© Mark Ollig
For years, people have talked about commercial tourism space flights to the moon.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, planned to launch two civilian space tourists on a mission around the moon in 2018, using its Dragon capsule and Falcon Heavy rocket. This mission never took place.
Under NASA’s Artemis program, a man and a woman astronaut will land on the moon in 2024.
NASA also confirms astronauts will reach the surface of Mars aboard the Orion spacecraft in the early 2030s.
Regularly scheduled civilian space tourists’ flights from the Earth to the moon could begin in the late 2040s.
Imagine it’s 2049, and yours truly is one of 16 other civilian space tourists taking a trip to the moon aboard a commercial spacecraft.
Looking out a passenger window seat at the stars and moon in amazement while drinking my coffee, I think back to the Apollo astronauts who made the same trip decades ago and never in my wildest dreams thought I, too, would be traveling to the moon.
I leave my seat to stand inside the spacecraft’s domed arch to look out its larger windows at the moon, which we are orbiting.
“We are preparing to begin our descent to the lunar surface. Please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelt,” says the voice from an overhead speaker.
Upon hearing the announcement, I walked (floated) back to my passenger seat and began to fasten the seat belt.
“Here, let me help you with that,” a member of the cabin crew says to me.
Folks, in 2049, I will be in my early 90s; I might need a little help now and then.
Looking out the reinforced passenger window, made from aluminum silicate and fused silica glass, I notice our spacecraft slowly beginning to descend; the moon is quickly getting closer.
“We are initiating our powered descent to the lunar surface. Guidance system operating without incident. Lunar surface radar and Earth telemetry via the high gain antenna are good,” our spacecraft’s captain’s voice from the overhead speaker reports.
As we get closer to the lunar surface, its features become more apparent.
My first impression is how gray the surface is. At times, it resembles burnt charcoal. There are many large and small craters, along with various-sized boulders and rocks.
“We are at 7,000 feet above the surface and descending at a rate of 125 feet per second,” the captain reports.
“If you look out your window, we are approaching the Sea of Tranquility and are coming up to Tranquility Base, which is the site of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing,” a cabin crew member’s voice from the speaker says.
Today’s date is July 24, 2049, the 80th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon.
“We are throttling down on our descent. Our attitude control is good, and we are starting to kick up some dust,” reports the captain.
Our spacecraft gently lands on the lunar surface, about 200 feet from the Apollo 11 landing site.
“Contact light on. Engine stop. Mode control both automatic. Descent engine command override off. Passengers, welcome to Tranquility Base on the surface of the moon,” the captain tells us.
The surface appears to be very finely grained, and its topsoil looks almost like a powder – just like Neil Armstrong said.
Buzz Aldrin accurately described the lunar landscape as “magnificent desolation.”
I see the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle descent stage wrapped in gold foil, and its footpads resting on the lunar surface.
“There’s the lunar module ladder Neil and Buzz used to climb down to the moon’s surface,” I say to myself.
Close to the lunar module descent stage sits the lunar television camera and a seismometer.
Nearby is a retroreflector used by scientists to reflect a laser beam sent from Earth to the moon and back. It gives the precise distance of the moon from the Earth.
The footprint trails Neil and Buzz made walking on the moon’s surface 80 years ago have not changed.
Sadly, the American flag blew down when the Apollo 11 Lunar Module left the moon. It is resting on the lunar surface, not far from the descent stage.
I recall Buzz Aldrin saying he saw the flag blow down during lift off from the moon when the Eagle’s ascent stage engine exhaust struck the flag.
Everything the astronauts left on the moon appears not to have been disturbed by the passage of time.
Thank you, readers, for taking this trip with me.
I am reminded of the 1954 Bart Howard song, “In Other Words,” first sung by Kaye Ballard. The song became known as “Fly Me to the Moon,” made famous by Frank Sinatra.
“Fly me to the moon. Let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on a, Jupiter and Mars.”
Someday soon, we may see what spring is like on the moon.
Be safe out there.
