Project Harvest Moon was a first effort by private individuals to explore and exploit the
Moon. Sponsored by the Committee for the Future, "the original space advocacy organization in the
NASA era," Harvest Moon would have used a leftover
Saturn rocket and
lunar module
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...
to conduct experiments on the Moon, paid for by the sale of lunar materials retrieved from the Moon's surface. The Committee for the Future was founded and propelled by
Barbara Marx Hubbard, daughter of wealthy toy manufacturer
Louis Marx
Louis Marx (August 11, 1896 – February 5, 1982) was an American toy maker and businessman whose company, Louis Marx and Company, was the largest toy company in the world in the 1950s. He was described by some as an experienced businessman with t ...
. Hubbard received support from retired military officers, former NASA employees, and prominent industrialists. On May 11, 1972, Rep.
Olin Teague
Olin Earl "Tiger" Teague (April 6, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was a World War II veteran and congressional representative for Texas's 6th congressional district for 32 years, from 1946 to 1978. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Bi ...
(D-Tex) offered a Resolution in support, but the project was terminated that summer following cogent objections from NASA.
Committee for the Future
The Committee for the Future was founded in 1970 by
Barbara Marx Hubbard, its organizing director and prime mover,
with headquarters in
Lakeville, Connecticut. Her father,
Louis Marx
Louis Marx (August 11, 1896 – February 5, 1982) was an American toy maker and businessman whose company, Louis Marx and Company, was the largest toy company in the world in the 1950s. He was described by some as an experienced businessman with t ...
, provided advice to the committee and some funding.
Other prominent members included its Chairman, Gen. Joseph S. Bleymaier, USAF-ret.;
Executive Director John J. Whiteside, USAF-ret.;
Richard Nolte, President,
Thiokol;
Dr. Harold W. Ritchey, Board Chairman, Thiokol;
George Van Valkenburg,
producer of the documentary, ''The Log of Apollo 7'';
diamond expert Ronald Winston;
and John F. Yardley, Vice President of
McDonnell Douglas.
According to Whiteside, the committee's goals were "to develop within ten years a lunar community open to people of all nations as the next step in developing the solar system for man. At the same time to apply the most advanced systems and knowledge to overall earth problems." Harvest Moon was an outgrowth of these objectives.
Mission
The mission of Harvest Moon was to use leftover Saturn rockets and lunar modules from the
Apollo program's space flights to fly two astronauts to the Moon, where they would set up automated experiments that could be controlled from Earth, collect one to four hundred pounds of lunar rocks, and return to Earth, where the collected material would be divided into tiny fragments and sold to the public.
The cost to investors was estimated by the Wall Street firm of
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette to be $150–$250 million, but income could reach $400 million.
Profits would go to charity.
The mission would be controlled by NASA.
In addition to the acquisition of lunar material, two experiments were proposed. The first, with an eventual Moon colony in mind, was a twenty-foot mylar dome under which plants, insects, and possibly small animals would be observed for their reaction to the two-week-long lunar day. The second experiment would be a lunar observatory which would provide remote-controlled fourteen-day exposures through the negligible lunar atmosphere.
The privately funded
International Lunar Observatory
The International Lunar Observatory (ILO) is a private scientific and commercial lunar mission by International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) of Kamuela, Hawaii to place a small observatory near the South Pole of the Moon to conduct astrop ...
, to be launched in 2019, is a modern realization of the Harvest Moon proposal. The advantages of a Moon observatory had been discussed at the beginning of the space age by
Willy Ley.
Project history
Suggested by George Van Valkenburg in October 1970, Project Harvest Moon was developed by the New Worlds Company, incorporated by the Committee for the Future in 1970.
After the financial analysis by the brokerage firm of
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the project was publicized in the summer of 1971 and reviewed by independent newspapers and syndicated columnists such as
Bob Considine.
On March 9, 1972, the Project received a hearing by the House Subcommittee on Manned Flight, chaired by Rep.
Olin Teague
Olin Earl "Tiger" Teague (April 6, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was a World War II veteran and congressional representative for Texas's 6th congressional district for 32 years, from 1946 to 1978. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Bi ...
(D-Tex),
a vocal supporter, who submitted a House Resolution instructing NASA to "reserve a Saturn 5 rocket, a command
service module, and a
lunar module
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...
for possible use by a transnational mission".
[United States. Cong. House. Res. 979. May 11, 1972.] On July 18, however, a spokesman from NASA, which had remained lukewarm to the project,
reported that there were no serviceable lunar modules.
Having terminated Harvest Moon, the Committee for the Future moved on to other space proposals.
References
{{Moon spacecraft
Exploration of the Moon
Cancelled projects in the United States
Cancelled space missions
1972 in the United States
1972 in spaceflight