Cool Moon Facts by Whip

Real astronomy and dated history, with sources. Documented traditions and folklore. Modern lunar astrology · symbolic, not predictive.

31 July 1999 Waning Gibbous, 91% lit

A burial on the Moon

Lunar Prospector was crashed into a polar crater at the end of its mission carrying an ounce of Eugene Shoemaker's ashes, in a capsule wrapped with a piece of brass foil.

Shoemaker had trained the Apollo astronauts in geology and had wanted to go himself; a medical condition ruled him out. He is the only person buried on another world. The foil carries a line from Romeo and Juliet about cutting him out in little stars.

Date
31 July 1999
Moon computed for
09:00 local time, UTC
Phase
Waning Gibbous
Illuminated
91%

Source: NASA Ames Research Center, Lunar Prospector mission summary

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