Going to the Moon (Practices)

In Going to the Moon, poet Sally Ashton explores what the Moon has meant to her, and humanity as well as what we all stand to lose in the light of imminent lunar exploitation.

In 2022, poet Sally Ashton learned that one of her poems would be included in a time capsule to be sent to the Moon via Astrobotic’s 2024 Griffin/VIPER as part of the Lunar Codex project. For her, this event seemed like the high point in a life spent chasing the Moon, from a childhood inspired by the space race of the 1960s to an adulthood spent in contemplation and conversation with the sky. In Going to the Moon, Ashton marvels at the Moon’s powerful influence since the dawn of humanity—how we have, in our own ways, gone to the Moon, and what we have found. Contemplating lunar settlement in the light of history, culture, the rise of the space industry, and geopolitical conflict, Ashton shares her sense of wonder at the simple beauty of our unchanged Moon and reveals what is at stake in our contemporary attempts to colonize it.

Sally Ashton is Lecturer Emerita of English at San José State University. She is the author of several poetry books, including Listening to Mars and The Behaviour of Clocks.