Moon phases against black background

The Moon Landing & Its Aftermath

As 2019 comes to a close we are looking back at some important anniversaries. In 1979 MQR took on the 10th Anniversary of the Moon Landing. Below are images found in the issue, in a section entitled “The Space Age in Graphics,” as well as an excerpt from the introduction by then-editor Laurence Goldstein. The full issue, including work from Carl Sagan, can by found in our archive.


Named for the archer in mythology who always hit his target, the Apollo Program ten years ago achieved the nearly unbelievable goal of landing two men on the lunar surface and returning them safely to earth. At the time the media were full of glib analogies–to Columbus, Lindbergh, the Panama Canal–but very few commentators deliberated on the cultural meaning of the event or its probable impact on the popular imagination…In Rilke’s great poem, “Statue of an Archaic Apollo,” the poet articulates the moral statement which the wonderfully wrought torso proclaims: “You must change your life.” Is this the message of the modern Apollo? And if so, how is it we must change?

-The Editors

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