astronauts
It’s been half a century since humankind first landed on the moon. When astronaut Neil Armstrong took the first step in 1969, over half a billion people were watching at home for the climax of a Space Race between nations. Twelve people walked on the lunar surface as part of the Apollo missions, and today a new race to return to the moon is underway.
Billionaire entrepreneur and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has unveiled a mockup of a new moon lander. Bezos, who is also the founder of rocket company Blue Origin, hopes that ‘Blue Moon’ will help the drive to establish a lunar outpost on the moon within the next five years. If successful, it will be the first time humans have set foot on the moon since 1972.
Humankind has been dreaming of the stars since legends began, and the mystery of space exploration has cemented itself in popular culture. From the pioneering astronauts in the 1950s to our first glimpse of a black hole this year, we continue to make discoveries that were once the stuff of science fiction.
