56 ASTRONOMY • DECEMBER 2019
Day 1
The normal Starmus routine
commenced the next morn-
ing with talks, talks, and more
talks. At the Samsung Hall in
Zurich, some 1,500 people were
in attendance. Chair of the day
was Robert Williams, astrono-
mer emeritus of the Space
Telescope Science Institute and
Starmus board member. (The
Starmus board now consists of
Israelian, May, Fadell, Williams,
Emmanuelle Charpentier,
Richard Dawkins, Peter Gabriel,
Alexei Leonov, Jill Tarter,
and me.)
The talks on this day involved
reminiscences from Apollo
astronauts, celebrating the 50th
anniversary of the Apollo 11
landing. Speakers included Walt
Cunningham (Apollo 7), Al
Worden (Apollo 15), Charlie
Duke (Apollo 16), Jack Schmitt
(Apollo 17), Gerry Griffin
(Flight Director on multiple
Apollo missions), and Rusty
Schweickart (Apollo 9).
Day 2
The next day, June 26, was
the second full day of pre-
sentations, beginning with a
108-minute roundtable discus-
sion to honor the 108 minutes
of Yuri Gagarin’s initial manned
spacef light. The participants
were Aldrin, Duke, Eno, Fadell,
Michael Hintze, Israelian, May-
Britt Moser, Schmitt, Donna
Strickland, Worden, and mod-
erator Griffin. The talks that
followed, hosted by Tarter,
were many and varied: Fabiola
Gianotti on activities at CERN,
home of the Large Hadron
Collider; astronaut Tim Peake
on his orbital experiences; Bob
Smith, CEO of Blue Origin,
on the future of private space-
f light; and astronaut Garrett
Reisman on the future of human
spacef light.
Then, after a break, May and
I delivered a 3D presentation,
complete with viewing glasses
handed to the audience, sharing
stereoscopic views of Apollo
images from our recent book,
Mission Moon 3-D. After being
joined by Duke for some first-
hand accounts, we conducted a
press conference about the book
project. Following this came
Fadell, who spoke on technology
synergies between Earth and
space, and Sir Martin Rees,
England’s Astronomer Royal,
who delivered a lecture on the
prospects for humanity.
That evening brought a film
screening of the documentary
Apollo 11, with the production
crew who created it in atten-
dance. I have to say that sittingbeside Aldrin and his wife while
watching this film was a touch-
ing experience, and the whole
crowd erupted in applause when
the astronauts returned to Earth
and the film concluded. You
must see this film if you have
not yet done so.Day 3
The following day, June 27, I had
the good fortune to play host
for the festival. A large number
of Nobel Prize winners were
featured, along with astronauts
and other scientists. First came
Strickland, who spoke about
high-intensity optical pulses;
then Adam Riess, who described
his work on the expansion of
the universe; Williams and
Claude Nicollier on the Hubble
Space Telescope’s repair and
scientific career; and astronaut
Sandy Magnus on our next steps
off-planet.
Following a break, Aldrin
delivered a major address on the
future of lunar exploration,
Ewine van Dishoeck described
the history of the International
Astronomical Union, Xavier
Barcons updated the audience
on the European Southern
Observatory, Nergis Mavalvala
outlined the current ground-
breaking research on gravita-
tional waves, and Eric Betzig- Hans Zimmer, one of the
world’s great cinematic
composers, leads the 21st
Century Symphony
Orchestra during their
tribute to the Apollo
missions, accompanied
by Wakeman. - Attendees heard the
fantastic guitar virtuosity
of Steve Vai several times
during the festival. - Starmus board member
Robert Williams,
astronomer emeritus of the
Space Telescope Science
Institute, introduces the
first day’s talks. - Apollo 15 Command
Module Pilot Al Worden
describes the mission and
its aftermath in a curious
speech highlighting his
original poetry. - Charlie Duke recounts
the exploration of the lunar
surface during the Apollo
16 mission. - The only scientist to
walk on the Moon, Jack
Schmitt describes the last
Moon landing, Apollo 17. - Apollo Flight Director
Gerry Griffin shares stories
of the early launch days
and his oversight of
missions in Launch
Control. - In a wide-ranging and
philosophical speech,
Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty
Schweickart describes
what it was like to be
floating in space. - Walt Cunningham
recounts his many
adventures during the
Apollo 7 mission, more
than 50 years ago.
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