Astronauts have the Nordic countries to thank for the first missions to the moon. And now, the Nordics are giving back.
“Apollo explorations of lunar volcanic terrain gained insights from exposure to the varieties of newly formed volcanic rocks and structures found in Iceland,” wrote Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt in his 2006 book Return to the Moon. “All the lunar landing crews benefited from the examination of the varied rock assemblages that resemble the complexities of the lunar surface.”
More recently—twice in the last two years, in fact—Iceland has had a similar experience with two tourism campaigns leaning on the same concept.
