This Ain’t Exactly Rocket Science
Mar 7 2007


So what’s the big deal about rocket science anyway?
It’s just trajectory and ballistics, after all;
setting a solid object into motion
and watching it go
— like cannonballs
or fancy juggling.
Then add a bit of controlled combustion;
nothing more than a fuse
and gunpowder packed into tubes,
a version of Chinese New Year
or hunting ducks.

Especially in the perfect vacuum of outer space,
where it’s clear sailing once you escape
from gravity,
coasting on empty
all the way out to Neptune.

The real question is
could Wenher von Braun have hit a 90-mile-an-hour fastball,
instantly taking account of wind resistance and spin
on an unpredictable pitch
doctored with spit
or chewing tobacco?
Because the sweet spot
where a cylinder meets a spherical object
is no larger than a pencil tip.

The satisfying crack of a wooden bat against a tightly wound ball
launching a moon-shot past the outfield wall.
And a scientist with a heavy German accent
in a jubilant home-run trot,
his white lab coat flapping in the breeze behind him.