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Bury me on the moon, preferably on the far side

The far side of the moon offers grounds for compromise between advocates and opponents of lunar development

Some Native Americans, such as those of the Navajo Nation, hold the Earth-facing side of the moon, as well as the other planets and even the stars, as not just lights in the night sky but as sacred objects of spiritual significance essential to their cosmology and ceremonies. It must be noted that while calling out a private company for placing tiny capsules of human ashes aboard exploration vehicles already flying to the moon, those protesting the idea largely ignore 65 years of lunar littering via government spacecraft from the U.S., Russia and the former U.S.S.R., as well as from India, Japan and China. Now, as we open what my mentor Gerard K. O’Neill called the “ High Frontier ” of space, we have the chance to do things differently, showing consideration for the traditions of those we represent as human pioneers and respect for the new places we will go.

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