District of Alaska Skagway at the Shootout on Juneau Wharf. Alaska still had plenty of gold of its own, and many who had failed to make their fortunes in the Klondike strike came back to look for it. An earlier strike had established Juneau in Southeast Alaska, and gold was found in Nome in 1899. For several years a prospector named Felix Pedro had been searching in the Tanana Hills of the Interior for a gold-rich creek he had stumbled upon years earlier but had been forced to abandon. As the summer of 1901 drew to a close, Pedro was about to embark
Lunar Prospector read 53 minutes earlier. This simple solid-state recorder ensured that all data collected during communications blackout periods would be received, providing the blackout was not longer than 53 minutes. The probe also carried a small amount of the remains of Eugene Shoemaker (April 28, 1928 – July 18, 1997), astronomer and co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, to the Moon for a space burial. Following launch on January 7, 1998 UT (6 January EST) aboard a four-stage Athena II rocket, "Lunar Prospector" had a 105-hour cruise to the Moon. During the cruise, the three instrument booms were deployed. The MAG and