The Moon, old and new
As I write this, the first test flight of Artemis has again been postponed — but the adventure is still on the horizon. We’re on the cusp of an entirely new generation of space exploration, of heading back to the Moon to discover the many secrets it holds about the solar system’s past. With great excitement, many of us are looking forward to seeing humans walking on the lunar surface again by 2025.
This issue, we look back on the last Apollo mission, 17, which took place 50 years ago. Senior Editor Mark Zastrow has concocted a mesmerizing story using the words of crew members Gene Cernan, Jack Schmitt, and Ron Evans. It captures the sense of amazing adventure and technological push that many of us grew up with in the 1960s and ’70s.
I am also about to depart for the sixth Starmus Festival. The international celebration of science — which is sponsored by many including Astronomy magazine, and for which I have the honor to serve as president of the board — is being held this time in Armenia. I’ll have the privilege of hosting the festival’s final day, and will be able to introduce an old friend who has walked on the Moon, Charlie Duke.
Talking to folks who have walked on the Moon is an amazing experience, and you feel a bit like you’re in a cloud hearing their recollections. Charlie, Buzz Aldrin, Jim Lovell, and Jack Schmitt are among our last living links to lunar exploration.
And now we stand on the bridge between the old and the new. What will we find from the next generation of lunar explorers, who will visit places on the Moon unlike those already explored? We know that the new astronauts will target regions aimed at perhaps answering questions about the Moon’s formation and evolution. They will no doubt uncover new scientific mysteries that will need to be investigated.
How privileged we are to be on the precipice of a big new age of exploration. And how fortunate we’ve been to know the first explorers, who raised the curtain on discovering the cosmos.
Yours truly,
David J. Eicher Editor