Eugene Shoemaker’s ashes

유진 슈메이커의 유해

Planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker dreamed of being an astronaut but never flew. In 1999 some of his ashes travelled on the Lunar Prospector probe, which was crashed into the Moon at the end of its mission. He is the only person buried on the Moon.

See it on the 3D Moon →

At a glance

Where: Near the south pole · Shoemaker crater
📅 Impact: 1999-07-31
🚀 Sent by: NASA (USA)
Coordinates: 86.00°S 45.00°E
Kind: Hidden finds

Eugene 'Gene' Shoemaker (1928-1997) was an American geologist and astronomer who helped invent the science of studying other worlds' rocks and craters. He dreamed of going to the Moon himself, but a health condition called Addison's disease kept him from becoming an astronaut. Instead he trained the Apollo astronauts in geology and led the lunar geology work for Apollo 11, 12 and 13.

Shoemaker died in a car crash in Australia in 1997 while searching for impact craters. Two years later his dream came true in a different way. A small capsule holding about 28 grams of his ashes rode on NASA's Lunar Prospector probe. On 31 July 1999 the probe was crashed on purpose into a dark crater near the Moon's south pole. He is the only person whose remains rest on another world.

The scientist

Working with Edward Chao, Shoemaker gave the first solid proof that Meteor Crater in Arizona was blasted out by a space rock, not a volcano. He founded the US Geological Survey's Astrogeology Research Program, which studies the geology of planets and moons. Later, with his wife Carolyn and the astronomer David Levy, he discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, which broke apart and crashed into Jupiter in July 1994.

A burial on the Moon

His colleague, planetary scientist Carolyn Porco, pushed to send Shoemaker to the Moon, and NASA agreed. His ashes were wrapped in a square of brass foil engraved with a picture of Comet Hale–Bopp, the last comet he watched with Carolyn, a photo of Meteor Crater, and lines from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Lunar Prospector had already found signs of water ice at the poles, and its final crash was a test to see if a puff of water vapour could be spotted.

Shoemaker crater

The probe struck the floor of a crater about 51 km wide near the south pole, close to the famous Shackleton crater. It is now officially named Shoemaker after him. The crater floor never receives sunlight and stays colder than about minus 173 °C, so it is a 'cold trap' where ice could collect. Telescopes on Earth watched the crash but did not see any sign of water.

Fun facts

Gene Shoemaker trained Apollo astronauts in geology, but he never got to fly to the Moon himself.
About 28 grams of his ashes travelled to the Moon in 1999.
The crater where his ashes rest never sees sunlight, and it is now named after him.
He co-discovered the comet that smashed into Jupiter in 1994.