The crescent moon has always been very special to me. It is something that is only visible in the evening sky a few hours a month- just as the moon is setting the first few days after the new moon.

When I happen to be outside at just the right moment, with just the right visibility on the horizon I might catch a glimpse of her. It always takes my breath away.

I suppose that one of the reasons I love the crescent moon is that the setting crescent moon appears to me more three dimensional. Seeing it in the sky makes it feel not like a bright disk over head, but a distant world to explore.

The most extreme experience I have had of connecting with the celestial bodies was watching the total eclipse of the sun in 2001 in Zambia. Most people under 40 in North America have not seen a total eclipse of the sun unless they have traveled to watch one (last one visible from even part of the continental US was in 1979 and before that 1970).

Standing in a field in Zambia with 2,000 other people I watched as two great spheres crossed paths in the sky in slow motion. It's a rare moment when you actually can actually grok how small you are relative to the motions of our vast solar system, itself only a speck on the cosmic scale.

Needless to say, the moon is a very sacred place to me. It is one of the best vantage points to appreciate all the beauty, magnificence and fragility of the home planet, it is a familiar friend even in unfamiliar lands, and it is the place where humanity will cut its teeth on the next great phases of our own development as a species-- how to live sustainably, how to live cooperatively
and maybe even how to live happily.

Although these lessons could all be learned at home too, there is something about being out at the frontiers of the world, out exploring, out beyond the comfort zone of your box, that really calls forth the greatness of human beings. That is what space is to me.

I call the crescent moon the traveling moon. Maybe because when you are out driving across the open desert or sitting on the tarmack you are more likely to see her then when you are sitting at home. Maybe it’s because when I am traveling she always comes out to greet me.

Either way, she is a good omen, reminding us all to appreciate the extraordinary planet that we call home and inviting us to create a future for humanity that has never been.