How the Inspiration4 Mission Fits Into the Long History of Civilian Space Travel

It’s been 52 years since the artist Jeff Gates made a reservation to go to the Moon. Like many who gathered around their TV sets to watch the first lunar landing on July 20, 1969, Gates—then a 20-year-old college student home for summer vacation—walked outside immediately afterward and looked skyward. “I kept saying, ‘there are human beings on that Moon!,’ says Gates, now 72. “It was unbelievable, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that feeling. But I wanted to be a part of that shared moment of exhilaration and amazement … It’s just human nature to want to be part of that.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Gates, a longtime reader of sci-fi and fantasy books, had seen some media coverage of Pan Am’s First Moon Flights Club, a marketing stunt from the now-defunct airline offering lunar passage by the year 2000. He called an agent at the airline and made a reservation for himself and “Mrs. Gates,” the wife he assumed he would have by then. His membership card, numbered 1,043 out of 93,000 such tickets issued between 1968 and 1971, has been in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. since 2016. Courtesy Smithsonian’s National Air and Space MuseumThis Pan Am “First Moon Flights” Club card, number 1043, was issued by the airline to Jeffrey Gates in the late 1960s. Gates acquired the card (as well as reservatio...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Space Special Project Source Type: news