Contact Astronomy: Ourselves, the Invaders

Abstract

In the past 50 years, a new type of ‘contact astronomy’ was begun. We no longer sit and wait for bits of heaven to fall on our heads: our approach is now more active: we go to visit the celestial bodies from close-up and we descend on their surfaces and in some cases even bring back bits of them to Earth. It is a turnabout for humankind, made possible by the conquest of the access to space. Let’s see how things went.