TSIOLKOVSKIY LUNAR FARSIDE OBSERVATORY Tapestry

By the mid-22nd Century, all major space-faring powers have established observatories on the far or "dark" side of the Moon. Insulated from Earth's ceaseless radio chatter by 2,159 miles of Lunar rock, telescopes now probe the depths of cosmic time and space with an unprecedented clarity. Nearly 150 astronomers now work in these isolated little colonies where the Earth is forever hidden beneath the horizon. It is perhaps not surprising then that the observatory based at the crater Tsiolkovskiy has come to possess a particularly symbolic value, haunted as it is by the words of the long-dead visionary whose name it bears: "Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever."