NATIONAL EARTH DAY

 Up until last night at 10:30, I did not know that someone was buried on the moon.  Yuppers, his name was Dr. Eugene Shoemaker, a pioneer of planetary science and a founder of astrogeology.    Dr. Shoemaker made many groundbreaking discoveries and contributions to science.  His ashes arrived on the moon with the Lunar Prospector spacecraft on July 31, 1999.

At age 69, he died in a car accident on July 18, 1997, while exploring a meteor crater in Australia.  After his death, Shoemaker's family wanted to honor his wish to visit the moon, which he never achieved in his lifetime.  They contacted Celestis, a company that offers memorial space flights for cremated remains.  (Never knew there was such a thing)  Celestis agreed to send a small capsule containing Dr. Shoemaker's ashes to the moon as part of the Lunar Prospector mission, a NASA probe designed to map the moon's surface and look for signs of water and ice. 

The Lunar Prospector spacecraft concluded its mission on July 31, 1999, deliberately crashing it onto the moon's surface, carrying Eugene Shoemaker.  This act made him the only person to be buried on the moon.

Here is the link to an article by the Astrogeology Science Center that tells of Dr. Shoemaker's life and scientific accomplishments.  https://www.usgs.gov/centers/astrogeology-science-center/gene-shoemaker-founder-astrogeology  

........Maybe I live in a bubble, but I have never before heard about this.