"Shoot for the moon - even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."
I haven't posted about this before now, because the ultimate fate of the Peregrine spacecraft wasn't certain until yesterday. But now I can tell the story in full.
The space enthusiasts among you probably know that Peregrine successfully launched early last week, with a planned lunar landing in February. However, a propellant leak once it reached space derailed those plans. The team made a remarkable recovery, and the craft did reach lunar distance (but the moon wasn't there at the moment) and did a lot of science before sweeping back toward earth; it burned up safely in the atmosphere yesterday.
In the image below, top left is the DHL MoonBox, which held the tiny digital record of my short stories, Apogee, Solatium, Venatoris, Re/Genesis, Fractals, Chrysalis and Starlight Express, together with the writings and art of thousands of other creators, thanks to the tireless efforts of Susan Kaye Quinn (Writers on the Moon) and Samuel Peralta (Lunar Codex).
So for a time my stories soared among the stars where they belong, before returning home. And because Sam Peralta never, ever gives up (and understands the power of redundancies!), the Lunar Codex will also be flying on at least four additional lunar missions by Astrobotic and Inuitive Machines in the next year, so those stories will get to the moon soon enough!
Ad Astra, Per Aspera
