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WHEN NASA launched the cremated remains of scientist Eugene Shoemaker aboard the Lunar Prospector nearly three years ago, the last thing it expected was a controversy. Here was a fitting tribute to a man who taught Apollo astronauts about the moon’s geology and helped discover the famous Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet that slammed into Jupiter. The probe containing his ashes was scheduled to scan the moon for signs of water, and then, mission accomplished 18 months later, crash into the lunar surface: a fitting graveyard for a fellow like Shoemaker.

And yet the controversy came—but not from budget hawks in Congress worried about NASA’s payload. Instead, it came from Navajo Indians, who called it a sacrilege. “Using the moon as a burial site for an astronomer is a desecration and gross insensitivity to all who respect and practice Native American religions,” explained Albert Hale, then president of the Navajo Nation.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.

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WHEN NASA launched the cremated remains of scientist Eugene Shoemaker aboard the Lunar Prospector nearly three years ago, the last thing it expected was a controversy. Here was a fitting tribute to a man who taught Apollo astronauts about the moon’s geology and helped discover the famous Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet that slammed into Jupiter. The probe containing his ashes was scheduled to scan the moon for signs of water, and then, mission accomplished 18 months later, crash into the lunar surface: a fitting graveyard for a fellow like Shoemaker.

And yet the controversy came—but not from budget hawks in Congress worried about NASA’s payload. Instead, it came from Navajo Indians, who called it a sacrilege. “Using the moon as a burial site for an astronomer is a desecration and gross insensitivity to all who respect and practice Native American religions,” explained Albert Hale, then president of the Navajo Nation.

About the Author

John J. Miller

John J. Miller, a former national correspondent for National Review, is the director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College. He is the author of A Gift of Freedom: How the John M. Olin Foundation Changed America.