Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff. Lauren bobble bam Here. Eugene or Gene Shoemaker
Speaker 1: trained astronauts and founded a new science born on April Night.
Speaker 1: Shoemaker was one of the twentieth centuries great minds. His
Speaker 1: work on impact craters affected everything from NASA's Apollo missions
Speaker 1: to the dinosaur extinction debate. For his contributions to human knowledge,
Speaker 1: he was awarded the National Medal of Science by then
Speaker 1: President George H. W. Bush In, but a different honor
Speaker 1: eluded him. Shoemaker studied the Moon from Afar, but he
Speaker 1: often dreamed of climbing into a space suit and walking
Speaker 1: on its surface. Sadly, he never got the chance. Addison's
Speaker 1: disease crushed his hopes of becoming an astronaut, but in
Speaker 1: some of his ashes were laid to rest near the
Speaker 1: Moon's southern pole. That made him the first and to date,
Speaker 1: the only person to ever receive a lunar burial. It
Speaker 1: was a poignant epilog to the man's rear. Shoemaker was
Speaker 1: a geologist by training, and craters were one of his
Speaker 1: great passions. He helped confirm that the famous Bearinger Crater
Speaker 1: near Flagstaff, Arizona, a crater that's five hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: feet or a hundred and seventy three deep, was made
Speaker 1: by an asteroid impact. He also championed the hypothesis that
Speaker 1: another such impact killed last non avian dinosaurs sixty six
Speaker 1: million years ago, and by mapping some of the craters
Speaker 1: on our Moon, he revolutionized our understanding of its geology.
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty one, the United States Geological Surveys set
Speaker 1: up an astrogeology research program. Shoemaker, often considered the founding
Speaker 1: father of astrogeology, was chosen to lead it. NASA would
Speaker 1: enlist his services to Shoemaker joined future Apollo astronauts on
Speaker 1: field trips to Berenger Crater and other sites, where he
Speaker 1: trained them to collect rock samples, perhaps seemingly simple skill set,
Speaker 1: but one that would let them eventually bring home the
Speaker 1: first Moon rocks humans ever saw, and thus making all
Speaker 1: kinds of research possible. His work was instrumental to the
Speaker 1: discovery of the Shoemaker Leve nine commet, which struck Jupiter
Speaker 1: in One of the commets co discoverers was Eugene's wife
Speaker 1: and fellow scientist, Caroline Shoemaker. Cumulatively, Jeane and Caroline discovered
Speaker 1: one thousand, one hundred and twenty five asteroids and thirty
Speaker 1: two commets, But on July eighth, the couple was involved
Speaker 1: in a tragic car accident. Though Caroline survived, Jean was killed.
Speaker 1: The very next day, Shoemaker's former student, Caroline Porko, devised
Speaker 1: a fitting tribute. A planetary scientist at the University of Arizona,
Speaker 1: Porco learned that her mentor was going to be cremated,
Speaker 1: so she spearheaded an effort to put an ounce that's
Speaker 1: twenty eight grams of his ashes board NASA's Lunar Prospector spacecraft.
Speaker 1: The cost of sending things into space can run into
Speaker 1: the hundreds of thousands of dollars per pound in terms
Speaker 1: of time and energy and research, and so although physically small,
Speaker 1: that single ounce is a huge tribute. Polycarbonate urn capsule
Speaker 1: was built by Celestis, the same company that sent ashes
Speaker 1: of Star Trek creator Geane Roddenberry into orbit. Wrapped around
Speaker 1: Shoemaker's appsle was a brass foil ribbon bearing a picture
Speaker 1: of the baron Drew Crater and a thematic quote from
Speaker 1: Romeo and Juliet, and when he shall die, take him
Speaker 1: and cut him out in little stars, and he will
Speaker 1: make the face of Heaven so fine that all the
Speaker 1: world will be in love with night, and pay no
Speaker 1: worship to the garish sun. With the precious cargo and
Speaker 1: tow the spacecraft launched out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January.
Speaker 1: More than a year later, the vessel, whose objective had
Speaker 1: been to hunt for water, was deliberately crashed near the
Speaker 1: lunar South Pole. Shoemaker's ashes went down with it. Celestia's
Speaker 1: hopes to enter other human remains on the Moon at
Speaker 1: some point, but for the moment, Shoemaker has the place
Speaker 1: to himself. Caroline Shoemaker said in press release. It brings
Speaker 1: a little closure in a way to our feelings. We
Speaker 1: will always know that when we look at the Moon
Speaker 1: that Jean is there. Today's episode was written by Mark
Speaker 1: Mancini and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more
Speaker 1: in this and lots of other unearthly topics, visit our
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