Itinerary Two: The Far East

Abstract

This itinerary lies immediately to the east of the previous one. Its most distinctive feature is the neat little Mare Crisium—the Moon’s “Sea of Crises.” Whatever the origins of that name, it witnessed at least one real crisis when an unmanned Russian spacecraft crashed there during the Apollo 11 mission. The Russians had more success in the Mare Fecunditatis, where they achieved the world’s first robotic sample return mission in 1970. There’s plenty more of interest in this itinerary too, from an allegedly artificial bridge and a notorious 19th century hoax to the final resting place of the first Japanese Moon probe and the settings for several sci-fi stories.