Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 The Importance of the Moon
- Chapter 2 First Steps
- Chapter 3 Moon/Mars
- Chapter 4 An International Flotilla
- Chapter 5 The Moon Rises from the Ashes
- Chapter 6 Moons Past
- Chapter 7 The Pull of the Far Side
- Chapter 8 Water in a Land of False Seas
- Chapter 9 Inconstant Moon
- Chapter 10 Moonlighting
- Chapter 11 Lunar Living Room
- Chapter 12 Lunar Power
- Chapter 13 Stepping Stone
- Chapter 14 Return to Earth
- Glossary
- Appendix A Von Braun et al. Space and Lunar Exploration Issues
- Appendix B Topics in Transient Phenomena on the Moon
- Index
- References
Chapter 13 - Stepping Stone
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 The Importance of the Moon
- Chapter 2 First Steps
- Chapter 3 Moon/Mars
- Chapter 4 An International Flotilla
- Chapter 5 The Moon Rises from the Ashes
- Chapter 6 Moons Past
- Chapter 7 The Pull of the Far Side
- Chapter 8 Water in a Land of False Seas
- Chapter 9 Inconstant Moon
- Chapter 10 Moonlighting
- Chapter 11 Lunar Living Room
- Chapter 12 Lunar Power
- Chapter 13 Stepping Stone
- Chapter 14 Return to Earth
- Glossary
- Appendix A Von Braun et al. Space and Lunar Exploration Issues
- Appendix B Topics in Transient Phenomena on the Moon
- Index
- References
Summary
There is no easy way from the earth to the stars. (Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.)
– Lucius Annæus Seneca (the Younger), ca. 50 ADEarth is the cradle of our intelligence, but one does not live all of life in a cradle. (Planyeta yest’ kolybyel razuma, No nyelzya vietchno zhit’ v kolybyeli.)
– Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky, 1911The Moon, planets, and stars beckon as vast expanses of territory and potential experience and understanding beyond us. To experience it, you need to reach out. It is unlike anything you have done, and not what you evolved to do. It is true wilderness, not with predators (that we know of), but many perils. Mainly, it is oblivious. First, you must escape the clutch of the mother planet that bore you. Whether humans choose to surmount this challenge says as much about humanness as outer space. Do we choose to go? The good news is that we may have more than one chance to ascend this height. The bad news is that this may cause us to procrastinate. What is the imperative? Do we have so much time?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The New MoonWater, Exploration, and Future Habitation, pp. 392 - 431Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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