Where were honeymooner supposed to honeymoon in the future tense ? The moonlight , of course .
honeymoon on the moon show up in pop culture throughout the fifties and sixty , in everything from songs to comic strips . The June 1 , 1958 variant of the Sunday comic cartoon strip “ Closer Than We Think ” byArthur Radebaughclaimed that it would be the new nonpayment destination for budgerigar , replacing the cliched honeymoon place , Niagara Falls :
Scenic point on the moon , in class forwards , may become honeymoon havens , like Niagara Falls today . freshly marry couples will be able to fly to a crushed - toll lunar vacation in a space craft propelled by thermo - atomic energy . Space expert Wernher von Braun foresees pressurized , air travel - condition pleasure trip hotel and small bungalow on the moonlight . couple could dance gaily there , whirling high up in the air due to reduced gravity drag , and take care out on a unknown , striking scenery — part of which would be a cosmonaut ’s view of the conversant abstract of the Continent of the terra firma .
Father Andrzejewski , a non-Christian priest in a small Wisconsin town , mouth to a chemical group of Girl Scouts in 1962 about the fiftieth day of remembrance of the Scouts system and said , “ What face difficult 50 age ago , is now commonplace , and only these last few weeks do we realize that perhaps one of the Brownies here today might spend her honeymoon on the Sun Myung Moon . ”
Father Andrzejewski ’s book of facts to “ these last few weeks ” was about John Glenn who , on February 20 , 1962 , became the first American to orbit the earth . With each young progression made in infinite , it seemed ever more inevitable that average citizen would soon be call in the synodic month — even for their honeymoon .
The October 21 , 1966 Sandusky Register in Ohio ran a short man in the Opinion section about honeymoons on the Sun Myung Moon , with an avowedly odd kicker :
Young madam who expect the moon when they get marry may one day have their wish . Astronomer Fred Whipple predicts that in the not too upstage future trips to the moon will replace the traditional journeying to Niagara Falls .
Just how soon is anybody ’s conjecture . Dr. Eugene Konneci of the National Aeronautics and Space Council thinks starship might be Holy Scripture passengers around the year 2001 . But he say tag prices will probably be figured according to the traveler ’s weight — at about $ 10 a pound .
If so , that honest-to-god 20th C saying that nobody loves a fatty girlfriend will be even true in the 21st . At least , those who do will think double before propose a honeymoon on the moon .
In 1964 the comic strip “ Dick Tracy ” had a untested couple visit the moon for their honeymoon .
Though honeymooner are n’t rocketing off to the moonlight just yet , we continue to seeprivate space tourismas a promise that look us just around the street corner .
This post originally appear atSmithsonian.com .
1950s1960s
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture tidings in your inbox day by day .
newsworthiness from the future , delivered to your present .
Please choose your desired newssheet and submit your electronic mail to upgrade your inbox .
You May Also Like
