This stunning graphic is one Splash did before falling asleep shortly after the Artemis II crew entered that blue triangle recovery cone on the chart above. Our section Leader Miles assigned the observation to Splash from Watch Section Bravo , since he is the only one here at .Socotra House to have successfully thrown away an F-4J Phantom 2 to take a successful plunge in the Pacific. He was rescued by Navy combat swimmers, which was the same deal as the Artemis crew.

They and the Orion capsule Integrity they rode 700,000 miles were taken aboard a new Amphibious transport ship, USS John P. Murtha. We should note that the ship’s namesake was Pennsylvania’s longest serving Congressman. John hd been a fixture on the Armed Services Committees when Socotra Legislative section folks worked on the Hill. And he had opposed some of the Mid-East adventurism that has led us this week to the Straits of Hormuz and those little islands in the Gulf we used to know so well.

if you look closely, that is the Strait of Hormuz in the background, which has some blue and tan in it and he felt there should be some reference to another multi-billion dollar project mentioned.

In face, what was on the iPad when it was awaked was a reference to another famous voyage that started on today’s date in -1912. Titanic’s.

He was going to have some words about how these various events are twined together. Titanic’s voyage only lasted three days until the iceberg speared her proud side, or a little less than half the time it took the Artemis Crew to hurl themselves around the moon. Our pal Mules provided the vertical graphic track of the mission from the BBC. The horizontally-oriented version we have been using did not fit the screen. So, the fact that Splash borrowed some of the graphics from more industrious Salts is about what we have come to expect from him.

We used the graphic for the Daily release after we put Splash down to bed. There were not problems with his re-entry under the covers and Housekeeping staff was notified to be alert in case sustainability or intervention are required. That would be the ree partial note on Splash’s iPad: “Dem Swalwell Campaign in deep doo-doo. Could mean British-born GOP candidate has a shot at deep blue Cal!?!”

Oh, and the Straits of Hormuz thing? That, thankfully, faded briefly into the background of one of humanity’s latest really cool and courageous demonstrations of what dreams can achieve. In the background, we see a Europe determined to net zero itself out of its military and economy or defend the international sea routes of communication. A China trapped on a pipeline a half a world away from the Shanghai factories. And a new Western Hemisphere, Greenland to Tierra del Fuego, with plenty of energy and a ceiling that looks like it might be Mars.

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com