Dancing On A Moonbeam

By LEON JAROFF

Before he died last summer in an auto accident while studying impact craters in Australia, geologist Eugene Shoemaker recalled that the biggest disappointment of his life was "not going to the moon and banging on it with my own hammer." Shoemaker, a famed expert in lunar science, had dreamed of becoming the first geologist to accompany Apollo astronauts to the moon. But because of health problems, he had to settle for training astronauts in geology and analyzing the lunar rocks they brought back.

Now, Shoemaker will finally get his dearest wish. When NASA's Lunar Prospector blasted off toward the moon last week, it carried a small capsule containing an ounce of Gene Shoemaker's ashes. On brass foil surrounding the capsule was an image of Arizona's Meteor Crater, where Shoemaker trained NASA's astronauts. After reaching the moon this week, the spacecraft will ease into a 63-mile-high orbit, peer down and begin a search for minerals, gases and any evidence of water. Then, some 18 months from now, Prospector will crash onto the lunar surface, carrying Gene Shoemaker's ashes to their final resting place.

--By Leon Jaroff