"From the Earth to the Moon"

Still capture from "From the Earth to the Moon," produced by David Kring, CLSE, NLSI, LPSI.

I have often argued that the Moon is the best and most accessible place in the solar system for robotic and human assets to address fundamentally important scientific questions while simultaneously providing an opportunity to expand our technological capabilities. 

To remind ourselves of the opportunities on the Moon, the Center for Lunar Science and Exploration team has created a brief (3 minute) video with scenes so dramatic you may find yourself reaching out to pick up a rock and becoming restless for a chance to walk among lunar peaks.

The video and soundtrack "From the Earth to the Moon"
(http://www.lpi.usra.edu/nlsi/moonVideo/)

*       Provides an inspirational view of the lunar surface, which humans have not visited since 1972, despite being the best and most accessible place in the solar system to explore the fundamental principles of our origins;
*       Highlights vast portions of the lunar surface that have yet to be explored; and
*       Demonstrates how new images are revealing dramatic details of future landing sites suitable for both robotic and human missions.

I encourage you to download the HD version of the video (from the bottom of that website - cross-linked at the bottom of this post) to fully marvel at this tour of the lunar surface.  I also note that we have intentionally produced a few scenes with a patchwork of images of different resolutions to illustrate the additional detail that LRO has provided.

David A. Kring, Ph.D.
Center for Lunar Science & Exploration

Options for download

Downloads can be streamed by clicking on the options below.  For best viewing, however, you may want to right click, save the link to your own computer, and then play the file from your computer

Quicktime (HD 1080p)
Windows Media (HD 720p)
iPhone 3gs/iPod video
iPhone 4/iPad