#2

The first being to set foot on the moon was a Rat, Mr. Thane Beartacare, hand-picked by a discerning team of elite Ferret businesslords. Mr. Beartacare was the highest ranked student in his class and the son of a prominent middle-managing Slab Rat. He excelled during his two years of astroneering training in a secluded facility in the Hunted Lands, followed orders to the letter, and asked few questions. The day of his launch was a world-wide holiday and watched by every known sentient being for whom there are clear and accurate records.
Upon his landing, Mr. Beartacare stepped out of his shielded silver landing pod, smiled broadly at a camera mounted on its roof, and was about to deliver his carefully crafted Ferret-approved speech – outlining the Ferrets’ extensive plans for the moon and its intricate network of largely inaccessible caverns – but when he opened his mouth to speak, all that came out was a thin, painful wheeze. He grabbed at his throat and coughed violently. Even through his sculpted helmet dome, the billions of viewers could tell something had gone wrong – could tell he was in sickening pain – could gaze deeply into his frightened, confused eyes.
Mr. Beartacare slumped to his knees next to the pod, ruffling up a cloud of red moon dust that settled on his upper back, shoulders, and arms. The robot camera followed him as he fell, and focused on the top of his dome.
Mr. Beartacare coughed some more, reached weakly behind him for the pod he could now not reach, and then fell over onto his side, twitched once, and died.
A noticeably heavy silence fell over the planet as they watched this happen. No one moved or spoke for many minutes and when they finally did, it was to blankly ask the person next to them, “Did you see that?”
Hours later a hastily assembled press conference packed to the ceiling with important Ferrets explained to the media markets of the world, and their pantingly confused constituents, that every recording and reading they had taken of the moon since the dawn of the Outer World program decades before had been wrong – the moon was hot, it turned out. It was desperately, uninhabitably hot, enough to kill a poor heroic Rat instantly. Those responsible for not determining this were no longer with the Outer World project, except for a few that still were, and all of those people would be fired or arrested. The citizens of the world were assured that no such tragedies would ever befall the brave astroneers of the future, who would be equipped with yet-to-be-designed heat-shielding suits, and furthermore would all be Sparrows.
A massive statue of Mr. Thane Beartacare was built and placed in the barren wastelands surrounding his home city. A giant plaque bore the legend:

YOU SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN
THE MOON SHALL BE OURS
THE DREAM SHALL BE LIVED

Top secret records state that the Guided Moon project was begun on the same day as the statue’s dedication.
Even more top secret records reveal that the Guided Moon project is housed within the statue’s lead-lined pedestal.