The loneliest lab

SCIENCE probably played no great role in George Bush’s decision. Yet the week before his announcement, lunar science mailing lists and message boards were buzzing with excitement. From a scientific point of view, many lunar scientists clearly felt this could hardly be a better time for an announcement that the US is returning to the moon. Thirty lean years have given them lots of time to do their homework. Today, their understanding of the moon extends far beyond the discoveries of the Apollo years, thanks to a productive series of unmanned missions: Galileo in 1990, Clementine in 1994 and Lunar Prospector in 1998. And that has…