Czech poetry has a long and proud history dating back to the 9th century. Originally written in Old Church Slavic (Methodius and Cyril’s way of fighting the cultural spread of the Franks), the first poems written solely in Czech were composed in the 10th Century. ‘The Legends of King Wenceslas and Hospodine‘ the most notable piece of work from this evolution.
Back then and in the decades and centuries that came after, the great Czech poets could not have foreseen quite how high the works of modern poets would go. That is, into space! The likes of Hynek z Poděbrad, Karel Hynek Mácha, Jan Neruda and Jaroslav Seifert would be astonished by plans to put a Czech flag and book of poetry into outer space.
U.S. astronaut Andrew Feustel will be doing just this in May 2009 when NASA will make repairs on the Hubble telescope orbiting the Earth. This action has been labelled the STS 125 mission. It’s hoped the astronauts can prolong the telescope’s life until the year 2013.
Feustel, who has Czech ancestry hopes his actions will be a nice gesture to the Czech people and nation as well as the Czech Astronomical Institute. This isn’t however the first time that the nation’s national flag has been in orbit. In 1972 an American astronaut by the name of Eugene Cernan took the Czech flag to the moon. He had Czech-Slovak ancestry.
The volume of poems Andrew Feustel will take on-board with him will be ‘Cosmic Songs’ by Jan Neruda. This poet lived in the 19th Century and looked fondly upon the growth of science and technology. His works often incorporate praise for the human desire to progress in all ways possible.
It’s interesting to note that the famous and most loved Chilean poet Pablo Neruda took the surname of Jan Neruda as his own, so inspired and full of admiration for the Czech poet was he.
You can read more poetry by this great Czech poet in this book available at Amazon:
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interesting…
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