IN HOC SIGNO VINCES

[David Casseres]

Andrew sez
[question about the motto IN HOC SIGNO VINCES scratched in the bark of a 
tree at the launch site, and account, from Heppenheimer, of an early 
Soviet launch on July 11 (my birthday!):]

>....As it rose and began to tilt the cruciform arrangement of
>    its engines placed a fiery cross in the sky. The Roman emperor
>    Constantine, early in the 4th century, had seen just such a
>    vision, accompanied by the words *In hoc signo vinces*. But in
>    that sign Korolev would not conquer, for the rocket went out of
>    control and disintegrated.

Lovely!

>So, the quote comes from Constantine, presumably at his point of
>conversion. Wonder where Pynchon picked it up from. Heppenheimer gives
>no source for the Constantine story in his account. Perhaps Pynchon
>and Heppenheimer both saw it in something written by Korolev or some
>other rocketeer?

Anyone who wanders about the art museums of Europe will see a number of 
paintings depicting the conversion of Constantine.  The fiery cross is 
seen in the sky, with the motto prominently inscribed above or around it. 
 I don't know the origin of the legend, but by the time of the 
Renaissance the image had become an icon

>One of the other threads I unknotted by reading this history was how
>politicised the space race was and how uncritical most US citizens
>(and lots of non-US citizens too, of course) were of rocketry during
>the 50s and 60s. I remember details from when I was 10 or 11 but not
>the political situation.

Had you lived in the U.S., it would have been hard to miss the very 
public and explicit knotting-into-each-other of the space race, the 
missile race, and the Cold War.  If anyone was unenthusiastic about space 
exploration, someone was sure to deliver a lecture on how vitally 
important it was for the Free World to beat Godless Communism into space; 
and everyone understood full well that the only difference between a 
"spacecraft" and a "missile" was whether the payload was Man or Bomb.  
Tellingly combined, of course, in the Rocket of Gravity's Rainbow.

>.... Not surprising that, given such a
>shiny ideal, Pynchon started digging round in the dirt to uncover the
>program's diseased roots.

Not a bit surprising; and of course he followed them far deeper than what 
all Americans knew about.


Cheers,
David