After half a century, there is a commercial market for Moon missions
A Japanese firm’s failure marks the first of many private-sector attempts
“THE MOON is a Harsh Mistress”, by Robert Heinlein, was not just the most influential novel about the Moon published in the 20th century. It was also the one with the raciest title. In the body of the book, though, the Moon’s role is less dominatrix, more docent: what Professor Bernado de la Paz actually says in the speech from which the title-words stem is that the Moon “is a stern schoolmistress” who teaches “harsh lessons”. And this, it seems, is true.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “If at first you don’t succeed...”
From the April 29th 2023 edition
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