Shoemaker, Eugene Merle (1928–1997) and Carolyn Shoemaker, neé
Spellmann (1929–)
Husband and wife astrogeologists who made numerous contributions to the
study of impact craters on Earth,
lunar science, asteroids, and comets. Eugene Shoemaker had hoped to travel
to the Moon as an Apollo astronaut/geologist. When this ambition was sidelined
by a health problem, he helped train other astronauts in geological methods
for use on the lunar surface. In 1994, Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and
David H. Levy discovered the short-period comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9. Following his death
in a car accident, some of Eugene Shoemaker's ashes were placed aboard Lunar
Prospector, a spacecraft that was later intentionally crashed into the
Moon; his are the first human remains resting on another world.
Related category
• ASTRONOMERS
AND ASTROPHYSICISTS
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