The Shuttle Launch
July 29, 2005 (with chart)
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/july29.html
Dear Readers:
For this week's news chart, I'd like to take a look at the
launch of the Space Shuttle, which had many technical problems during the
countdown. Yes, I think they are a little nuts to do the first Shuttle launch
after the Columbia burned up on Feb. 1, 2003 with Mercury retrograde (as I am
sure most of you noticed was the case!), and if anyone is high up in NASA,
please pass along that I would be happy to help them time their missions.
It was not encouraging that pieces of debris were seen
falling off the Shuttle as it launched this week, once again demonstrating that
this technology has seen better days. But it would appear from the chart that
this mission is safe (remembering, of course, that space travel is dangerous).
And it's not such a bad chart for the re-commencement of the Shuttle program
itself. There is just one aspect in the chart that bothers me, and I will point
it out.
One interesting note is that there were no Shuttle launches
during Saturn in Cancer. The remaining fleet of three orbiters was grounded for
this entire time, and flights resumed shortly after Saturn entered Leo. That
seems fitting; take care of safety and security first, work on your structure,
and then go back up there.
Perhaps the most interesting astrological fact about the
NASA program is that any time there has been a loss of life aboard a
I am not that into statistics, but the probability of this
occurring is incredibly low. It would seem to be astronomically low: that the
Sun is within several degrees for each of these three events, and they are the
only three events of their kind.
So we could look to astrology for some information. But
because these events are separated by 19 years, it's unlikely that any kind of
a planet is involved, because planets (even the slow moving ones) move too fast
to be within six degrees of arc for two decades. Therefore we're talking about
the Sun being conjunct a fixed star or deep space object at this time of year, and
I've not found one. This does not mean that something won't be discovered, that
I've missed something important, or that one of you won't write in with an
object in that range of tropical Aquarius; but nothing I know of has been
discovered yet.
NASA is getting much better at PR. Here is a great quote,
after the launch, from the NASA chief. "I'll keep my opening remarks
brief, but I want to use them to ask you all to take note of what you saw here
today," said NASA administrator Michael Griffin at a news conference
yesterday. "The power and majesty of the launch, of course, but also the
competence and professionalism, the sheer gall, the pluckiness and grittiness
of this team that pulled this program out of the depths of despair 2 1/2 years
ago and made it fly."
We have a pretty solid chart here, with Virgo rising. That
points us right to Mercury, as Mercury rules the ascendant -- appropriate
enough for a flight of some kind. Mercury would represent the Shuttle itself
and the question of safety. Mercury in Leo in the 11th house, on the cusp of
the 12th, is a fitting image; the 11th is public and the 12th is like the
abyss, and Shuttle launches certainly walk that line. It's in Leo -- nice and
dramatic, like Mike Griffin's quote above.
But what are we to make of the fact that Mercury is
retrograde? Besides telling them to back up their computers, of course. Hmm.
This is an old program. Technology moves fast, and the Shuttle was news when I
was a high school junior in 1980, er, I admit, a quarter century ago. It was
big news then, a true moment of glory. Here is a brief glimpse of the Shuttle
in its earliest days. Today, it is kind of a retrograde program. The equipment
is old -- and it's environmentally disastrous, blasting a big hole in the ozone
every time it goes up.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010412.html
But the Shuttle is a Taurus, and they don't go away easily.
It's probably going to be around for a while, particularly given that there's
nothing to replace it, and there's a new International Space Station (ISS) to
take care of.
Note that there is plenty of activity on the cusp of this
chart's 8th house, death and transformation. The Moon is there, and the North
Node, and Mars (which rules that house, so it's happy enough in its own sign).
This to me is a picture of the death-defying aspect of space travel. There
seems to be no way to get into space except for going through the 8th house,
and those astronauts sitting on top of thousands of pounds of fuel must go
through quite a transformation as that thing goes up.
Vesta on the 10th house cusp is an interesting image of
sacrifice. That little red symbol is a chevron -- a burning pot of oil, and
it's the astrological symbol of selfless service, of giving oneself totally to
a cause. True enough -- for the astronauts, that is, who actually put their
bodies in the space craft.
What is troubling about this chart is that Mars is in the
very last degree of Aries, and also that it's in a close T-square with Chiron
and Saturn. That is, it is square both Chiron and Saturn. This is a lot of
tension, though because Mars is lurking in the last degree of Aries, it's as if
the tension is behind the scenes and invisible. But the good news is that
Mercury, the ascendant ruler, is NOT in aspect to Mars. So the two significator
of the Shuttle itself, and the significator of some dangerous or deadly agent,
basically cannot harm one another, and it would appear that the mission is
safe.
I hope I'm right, anyway.
Do you have any observations about this chart? If so, please
let me know. Now, here are a few of your questions for this week -- and I'll
see you over at Planet Waves!
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