Reporter Missed Mark on Moon Talk

During moon astronaut Eugene A. Cernan’s talk at the Reagan library in Simi Valley on July 26, I was fortunate to be able to ask a question about his experience on the moon.

I have been interested in space exploration for a long time. I went to Florida and saw the launch of Apollo 11 and have seen most of the videos and photographs taken on the moon’s surface from lunar orbit. Some of these pictures show a hint of color ranging from blue to orange depending upon the film used and the sun angle, so I asked the astronaut how the lunar surface appeared to his eye. His answer was that the moon is essentially colorless, showing only shades of gray. The one exception to this was the orange soil found on his mission, Apollo 17, which landed in the Taurus-Littrow area bordering Mare Serenitatis.

Somehow this exchange, along with a short conversation with a reporter, was misinterpreted. Incredibly, The Times article on the following day stated that I “harbored doubts whether man actually had walked on the moon.” To set the record straight I have never doubted the manned lunar landings and frankly can’t imagine how anyone could.

MIKE BLISS, Simi Valley