From Lunar Landing to "Red Moon": Lunar Exploration at the Present and in Recent Fiction
Depiction of the Lunar Lander, as it would have been. By Péter MARTON ** Join the European Science Fiction group on Facebook for related discussions. ** Israel may be about to become the fourth nation on this planet , after the U.S., the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China to complete some kind of proper landing on the Moon. No simple manoeuvre! You have to transition to lunar orbit, get the descent right, and then find a good landing spot, which tends to be complicated in terrain covered by boulders, craters and extensive fully-shadowed areas where there may be... more boulders and craters. Some issues of typology. Lunar landings come in a variety. They can be manned or unmanned, soft (when you can still take off with what you touch down) or hard (when you touch down hard). If you crash-land, it may still be useful for various purposes but obviously requires less of a fine-tuned ability in approaching Luna. The three nations mentioned above are ...