Next Year, On Mare Tranquillitatis
Yesterday was the 49 th anniversary of a unique event in human history. On July 20, 1969, men set foot on a new world for the first—and so far, only—time. And here, sadly, “men” does mean males exclusively (and—*sigh*—American males at that), a by-product, at least partly, of the same 1960’s chauvinism that had earlier rejected Majel Barett as Number One, First Officer of the USS Enterprise. After that first small step for man, there were six more missions that landed on lunar soil, giving us a total of twelve humans who have ever walked under extra-terrestrial skies. That day was indeed unique, for that first step into a larger world was never repeated elsewhere. All Translunar space still awaits the footprints of man. And nearly half a century after that grand event, where are we? We have a growing gap between a very few very rich people, and a large mass of people rath...