0:00:05 > 0:00:101972 was the year a great love affair ended.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15The human race fell out of love with the moon.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20It was a classic case of familiarity breeds contempt.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23There'd been six moon landings,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26and we'd grown bored.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32To this day, no-one has been back.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35The moon did turn out to be dull.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39It's... What do you see? A barren, colourless landscape
0:00:39 > 0:00:42with fragmentary rock all over the place.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Our eyes wandered to other more intriguing worlds.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Throughout the solar system, scientists found many more moons
0:00:51 > 0:00:56that seemed far more exciting than our own dull pile of grey rock.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00For 35 years, our own moon has been abandoned.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03But now, all that's about to change.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08This is the story of our love affair with the moon.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11What inspired it, how it faded away,
0:01:11 > 0:01:13and how now we're slowly, but surely,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16falling in love all over again.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Our love affair with the moon s an ancient one.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34It is Earth's constant companion in the dark emptiness of space.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38The moon has looked down on the whole of human history.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42And throughout history, we have looked up at it.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45It has inspired great myths and legends.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48We've feared it and we've worshipped it.
0:01:54 > 0:01:585,000 years ago, in a remote corner of the Outer Hebrides,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00a Neolithic community made its home.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04We know very little about these people,
0:02:04 > 0:02:09but they've left us an enduring symbol of their profound relationship with the moon.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14Islanders Margaret Curtis and her husband Ron
0:02:14 > 0:02:17have devoted their lives to understanding that relationship.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22I find a link with these people -
0:02:22 > 0:02:24that our minds seem work along the same ideas.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29This has been very much a detective story - sorting it all out.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31They may not have had writing,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34but they've set the stones up in such a way
0:02:34 > 0:02:36that we can fathom out what they were after.
0:02:36 > 0:02:42No-one knows for certain what the Standing Stones of Callanish represent.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46But their positioning suggests that they're a tribute to the moon,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50part sacred site and part ancient observatory.
0:02:52 > 0:02:58These stones at Callanish are a sort of lunar computer -
0:02:58 > 0:03:00a lunar calendar.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03And it's a computer that's still working after 5,000 years,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07which is more than we can say for the computers we've got nowadays.
0:03:07 > 0:03:13The stones seem to be arranged so they track the movements of the moon through the sky from month to month.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Nowadays, we're not fully aware of what the moon's doing in the sky.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25We know short days in the winter, long days in the summer.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29But the moon's plodding on, doing the same sort of thing over a much longer cycle.
0:03:29 > 0:03:36Whereas we nowadays aren't fully aware of where the northernmost moon rises or sets, or the southernmost,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40our prehistoric ancestors - 5,000 years ago -
0:03:40 > 0:03:43did know and they set these stones out
0:03:43 > 0:03:46to mark these extreme positions of the moon.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01Most of all, the stones could predict the timing of a spectacular and rare lunar event.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04To the south of Callanish is a range of hills
0:04:04 > 0:04:07which resemble a woman lying on her back.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24Every 18 years, the full moon rises out of the hills.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27It rolls along the woman's body... and then vanishes.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38But moments later, it is re-born -
0:04:38 > 0:04:41right in the centre of the stone circle.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Legend says that anyone who witnessed this magical event
0:04:45 > 0:04:48would be blessed with the gift of fertility.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58It has always been the full moon,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02above all else, that has stirred the human spirit.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Yet the moon has no light of its own.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Its glow is simply reflected sunlight.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09As it orbits our planet,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13the portion of the sunlit surface that we see changes.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16This gives us the phases of the moon -
0:05:16 > 0:05:20a twenty-nine-and-a-half-day cycle that waxes to full
0:05:20 > 0:05:24and then wanes back to new.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29When the moon is full, the night sky glows ten times brighter
0:05:29 > 0:05:32than when it's new.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37On this night, the same full moon can be seen all over the Earth.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42It has always inspired awe.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52In times gone by,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55the full moon was believed to bring out our darker selves
0:05:55 > 0:05:59in a monthly wave of madness and bloodshed.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02The word lunacy derives from the Latin for moon
0:06:02 > 0:06:05and crimes that happened at this time
0:06:05 > 0:06:08were looked upon more leniently.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14But when it comes to nature, the moon's impact isn't legend.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20The full moon triggers a frenzy of activity.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23It is the time of the highest tides.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28And in the oceans, the full moon's bright light
0:06:28 > 0:06:31is a mating call for sea creatures all over the world.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39The full moon governs the very reproduction of these species.
0:06:44 > 0:06:50And now, scientists have discovered it may be doing the same for us humans.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Research suggests that the full moon may play
0:06:52 > 0:06:57a significant role in our own cycles of fertility.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01In the late 1970s, scientists studying female fertility
0:07:01 > 0:07:04noticed a baffling coincidence.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06We knew that the moon cycled
0:07:06 > 0:07:08every twenty nine and a half days,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11and we knew...
0:07:11 > 0:07:13a twenty-nine-and-a-half day cycle
0:07:13 > 0:07:17was the most fertile woman's cycle length.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21That a woman who had a 26-day cycle, or a 40-day cycle,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23or a 60-day cycle,
0:07:23 > 0:07:25was much less likely to be fertile in that cycle.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30At the time, it was unclear whether this was a chance phenomenon
0:07:30 > 0:07:32or whether the two were related.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37But further research on women with twenty-nine-and-a-half day menstrual cycles
0:07:37 > 0:07:41threw up even more links with the patterns of the lunar cycle.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45In that group of women who cycle as frequently as the moon,
0:07:45 > 0:07:50they tended to start their periods in the full moon, at the day of the full moon.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53And as you move away from the full moon toward the new moon,
0:07:53 > 0:07:56a smaller and smaller and smaller proportion of the group
0:07:56 > 0:07:59is starting their menstrual period.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02That was a very exciting natural biologic phenomenon,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05that said there's something in nature about the moon
0:08:05 > 0:08:09that coincides with women getting their period at the full moon.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14The fertility cycles of women are related to the moon cycle,
0:08:14 > 0:08:18and I don't think women's fertility drives the moon,
0:08:18 > 0:08:20I think it's the other way around.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27No-one knows for sure why this phenomenon exists,
0:08:27 > 0:08:29or how it works.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32It is one of the moon's many mysteries.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Until very recently,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39the moon remained an enigma.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44And it was this mysterious quality which fuelled our fascination.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Where did it come from?
0:08:46 > 0:08:48What was it made of?
0:08:48 > 0:08:52And the biggest question of all - was it a world like ours?
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Did it harbour life?
0:08:55 > 0:08:58For millennia, it was impossible to know.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01No-one even knew what the surface of the moon looked like.
0:09:01 > 0:09:07All that changed in 1608, when an Italian astronomer made a primitive telescope.
0:09:07 > 0:09:13For the first time, he was able to get a close-up look at the moon.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16His name was Galileo Galilei.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19And what he saw shattered conventional wisdom.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23At the time, the Church insisted
0:09:23 > 0:09:27that all heavenly bodies were perfect, unblemished spheres,
0:09:27 > 0:09:32and that the Earth was the only body in the universe that was flawed.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35But Galileo's close-up view of the moon's surface
0:09:35 > 0:09:39revealed a world that was far from perfect.
0:09:39 > 0:09:44He described it as "Rough and uneven, just like the surface of Earth itself."
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Perhaps it WAS a living world, like our own.
0:09:54 > 0:10:00Hundreds of years later, our knowledge of the moon had barely improved.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Just how ignorant we were was revealed in 1835.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08An American newspaper published a front-page story
0:10:08 > 0:10:13announcing that herds of bison had been observed tramping across the lunar surface.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Readers were entranced by this vision.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21A few days later, it was revealed to be an elaborate hoax.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26The only way to find out what was really on the moon
0:10:26 > 0:10:28was to go there and take a look.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35But over 100 years later, it still seemed an impossible dream.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39All that finally changed in the early 1960s.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47before this decade is out,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Kennedy's bid for the moon came out of a Cold War battle
0:10:54 > 0:10:56to win over peoples' hearts and minds.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01It was an inspired move, tapping into an ancient dream.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05Finally, we would find the answers to the moon's great mysteries.
0:11:05 > 0:11:06How was it formed?
0:11:06 > 0:11:11What was it made of? And was it a home for some form of life?
0:11:13 > 0:11:18The moon had always been the symbol of the remote and the unreachable.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20And here,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24people are going to leave Earth and go to the moon!
0:11:24 > 0:11:27But, if they wanted to lay claim to the moon,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30the Americans had a lot of catching up to do.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35Their Cold War rival, the Soviet Union, was way ahead.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40The Russian's ambitious space programme produced a string of firsts,
0:11:40 > 0:11:45including the first satellite in orbit and the first man in space.
0:11:45 > 0:11:51And in 1959, they'd set out to solve one of the moon's greatest mysteries -
0:11:51 > 0:11:54something that had kept humans guessing for centuries.
0:11:54 > 0:12:00What was on the far side of the moon - the side that always faces away from us?
0:12:00 > 0:12:05To find out, the Russian mission would have to circle the moon for the first time.
0:12:09 > 0:12:10On the 7th of October,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13the probe disappeared behind the far side of the moon,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15and its cameras leapt into action.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18For 40 minutes, it snapped away
0:12:18 > 0:12:22whilst scientists waited on tenterhooks.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28When the images were transmitted back to Earth,
0:12:28 > 0:12:29they had their answer.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33The far side was actually just the same as the near side.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37But the lack of surprises didn't matter.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39These blurred images made history.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43And the mission consolidated the Russians' lead in the space race.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46The Americans weren't keen on second place.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49I guess the American people are alarmed that a foreign country,
0:12:49 > 0:12:54especially an enemy country, can do this. We fear this.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58- Definitely alarmed.- Do you admire the Russians for doing it or not?
0:12:58 > 0:13:00No. We should've been first to have it.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04The Russians had all the headlines.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08But landing a man on the moon was an entirely new challenge.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14At the time when Kennedy made his famous speech,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16scientists knew so little about the moon
0:13:16 > 0:13:20that the prospect of sending a human there seemed almost reckless.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25Their knowledge of lunar geography was so sketchy,
0:13:25 > 0:13:29they didn't know where they could land safely.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34They didn't even know whether the moon's surface was strong enough to support a space-craft,
0:13:34 > 0:13:35or even a man.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37They needed answers quickly.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46The first step for the Americans was a series of probes called Ranger.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49They carried on board television cameras
0:13:49 > 0:13:53to take detailed close-up pictures of the lunar surface.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58But it wasn't exactly a sophisticated approach.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02The Rangers went in hard, crashing kamikaze-style into the surface,
0:14:02 > 0:14:06furiously filming away until the moment of destruction.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14The 4,300 images taken by the Ranger probes
0:14:14 > 0:14:17were the clearest views we'd ever had of our moon.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20It was now clear it was a harsh and hostile world.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25But the pictures were vital to prepare for the ultimate goal -
0:14:25 > 0:14:27the moon landing.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29It was an epic endeavour.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31No expense was spared.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39At its peak, the moon programme employed more than 400,000 people in America
0:14:39 > 0:14:44and cost over 25 billion, nearly 150 billion in today's money.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46People were electrified
0:14:46 > 0:14:51by the race to the moon. And the United States was spending...
0:14:51 > 0:14:55I think it was 4.5% of our entire national budget on space.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59But most Americans were 100% in favour of,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03let's push on and whatever it costs, let's get to the moon.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Ten...nine...eight...
0:15:05 > 0:15:09By 1968, NASA was ready for a test run.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12..four...three...two...one...
0:15:12 > 0:15:14Zero!
0:15:14 > 0:15:17We have commenced! We have lift-off!
0:15:17 > 0:15:22Lift-off at 7.51am Eastern Standard Time.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Apollo 8 wouldn't actually land on the moon,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27but it would go into lunar orbit.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Although they weren't going to touch down,
0:15:30 > 0:15:32this would be the first time
0:15:32 > 0:15:35that humans had ever visited another world.
0:15:38 > 0:15:44This transmission is coming to you personally halfway between the moon and the Earth.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48Back on Earth, people watched and waited and listened.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51And the astronauts didn't disappoint.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Hovering just above the moon's surface,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56their broadcast was from the book of Genesis.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00"In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04"And the Earth was without form and void.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08"And darkness was upon the face of the deep.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12"And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17"And God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light."
0:16:17 > 0:16:21I don't know. It just caught the country by surprise.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24It was so moving
0:16:24 > 0:16:28and...comforting.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31And I think, at that point,
0:16:31 > 0:16:38we realised the importance of a space mission
0:16:38 > 0:16:41for bringing self-confidence to people.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43On their fourth orbit around the moon,
0:16:43 > 0:16:49the astronauts saw something no human eyes had ever seen before.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53It was the Earth, rising out of the blackness of space.
0:16:53 > 0:16:59The pictures they took changed the way we viewed our planet forever.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04We have commenced! We have lift-off!
0:17:05 > 0:17:08And then came the big one.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12On July 16th 1969,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14Apollo 11 was launched.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Oh, I remember watching it.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22It was like, "Wow!" Like watching science fiction come true.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26On its final descent to the moon's surface,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28unknown to the watching audience,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32a series of alarms went off inside the lunar module.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34NASA decided to over-ride them.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38The gamble paid off.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40Houston, er...
0:17:42 > 0:17:44..Tranquillity Base here.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46The eagle has landed.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50I'll now step off the ladder.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54It's one small step for man...
0:17:56 > 0:18:00..one giant leap for mankind.
0:18:00 > 0:18:07More than 600 million people watched the broadcast worldwide.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN
0:18:13 > 0:18:18The experience bonded the human race in a way which had never happened before. Or since.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22It was one of those rare occasions
0:18:22 > 0:18:25that brought the whole nation...
0:18:25 > 0:18:27and, in a sense, the whole world,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31together in a shared experience.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin only walked on the moon for less than three hours.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41But on that night,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45people all over the Earth looked up at the night sky
0:18:45 > 0:18:49and knew that there were two men up there, looking back at them.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54I remember the night of the landing.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59And I looked up from the parking lot and there was the moon.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02And you could see the little dark smudge,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05over on the right side of the moon,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09which is the Sea of Tranquillity,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13and you knew that there were two men -
0:19:13 > 0:19:17Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin -
0:19:17 > 0:19:22by that time trying to sleep in their lunar module
0:19:22 > 0:19:26on the surface of that smudge
0:19:26 > 0:19:28that you can see from Houston.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Over the next three years, five more missions landed on the moon.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Each one was more ambitious than the last.
0:19:40 > 0:19:46Whereas Armstrong and Aldrin had only taken a few tentative steps from the lunar module,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50the astronauts on later missions travelled miles across the surface.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55They spent days at a time on the moon, visiting different locations,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57collecting samples of rock and soil,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00and setting up scientific experiments.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Guess what we just found?
0:20:04 > 0:20:08- I think we found what we came for. - Just old rock, eh?- Yes, sir.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11But down on Earth, with each mission,
0:20:11 > 0:20:13the public interest was starting to wane.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17By the time it came to Apollo 17,
0:20:17 > 0:20:22NASA even had to pay the American TV networks to cover the mission.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25By the fourth or fifth time that we had gone to the moon,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28it was probably page two or three news.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30You know, it certainly wasn't headline..
0:20:30 > 0:20:33There is more soil!
0:20:33 > 0:20:38People were getting bored with going to the moon.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43Once you've seen astronauts collect rocks for a few times,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46it ceases to fascinate.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Going to the moon had been done.
0:20:50 > 0:20:56And there was a feeling that it was now time to do other things.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00There's a state of apathy in the United States now. People just don't care.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04I think that we are spending too much money on the moon.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08I think they could use the time, energy and money better here in the United States.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11There's lots of room for improvement here.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16Rather than spend all that money exploring space when people are starving here,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19that money could be put to very good use in improving life here.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23When we finally got there,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27it turned out our moon didn't harbour life or even water.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32It was not the home of the Gods or rampaging herds of bison.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37It was a barren and bleak place - a dead rock in the sky.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42We'd built it up in our imagination for tens of thousands of years.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44And the disappointment was crushing.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46People thought maybe...
0:21:46 > 0:21:48there were people alive on the moon,
0:21:48 > 0:21:50maybe there are things up there.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54But what we learned when we got there is what we saw was the case.
0:21:54 > 0:21:55It's a very cold place
0:21:55 > 0:22:00and it's desolate and it's not capable of supporting life as we know it.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03Hey, team...
0:22:06 > 0:22:10# I was strolling on the moon one day... #
0:22:10 > 0:22:15When astronaut Gene Cernan stepped off the lunar surface for the last time,
0:22:15 > 0:22:18it was no giant leap for mankind,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21but the last stumble of a dying era.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26NASA cancelled the next three moon missions
0:22:26 > 0:22:29and quietly drew the Apollo programme to a close.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Cernan was the last human being ever to walk on the moon.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40To this day, no-one has returned.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45The love affair was over.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06But although the public's relationship with the moon had gone sour,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09for a small band of dedicated scientists,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11the romance was just beginning.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14They now had actual pieces of the moon to study.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Nearly 400 kilos of lunar rock
0:23:17 > 0:23:20had been brought back by the astronauts.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24They hoped that these rocks would unlock the unanswered mysteries of the moon.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26Because, despite the moon landings,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30scientists still didn't know the answer to the big questions.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32Where had the moon come from?
0:23:32 > 0:23:34And how had it formed?
0:23:35 > 0:23:39One of those starry-eyed young scientists was Gary Lofgren,
0:23:39 > 0:23:41a geologist working for NASA.
0:23:41 > 0:23:46He was given the job of cutting up each sample ready for study.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50You just had no idea what you were going to see,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53looking at these really strange-looking rocks
0:23:53 > 0:23:56that were just jumbles of debris.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00It was a chance to really look at them closely,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03to not actually touch them, but come very close,
0:24:03 > 0:24:08and we realised we'd never seen anything like that on Earth, or never recognised it on Earth.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Most scientists had assumed that the moon would be similar to Earth.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14There'd be a mixture of young and old rocks,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18formed in many different ways. They were in for a surprise.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22It turned out that our thinking about the moon was really wrong.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27Science had not done a very good job of guessing what the moon was going to be like.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30People did think it was probably fairly old,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33but they didn't realise it was as old as it turned out to be.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37We found rocks that are almost four and a half billion years old,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39almost the age of our solar system.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Some of these rocks formed just 50-100 million years after the beginning of the planet.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47We just don't find rocks that old on Earth.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51The moon was an ancient, fossilised world.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Its rocks hadn't changed for billions of years.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58Scientists were thrilled.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02Basically, the surface of the moon kind of froze roughly three billion years ago
0:25:02 > 0:25:06and preserved the first one and a half billion years of its history.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10The moon tells us very much about the early history of our solar system.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15It's probably one of the best recorders of the early history of our solar system.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21This ancient fossil was a scientific gold mine.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Because the moon was so well-preserved,
0:25:24 > 0:25:28it meant scientists could finally answer the question that had come to obsess them.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31How was the moon formed?
0:25:32 > 0:25:35At the time, there were two competing theories.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39The first was that the moon and the Earth were formed at the same time,
0:25:39 > 0:25:42from the same cloud of dust and gas.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46The other theory was that the moon was nothing do with the Earth,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48but was wandering alone in space
0:25:48 > 0:25:52until the Earth sucked it in with the power of its gravity.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57But the rocks themselves didn't seem to support either theory.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00They were different enough from rocks on Earth
0:26:00 > 0:26:04to make it unlikely they were all formed at the same time.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09But they had enough similarities to make it equally unlikely that the moon was completely foreign.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14Eventually, scientists came up with a new theory that explained these strange rocks.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17It was a brutal tale.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25It takes us back four billion years,
0:26:25 > 0:26:29to when the solar system was a young and volatile place.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33There were many planets and asteroids circling the sun.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36One of these was a young Earth.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40But there was also another young planet, a bit smaller.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42The two were on a collision course.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Eventually, they crashed together.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52It was the biggest bang the solar system had ever seen.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04The impact was so massive
0:27:04 > 0:27:09that it spewed out millions of tons of molten rock and gases.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11As this debris circled the Earth,
0:27:11 > 0:27:16it came together, forming a separate body - our moon.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28When it first formed, the moon was ten times closer to the Earth than it is today.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31So it appeared much bigger in the sky
0:27:31 > 0:27:35and its gravitational pull was much stronger.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39But, over time, it slowly drifted away from the Earth
0:27:39 > 0:27:44to its present position, about a quarter of a million miles away.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47And there, its orbit seemed to have stabilised,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51its distance from Earth fixed for all time.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02But a little-known Apollo project has blown that cosy theory away.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Deep in the wilds of West Texas,
0:28:06 > 0:28:11Jerry Wiant coaxes his elderly motorbike up to the top of the Davies Mountains.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16He and his trusty bike have made this same journey to work
0:28:16 > 0:28:18every night since the Apollo programme.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23He is on his way to the Texas Laser Ranging station.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33This small outpost is one of only three of its kind in the world.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41We're the last living Apollo project.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Many people think, "The Apollo projects?
0:28:43 > 0:28:46"Oh, they're dead and gone." That's not true.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48We're still getting valuable data.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Scientists all over the Earth are still using that data.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54So we're still operating, in spite of the fact
0:28:54 > 0:28:57that everybody's forgotten what the word Apollo used to mean.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06Each clear night, Wiant focuses his telescope on the lunar surface
0:29:06 > 0:29:09and fires a powerful laser straight at the moon.
0:29:09 > 0:29:14This will measure the exact position of the moon in space.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17All right, we're ready to fire the laser.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22What we hope is that our beam goes from here to the moon surface
0:29:22 > 0:29:27and it comes back and our goal is to measure how long does it take
0:29:27 > 0:29:30for our light to go from here to the moon and back.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Their target is a simple device
0:29:33 > 0:29:36placed on the moon over 35 years ago.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40The Apollo astronauts left behind some simple glass reflectors,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43rather like the reflectors on a bicycle light.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46This is a chunk of glass that's a corner reflector.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50And you can see it. It's three sides and this would be the front side.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54So light entering here will go directly back to its source,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57and then, our telescope gathers that light
0:29:57 > 0:30:00and then feeds it to our detector.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03There are four panels of reflectors on the moon,
0:30:03 > 0:30:05placed at four different sites.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08This one I'm holding in my hand is one.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11And you can see there's a row of ten by ten.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15This a panel of a hundred of these individual corner reflectors.
0:30:15 > 0:30:16Look at the footprint.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20You can see the astronaut's footprint in the moon's surface here.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24This is an Apollo 14 site, the second site.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27And, I don't know if you can see it,
0:30:27 > 0:30:32but there's a...there's a bag... there's a Ziploc bag right here.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34You can see the red seam.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37The astronauts were not required to pick up their litter.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41So there's a free Ziploc bag if anybody would like to have it(!)
0:30:41 > 0:30:45If the moon's orbit was fixed, then its distance from the Earth
0:30:45 > 0:30:47should have stayed the same
0:30:47 > 0:30:49ever since Jerry began his measurements.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53But it hasn't. The moon, it seems, is on the move.
0:30:53 > 0:30:58The moon is receding at a certain rate per year.
0:30:58 > 0:31:023.8cms per year, I believe,
0:31:02 > 0:31:04that it's moving out,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06moving away, receding.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10It doesn't sound like much.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13But over time, it's going to bring some big changes.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18As the moon pulls away, it'll put an end to one of nature's most glorious spectacles -
0:31:18 > 0:31:20a total solar eclipse.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28The moon is 400 times smaller than the sun.
0:31:28 > 0:31:34But at the moment, it's also precisely 400 times closer to the Earth than the sun is.
0:31:34 > 0:31:40This amazing coincidence means that, when the moon passes directly in front of the sun,
0:31:40 > 0:31:43it appears exactly the same size.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47We are living at the only time in the history of the solar system
0:31:47 > 0:31:50when this unique spectacle is possible.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52As the moon drifts away from us,
0:31:52 > 0:31:56this awe-inspiring sight will be over forever.
0:32:00 > 0:32:06So, over the years, scientists continued to make new discoveries about our moon.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10But somehow, it was never enough to reignite our passion
0:32:10 > 0:32:12for our closest neighbour.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16And that was partly because our attention had turned elsewhere.
0:32:16 > 0:32:21There are over 150 other moons in the solar system,
0:32:21 > 0:32:25and, by the late 1970s, we were starting to explore them.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28The results were spectacular.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32The journey of discovery began with the Voyager probes.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35They were sent to explore the outer solar system -
0:32:35 > 0:32:39the gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Until now, these extraordinary worlds
0:32:41 > 0:32:44had been seen only through telescopes.
0:32:44 > 0:32:51It took two years for these probes to reach their first port of call - Jupiter.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55Scientists all over the world were gripped,
0:32:55 > 0:32:59waiting for the first close-up pictures of the great giant.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03But when Voyager started transmitting pictures back to Earth,
0:33:03 > 0:33:05they were in for a surprise.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09It seemed it was Jupiter's moons, rather than the planet itself,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12that held the most exciting secrets.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16We thought the moons would be lumps of ice covered in craters.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18And that was about it.
0:33:18 > 0:33:24But when Voyager started transmitting back pictures of Jupiter's innermost moon, Io,
0:33:24 > 0:33:25there was a strange anomaly.
0:33:25 > 0:33:31A young NASA scientist spotted an odd-looking bulge on the moon's side.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35I came in about nine o'clock that morning to the navigation area
0:33:35 > 0:33:40and the pictures the spacecraft had taken a day before were on my desk.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44I put them on the computer system and I displayed them,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47and I could see that Io, the moon of Io, was a crescent,
0:33:47 > 0:33:51as very often our own moon is a crescent in the night sky.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53And I went and enhanced the brightness,
0:33:53 > 0:33:55and there appeared beside Io an object -
0:33:55 > 0:34:00a huge object that looked like something I couldn't recognise
0:34:00 > 0:34:02and could never have expected
0:34:02 > 0:34:05and it completely captured my attention.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09I wanted to know so badly what that was
0:34:09 > 0:34:12that I had to ask myself, "My goodness! What is that?!"
0:34:12 > 0:34:15And the answer that occurred to me first
0:34:15 > 0:34:19was it looked like another moon, peeking out behind Io.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24But when she looked closer, she realised it was something completely different.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27When I explored it, I was able to find
0:34:27 > 0:34:30that this large, strange object
0:34:30 > 0:34:34was this huge plume of a volcanic eruption
0:34:34 > 0:34:40arising 270km over the surface of Io and raining back down onto it.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46So I had discovered the first ever volcanic eruption
0:34:46 > 0:34:50ever seen on another world besides the Earth.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55Io's vibrant volcanic activity
0:34:55 > 0:34:58is caused by the massive gravitational pull
0:34:58 > 0:35:03exerted by Jupiter, which squeezes and heats the moon internally.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07You could actually see, looking at the edge of Io,
0:35:07 > 0:35:10plumes of what turned out to be sulphur dioxide gas
0:35:10 > 0:35:13shooting up into space, about 100 miles,
0:35:13 > 0:35:17and dropping all this sulphur dioxide snow back onto the surface,
0:35:17 > 0:35:21and the whole place is stained red and yellow with sulphur.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23It's an incredible place.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27Here was a moon to swoon over.
0:35:27 > 0:35:32It was far more exciting and exotic than our own boring, lifeless moon.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35And Io was just the beginning.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41Soon, another of Jupiter's moons - Europa - was also wowing scientists.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44Europa's surface had no craters.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48Close up, it was covered in cracks and canyons.
0:35:50 > 0:35:56Europa clearly had a very young surface.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59We could tell that there weren't many large impact craters
0:35:59 > 0:36:02and the surface was relatively smooth and cracked.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04Not chasms going deep down into it,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07but cracks filled with something darker.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09A recently active surface.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Looking at it, scientists realised it was similar
0:36:14 > 0:36:17to scenes they knew from Earth, from the poles.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22Europa was covered in ice.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24And because there were no craters,
0:36:24 > 0:36:29they knew that the ice must have melted and refrozen many times.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31And that could mean only one thing -
0:36:31 > 0:36:33there had to be liquid water,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36the crucial ingredient for life on Europa.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41It got even more exciting when scientists began to speculate
0:36:41 > 0:36:44where the heat to melt the ice was coming from.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47Again, the answer lay within our own planet.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50On the floors of the oceans of the Earth,
0:36:50 > 0:36:54scientists had discovered "black smokers" -
0:36:54 > 0:36:57volcanic heat sources coming from below the Earth's crust,
0:36:57 > 0:36:59warming the water from below.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04Perhaps hot vents like these could exist under Europa's icy crust.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08Scientists could barely contain their excitement.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12Liquid water and a volcanic heat source
0:37:12 > 0:37:13sounded like the kind of conditions
0:37:13 > 0:37:16that many believe gave birth to life on Earth.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20The people who work on the origins of life on Earth today
0:37:20 > 0:37:24seem to have come to the conclusion
0:37:24 > 0:37:27that the most likely place for life to have begun
0:37:27 > 0:37:29is at a hot vent on the ocean floor
0:37:29 > 0:37:35and we could have the same sorts of organisms on the floor of the ocean of Europa, at a hot vent.
0:37:35 > 0:37:40And if you've got bacterial life, you could have something eating the bacteria.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43You could have a whole eco-system down there.
0:37:43 > 0:37:49like sharks grazing on smaller fish eating worms and the worms eating the bacteria. We don't know.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51There could be all kinds of things there.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55But if you want somewhere warm and cosy
0:37:55 > 0:37:58for bacterial life to get started and to survive,
0:37:58 > 0:38:03Europa is probably the best bet we've got in the entire solar system.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10It wasn't just Jupiter's moons that were attracting attention.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14When the Voyager probe flew past Saturn,
0:38:14 > 0:38:18it captured an image of its largest moon, Titan.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20It was strangely fuzzy.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23It looked as though Titan was shrouded in an atmosphere,
0:38:23 > 0:38:25just like our own planet.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Scientists were desperate to know more.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31What lay beneath this thick atmosphere?
0:38:31 > 0:38:34Could it have other similarities to Earth?
0:38:37 > 0:38:40They didn't get their chance to find out
0:38:40 > 0:38:44until 20 years later, when Cassini lifted off.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49It was one of the biggest rockets ever launched,
0:38:49 > 0:38:52but even so, it took seven years to get to Saturn.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00And then, it turned its attention to Titan.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05Cassini dropped a probe called Huygens through the Titan atmosphere
0:39:05 > 0:39:08onto the hidden surface.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10It revealed a world that scientists believe
0:39:10 > 0:39:14could be strikingly similar to the early Earth.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18Pictures revealed by Huygens on its parachute descent
0:39:18 > 0:39:20towards the surface of Titan
0:39:20 > 0:39:24showed, at one point, a network of valleys.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28You could have been floating over many parts of the Earth.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30We've got hills and valleys in between them
0:39:30 > 0:39:34and the valleys converge and drain into a sea.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37So we can see landforms on Titan
0:39:37 > 0:39:41that look very familiar to people who do landform studies on Earth.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46The valley networks are very similar to what you get produced by rainfall on the Earth.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50The extraordinary images of distant moons
0:39:50 > 0:39:53revealed them to be places of great beauty
0:39:53 > 0:39:55and tantalising possibilities.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57They had volcanoes,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00ice-covered oceans,
0:40:00 > 0:40:01active geysers
0:40:01 > 0:40:04and thick atmospheres.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06There was even the possibility of life.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13Moons were the most exciting places in the solar system.
0:40:13 > 0:40:18And so, scientists began to wonder whether our own long-abandoned moon
0:40:18 > 0:40:21was perhaps worth another look.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31So, in 1994, a small unmanned orbiter, Clementine,
0:40:31 > 0:40:33was sent back to the moon.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37The first spacecraft to make the journey in more than 20 years.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40And this mission would go somewhere new.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44Technology had moved on since the seventies.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47And so, Clementine would be able to reach an area of the moon
0:40:47 > 0:40:50that had never been seen in detail before -
0:40:50 > 0:40:52the lunar poles.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54Clementine spent two months
0:40:54 > 0:40:57bombarding the moon with radio waves,
0:40:57 > 0:41:02and in doing so, it made a discovery that scientists had never dreamt of.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06They found what appeared to be patches of ice.
0:41:06 > 0:41:11Its radar was getting signals being bounced back from the surface very strongly,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14in a way consistent with there being patches of ice down there.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17And, er...it's not a lot of ice.
0:41:17 > 0:41:22It could...could fill plenty of Olympic-sized swimming pools,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26but if you were to melt it and spread it all over the lunar surface,
0:41:26 > 0:41:28it would be a millimetre thick.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31You're not gonna produce oceans on the moon from this ice.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33But enough for humans to exploit.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39The existence of water on the moon, even if it was frozen,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42changed everything.
0:41:42 > 0:41:47The bleak and barren landscape wasn't so inhospitable after all.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49Suddenly, the possibilities seemed endless.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52With life-sustaining water,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55the moon could one day be a base in space,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58a stepping stone to the rest of the universe.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01Humans might even live there one day.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05The love affair was back on.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08AUDIENCE APPLAUDS
0:42:08 > 0:42:13As if to drive home the renewed fascination,
0:42:13 > 0:42:1845 years after President Kennedy's famous pledge to take us to the moon,
0:42:18 > 0:42:21another US President launched a new mission.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25Returning to the moon
0:42:25 > 0:42:29is an important step for our space programme.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32Establishing an extended human presence on the moon
0:42:32 > 0:42:37could vastly reduce the cost of further space exploration,
0:42:37 > 0:42:42making possible ever more ambitious missions.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46The moon is a logical step
0:42:46 > 0:42:51toward further progress and achievement.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56Human beings are headed into the cosmos.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58AUDIENCE APPLAUDS
0:43:01 > 0:43:04It may have lacked some of his predecessor's rhetorical flourish,
0:43:04 > 0:43:09but 35 years after the last man stepped off the moon,
0:43:09 > 0:43:11we are finally going back.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15NASA has already started planning the new lunar mission.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17And it's going to be big.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20We are planning to go to the moon
0:43:20 > 0:43:24in a particularly different way than what we did with Apollo.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Apollo was short sortie missions.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30And we're planning to go to the moon to stay.
0:43:30 > 0:43:35It'll be a permanent presence, where each mission adds more capability.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38And, eventually, we'll just have people living there.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43This time, the aim is to turn the moon into a home from home.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46And when this new lunar base is established,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50the moon will become our launch padto the rest of the solar system.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52The moon is near.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56It's three days away. And we can go and practice and perfect
0:43:56 > 0:43:59all the techniques and the tools and the things that we need to do
0:43:59 > 0:44:02to go off and explore our first foreign planet.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09We'll bring tools and we'll bring...
0:44:09 > 0:44:11some basic machineries
0:44:11 > 0:44:15and then we'll use those machineries, along with the lunar resources,
0:44:15 > 0:44:19to make what I refer to as the brute force and ignorance materials.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23Bricks - one of the first uses of lunar material will be making bricks.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26So you can have someplace to live without being zapped by cosmic rays.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32But there doesn't seem to be quite the same urgency as in the 1960s.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36NASA's plan is to get back to the moon by 2018.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39We have to develop a new lunar lander,
0:44:39 > 0:44:44we have to develop and establish the infrastructure on the surface of the moon
0:44:44 > 0:44:47that will allow us to live there for long periods of time.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50So, as we start the development process,
0:44:50 > 0:44:52if we could develop it all at one time,
0:44:52 > 0:44:56then we could do it quicker, get to the moon much quicker than 2018.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58But given that we have to do this somewhat serially,
0:44:58 > 0:45:01we build infrastructure for travel,
0:45:01 > 0:45:03then we have to build the lunar pieces,
0:45:03 > 0:45:05it'll take between now and about 2018 to get there.
0:45:05 > 0:45:10But NASA's public sector plod to the moon isn't quick enough for some.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12Now the moon is back in fashion,
0:45:12 > 0:45:15NASA have got competition.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17The players in the new space race
0:45:17 > 0:45:20are a mixture of dreamers, hard-headed businessmen,
0:45:20 > 0:45:22and publicity seekers.
0:45:22 > 0:45:28But they've got one thing in common - they want action now.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37This barren desert in a remote corner of Utah
0:45:37 > 0:45:39is the site of a unique experiment.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43For one week, it's standing in for the surface of the moon,
0:45:43 > 0:45:45complete with mock-up moon base.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58This is the Moon Society -
0:45:58 > 0:46:01a collection of scientists and space enthusiasts
0:46:01 > 0:46:05who are already preparing for a commercial mission to the moon.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12Putting on a spacesuit is a two-person job.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16And, er... not only because it's difficult.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20It also is an opportunity to have somebody else verify
0:46:20 > 0:46:24that you have all your connections secure and safe.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28Hmm...
0:46:35 > 0:46:39Not sure what this is, here.
0:46:39 > 0:46:44Their aim is to establish not just a human colony on the moon,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47but a full-scale industrial complex.
0:46:47 > 0:46:52So they spend their days in the Utah desert testing out the technology
0:46:52 > 0:46:55that could one day be part of their mission to the moon.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58I think you always start with kind of a thought experiment.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01What would it be like to go to the moon?
0:47:01 > 0:47:03And what would it be like to live on the moon?
0:47:03 > 0:47:05What would it be like to work on the moon?
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Then you take it to paper, start making drawings,
0:47:08 > 0:47:10and then you take it to the next step.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13Eventually you get to a life-size prototype
0:47:13 > 0:47:17and you try to make things more and more realistic as time goes on,
0:47:17 > 0:47:21so that you flesh out the problems in order to get there.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25So the more realism you can introduce,
0:47:25 > 0:47:30the more of your homework you can do ahead of time to make sure the mission's successful.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36And as they trundle around practising being on the moon,
0:47:36 > 0:47:38they can't help but dream.
0:47:38 > 0:47:44People on the moon would be involved in using resources
0:47:44 > 0:47:46to start manufacturing...
0:47:46 > 0:47:51First of all, they wanna manufacture their own building materials
0:47:51 > 0:47:53and other things that they need.
0:47:53 > 0:47:58Anything they manufacture there would be cheaper
0:47:58 > 0:48:01than it is to bring up from Earth's surface.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05They could also, you know, if we were to start a settlement on Mars,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08the moon and Mars could trade,
0:48:08 > 0:48:13and they'd be much more viable together than either one separately.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15But there's a problem.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19They don't actually have a spaceship.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21Or any money.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24But their optimism is unquenchable.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26It's WHEN people move to the moon.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29It's not a... It's an eventuality.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33It's not something that's probably going to happen or might happen,
0:48:33 > 0:48:35it WILL happen.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Others are less ambitious than the Moon Society.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52For some, the moon represents a straightforward commercial opportunity.
0:48:52 > 0:48:58We started out as a group of engineers and space enthusiasts,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00got together online
0:49:00 > 0:49:03and posed ourselves the challenge
0:49:03 > 0:49:08of what is the lowest-cost but commercially-viable lunar mission
0:49:08 > 0:49:10that we could come up with?
0:49:10 > 0:49:13We came up with the Trailblazer Mission.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15Unlike the Moon Society,
0:49:15 > 0:49:19Trailblazer have at least found a rocket to take them to the moon.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23Although not an entirely conventional one.
0:49:23 > 0:49:28The launch vehicle is a converted SS18 Satan ICBM.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32That's a Cold War nuclear missile.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35They essentially take the missile out of the launch silo,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37remove the warhead,
0:49:37 > 0:49:42recondition the payload bay to accommodate commercial payloads.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47But these commercial payloads do not include people.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49Instead, the converted missile
0:49:49 > 0:49:53will deliver much cheaper, lighter items to the surface of the moon.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57This is a line of cosmetics.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59This is actually a lipstick.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04You can see the obvious space theme.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09One of the more popular cargo items is with artists.
0:50:09 > 0:50:14This is from a gentleman in Minnesota who has an art gallery.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18And this is Alchemist
0:50:18 > 0:50:21and this is Intelligence Of Beauty.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23These are original artworks.
0:50:24 > 0:50:29We also have several customers who have asked us to carry
0:50:29 > 0:50:33representative samples of cremated remains...
0:50:33 > 0:50:37from loved ones to the lunar surface.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41Your going rate for cargo is 1000 a gram,
0:50:41 > 0:50:45including handling and packaging
0:50:45 > 0:50:48and delivery to the lunar surface.
0:50:49 > 0:50:55It's not immediately clear what the point is of delivering lipstick to the surface of the moon.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59But if someone's willing to pay, the technology is there to do it.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01This is the Penetrator,
0:51:01 > 0:51:04which will carry cargo to the surface of the moon.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Down the middle of the Penetrator
0:51:07 > 0:51:13is a 1 inch, 2.5cm, open cargo space
0:51:13 > 0:51:17into which we can load various objects
0:51:17 > 0:51:19to be carried to the surface of the moon.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22It's carried internally inside the spacecraft,
0:51:22 > 0:51:26and when the spacecraft impacts at the end of the mission,
0:51:26 > 0:51:28this will punch through the front
0:51:28 > 0:51:31and come to rest about ten metres into the lunar soil.
0:51:31 > 0:51:35This is very much a commercial proposition.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39They're even offering to deliver business cards to the surface of the moon.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Or rather, ten metres under the surface.
0:51:42 > 0:51:47We have a standard rate for regular-sized business cards.
0:51:47 > 0:51:52One business card just happens to weigh about one gram.
0:51:52 > 0:51:57We expect these items to be there practically forever,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00unless somebody goes up and removes them.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11But the big prize is still to get a person back to the moon.
0:52:12 > 0:52:18And there is one private sector challenge to NASA's moon monopoly that might just succeed.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22Government always plays a big role in getting things started.
0:52:22 > 0:52:23But after a while,
0:52:23 > 0:52:25the citizenry has to take over.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30I mean, after all, the world and the universe belongs to all of us.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33It's not just individual governments.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35So I think you're starting to see that now.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39Greg Olsen has already been to space.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43But he's not an astronaut and he's never worked for NASA.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45He's a businessman.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49Last year, he paid 20 million for a week-long trip
0:52:49 > 0:52:51to the International Space Station.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53I know, with my spaceflight,
0:52:53 > 0:52:55the money I thought about for five minutes,
0:52:55 > 0:52:57and it was a simple yes or no decision,
0:52:57 > 0:53:00and once I made it, I never thought about money.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04Olsen is one of the new breed of explorers -
0:53:04 > 0:53:08the space tourists who are prepared to spend millions of dollars
0:53:08 > 0:53:10to fulfil a lifelong dream.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14And now, there's a company who aim to make their dreams come true.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17They've already sent three people into space
0:53:17 > 0:53:21and now they're adding a new destination to their brochure.
0:53:21 > 0:53:26It gives me great pleasure to be here today to talk to you.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29Because today is a historic day.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34Space Adventures is going to the moon.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40The moon mission is open to the public,
0:53:40 > 0:53:43meaning anyone who has the financial capability
0:53:43 > 0:53:47to afford the price of the seats. They're each priced at 100 million.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54At the front of the queue is Greg Olsen.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56Who wouldn't want to see the moon up close?
0:53:56 > 0:54:00You may not want to go through the space ride to get there,
0:54:00 > 0:54:03but just imagine if you could look out and there's the moon,
0:54:03 > 0:54:07there's this big moon, the way we're looking at the Earth now.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09Just...to me, it would be mind-boggling.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11I'd really like to do it.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15And the company thinks there'll be no shortage of takers.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18You really don't have to sell a moon mission.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23It's making history, it's going where less than 30 people have gone before.
0:54:23 > 0:54:25You really don't need a sales tactic for that.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31In a neat twist from the Cold War rivalry of the 1960s,
0:54:31 > 0:54:35the company works in partnership with the Russian Space Agency.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40Rich clients provide the funds and the cash-strapped Russians provide the hardware.
0:54:40 > 0:54:46And it's technology straight out of the 1960s - the Soyuz Rocket System.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48The Soyuz Rocket System
0:54:48 > 0:54:51was first designed in the 1960s
0:54:51 > 0:54:54for the Soviet lunar programme.
0:54:54 > 0:54:57Once the Americans landed on the moon,
0:54:57 > 0:55:02the Soviet's lunar programme was almost just abandoned.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05But one of the reasons why it was abandoned
0:55:05 > 0:55:10was that the Soviet manned lunar programme of the 1960s was a failure.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12Not only did they fail to get a man on the moon,
0:55:12 > 0:55:16but they also failed to even put a man into orbit around the moon,
0:55:16 > 0:55:19despite 18 attempts to make the technology work.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23They hope that the cash injection from the rich Westerners
0:55:23 > 0:55:25will help them do better this time.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27Everything in life is a risk.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29There's various degrees.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32The Soyuz was designed for lunar orbit,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35so it's certainly capable of doing it.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38The Russians have a great space programme -
0:55:38 > 0:55:42great instruction, great cosmonauts -
0:55:42 > 0:55:44so I would have a lot of confidence.
0:55:44 > 0:55:51This private-sector mission has a fighting chance of at least putting a person into orbit around the moon.
0:55:51 > 0:55:56But even they could be overtaken by a new dark horse.
0:55:56 > 0:56:01A late entry in the new race to the moon - China.
0:56:01 > 0:56:03Its economy is booming.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05It's a global superpower.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07And now it's turning its attention to space.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11In 2003, the Chinese put a man in space
0:56:11 > 0:56:14and brought him safely back to Earth.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16In 2005, they did it again.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20Now they say they want to put a man on the moon.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22Few would bet against them.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24With China coming up, um...
0:56:24 > 0:56:27we've had astronauts, and cosmonauts in Russia,
0:56:27 > 0:56:29and now taikonauts in China.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33Now, they've had two orbits of the Earth and, you know, that's nice.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36And people say, "Well, it's primitive technology,"
0:56:36 > 0:56:39But you wait ten years and see where those people are with space flight.
0:56:40 > 0:56:45Whoever wins the race to get back to the moon, there's little doubt
0:56:45 > 0:56:48that our most ancient love affair is back on.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54In many ways, it's a relationship that's finally grown up.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58We've been through infatuation and courtship.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01We've had a bit of a rocky patch.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07Now, the relationship has emerged stronger than ever.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13And this time, it looks like we're in for the long haul.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd 2006
0:57:46 > 0:57:49E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk