The Man Buried on the Moon
One person is buried on the Moon: the geologist who taught the Apollo astronauts, and who had always dreamed of going there himself.
What was reported
Eugene Shoemaker was a geologist who showed how craters are made by impacts, trained Apollo astronauts in geology and helped discover the comet that crashed into Jupiter in 1994. He hoped to be an astronaut, but a health problem ruled him out. He died in 1997.
A small capsule holding some of his ashes was carried aboard NASA's Lunar Prospector. When its mission ended on 31 July 1999, the spacecraft was deliberately crashed into a crater near the Moon's south pole, carrying him with it.
Explanations offered
The crash was also an experiment, to see whether it would throw up water ice; none was seen from Earth. The capsule was wrapped in a piece of brass inscribed with a quotation from Romeo and Juliet. The crater is now named after him.
- When
- 31 July 1999
- Where
- Near the south pole, the Moon
- Witnesses
- NASA's Lunar Prospector team
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.