Claiming the Moon
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* Re “Promising the Moon--for $15.99,” June 23:
Sorry, Dennis Hope, you’re 35 years too late in claiming the moon! My name and about 40 others have been staked on the lunar surface since the early ‘60s.
While working at Pasadena’s JPL on the Ranger project, we had the names of all the system test team inscribed on gold-plated shims, which were installed on the Ranger spacecraft. It was designed to impact the lunar surface after sending back TV pictures for the Apollo landing sites.
The mission failed when the TV system died at launch; however, the spacecraft impacted the moon three days later and scattered our names on the moonscape. As far as I know, this was the first time the pristine moon was violated by human debris!
AL LOPEZ
Sierra Madre
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