A few days ago, I was a car passenger with a friend. After enduring the erratic driving of the car in front for some time, my friend eventually declared the driver a ‘lunatic’. I nodded but the word ‘Luna’ immediately pulled me away from the tarmac in front and straight to the crater-pocked surface of the moon…again.
With 3 months to go until May’s Moon: Fortis Mission is published, I still spend large amounts of my time learning about the moon and talking to children in schools and libraries about its amazing features and influences on us, a quarter of a million miles away.
Although it sometimes looks like a cheesy dot or swirl of magical light, the moon is most likely to have once been a piece of the Earth, broken off during a cataclysmic impact, 4.5 billion years ago.
Escaping earth’s clutches at about the length of your finger nail growth each year (4cm); it has and will continue to have a huge impact on us. Responsible for our months, tides and moods as well as being visible for large parts of our day and night, the moon appears in so much of our music, literature, art and language.
Our language is full of references to the Moon:
Over the past few months we have been treated to many programmes and documentaries about the Moon, our missions there and the future of moon exploration. Some of my favourites are:
As we head towards the 50th Anniversary of the first Moon landing with those unforgettable words, I now realise how much of an influence that glowing sphere has on my life.
There are thousands of events planned around the world to celebrate this anniversary.
For me, I’ll be going to hear another astronaut talk about life in space, planning the launch of my second May’s Moon space story and no-doubt glued to a screen, taking in more footage, information and new facts about our amazing Moon.
May’s Moon: Fortis Mission is due for publication on 27th September.