retakingforlongtermdeep-spaceexploration,forjust nottheUnitedStatesbutforthe world.”hesaid. (11.)“Wearegoingbacktothemoon,”
to-be-constructedGateway-anorbital outpostwhichwillbring“essential supportforlong-termhumanreturnto thelunarsurfaceandserveasastaging pointfordeepspaceexploration,” accordingtoNASA. Overthenextfewyearsasmore mannedArtemismissionscometobeandthefirstfemaleastronautisslated togotothemoon-thespacerockwill bemuchmorethanajumpingoffpoint forthedeeperrealmsofoursolar system. ONTOTHEMOON. (12.)AsOrioncontinues,onitspath fromEarthorbittotheMoonitwillbe
Itisalsoapivotalcomponentforthe
propelledbyasurfacemodule providedbytheEuropeanSpace Agencywhichwillsupplythe spacecraft’smainpropulsionsystem andpower(aswellhousepowerand waterfortheastronautsonfuture missions.)Orionwillpassthroughthe VanAllenradiationbelts,flypastthe GlobalPositioningSystem(GPS) satelliteandabovecommunication satellitesinEarth’sorbit.Totalkwith missioncontrolinHouston,Orionwill switchfromNASA’sTrackingandData relaySatellite’ssystemand communicatethroughtheDeepSpace Network. Fromhere,Orionwillcontinueto demonstrateitsuniquedesignto
navigate,communicate,andoperatein adeepspaceenvironment. TheoutboundtriptotheMoonwill takeseveraldays,duringwhichtime theengineerswillevaluatethe spacecraft’ssystemsandasneeded, correctthetrajectory. (13.)Orionwillflyabout62miles (1OOkm) AbovethesurfaceoftheMoon,and thenusetheMoon’sgravitationalforce topropelintoanewdeepretrograde, oropposite,orbitabout40,000miles (100,000km)fromtheMoon. Thespacecraftwillstayinthatorbitfor approximatelysixdaystocollectdata
andallowmissioncontrollerstoassess theperformanceofthespacecraft. Duringthisperiod,Orionaroundthe Moonretrogradefromthedirection theMoontravelsaroundtheEarth. RETURNANDRE-ENTRY. (14.)ForitsreturntriptoEarth, Orionwilldoanothercloseflybythat takesthespacecraftwithinabout60 milesoftheMoon’ssurface,the spacecraftwilluseanotherprecisely timedfiringoftheEuropeanprovided service-moduleinconjunctionwiththe Moon’sgravitytoaccelerateback towardsEarth.Thismanoeuvrewillset
thespacecraftonitstrajectoryback towardEarth,toenterourplanet’s atmospheretravellingat25,000mph (11,000kmpersecond),producing temperaturesofapproximately5,00 DegreesFahrenheit(2,700Degrees Celsius)FasterandhotterthanOrion experiencedonits2014testflight. Afteraboutfourtosixweeksanda totaldistancetravelledexceeding 1.3millionmilesthemissionwillend withatestofOrion’scapabilityto returnsafelytotheEarthasthe spacecraftlandssafelywithineyesight oftherecoveryshipoffthecoastof Baja,California.
AftersplashdownOrionwillremain poweredforaperiodasdiver’sfrom theU.S.NavyandOperationsteams fromNASA’s,ExplorationGround Systemsapproachinsmallboatsfrom therecoveryship.Thediverswill brieflyinspectthespacecraftfor hazardsandwillhookuptendingand towlines,andthenengineerswilltow thecapsuleintothewell-deckofthe recoveryshiptobringthespacecraft home. TIDBINBILLA. (15.)Australiawillonceagainbe involvedwiththisnewprogram,asthis siteisOneofonlyThreeintheWorld thathasdirectlineofvisualsitewith
theMoonatanyonetimefor communications. WhenNeilArmstrongfirststepped ontotheMoontheveryfirstimages werereceivedbythenearby HoneysuckleCreekcomplex(Now Closed)andsharedwiththeWorld. TheCSIROnowreceiveagrantofover $20MillionUSDollarsperyearto maintainandoperatethiscomplexfor NASA. (16.)CLOSURE.