It was a beautifully clear night yesterday evening, I noticed that the moon was visible through the upstairs window so I thought I'd see if I could get a rapid shot of it. I'd just heard that Alan Bean, the last of the astronauts from the Apollo 12 mission, had died. I'd followed all of the moon landings, one of my earliest memories is watching the Apollo 11 landing at nearly 3am UK time after my parents got me out of bed and there's a fascination in it that still remains.
Twelve astronauts from six Apollo missions walked on the moon and there are now only four still alive. I'm not convinced we'll go to the moon again, given the nature of the cost and funding, not unless the peculiar anti-science stance in certain sectors of leadership changes. So their twelve sets of footprints will be an out-of-sight memory of those events. And I'm not sure what there is to be gained by returning unless it is used as a jumping off point for further exploration.
Whatever happens, the moon will outlast us all, and if it doesn't we'll be in serious bother.
Hello Moon!
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