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Earth

384,400 km Moon

On the moon there are certain comings and goings it must in the sun, lifts him up like an airship and sends him – literally –
be said. And it must be said that, all along, we like to think that to the other world. On the Moon Cyrano remains little, however,
there are certain comings and goings. Let it be a place where since the inhabitants seem to have mistaken him for an ostrich to
things happen. May there be life aboard this milky ball that sails be locked up.
the night sky and illuminates us by reflection. Always the same. For Edgar Allan Poe, the moon can also be reached by hot air
Always different. balloon. He has the protagonist of one of his stories, Hans Pfaal,
For example, on the Moon, the Greek Lucian of Samosata do it. Taking his cue from a treatise on astronomy, an insolvent
imagines Menippus of Gadara, a third–century B.C. philosopher debtor hatches the perfect plan to get rid of his creditors for good.
and writer, must have stopped on his ascent to the sky of the gods. Off to the Selenite tax haven.
A brief stopover, a self–serving Moon. A Woman on the Moon ends in 1929 with a silent movie by
Ludovico Ariosto, on the other hand, sends the valiant Astolfo Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. The story is by Thea von Harbou, wife of
to the Moon in the company of St. John the Evangelist. The two the director.
must recover Orlando’s lost wits, consumed by blind love for On the moon there are certain comings and goings it must be
the beautiful Angelica, so that the paladins can soon return to said. And it must be said that, all along, we like to think that there
Charlemagne’s ranks and beat the sword on the Saracens. are certain comings and goings. Because it is a place where things
Baron Münchhausen, an incurable liar, recounts arriving happen. Because this is where humanity is building its future.
on the Moon carried by mighty winds aboard a vessel complete It was 05:40 UTC on Dec. 14, 1972 when Eugene “Gene”
with a full crew. On the other hand, if there are seas on the Moon, Cernan boarded the lunar module, leaving on the regolith ground
why not sail calmly to a safe harbor? Cyrano de Bergerac builds a the last human footprint on a celestial body other than Earth.
cartridge case of ampoules filled with dew that, as it evaporates Fifty years later we are ready to return.

Protagonist Space 87