Starmus honours men who reached for the moon

With a mix of music and award honours, the Starmus Festival being held in Zurich this week has paid homage to the people who made the first moon landing possible 50 years ago.

For the first time, Stephen Hawking, who died in 2018, was not present for the awarding of the Stephen Hawking Medal he inaugurated in 2016. The medal honours people who have made an exceptional contribution to promoting science.

This year’s recipientsExternal link included Todd Douglas Miller for his documentary “Apollo 11” and his “breakthrough look at history’s most famous space mission”; sound magician Brian Eno, for “his contribution to the popularisation of science”; and Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, Space X, Open AI (artificial intelligence) and SolarCity (sustainable energy) for “his astounding accomplishments in space travel and for humanity”.

The lifetime achievement award was given to Buzz Aldrin, veteran astronaut of Apollo 11, who, at 89 years old, continues to be a passionate advocate for space exploration.

The week-long international gathering celebrating space, science, art and music first held in 2011 gathers everyone from astronauts and Nobel prize-winning astrophysicists to investors and musicians.

The event started on Monday with an opening concert entitled “Once upon a time on the Moon” with Oscar winning composer Hans Zimmer, Queen guitarist and composer Brian May and Yes star Rick Wakeman.

A previous version of this video indicated that American astronaut Buzz Aldrin had worn a solar visor designed by the University of Bern while on the moon. In fact he unfurled a solar foil meant to measure the solar wind. We regret the error.