Speaking of the moon and beyond, both were in the news again last week as the 30th anniversary of the last Apollo mission converged with the latest speculations about life -- or otherwise -- on Mars.
First came former Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan, who, as the last man to stand on the moon, understandably rejects the notion that the lunar landings represented a dead end. "I came back from the mission," he said, "and the press continued to ask me, 'How does it feel to be the tail of the dog, the last one over the fence?' I said, 'Apollo 17 is not the end; it's the beginning of a whole new era. . . . We'll be on our way to Mars by the turn of the century.' "
We are well past that date now, but Mr. Cernan has not otherwise been proved wrong: Mars continues to beckon. Last week also saw an unusual flurry of scientific conjecture about what may await us when, not if, we reach the Red Planet.