The fifth edition of Starmus took place in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2019, under the title A Giant Leap.

The festival opened with Hans Zimmer’s homage to the Apollo Missions, Once Upon a Time on the Moon. The musical component of the festival also featured Brian May, Rick Wakeman, Steve Vai and other stars. The Stephen Hawking Medal was awarded to Elon Musk, Buzz Aldrin, Brian Eno and the documentary Apollo 11, screened during the festival for the first time in Europe.

Dedicated to the humanity’s first step on the Moon and Apollo missions, Starmus V featured Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Al Worden, Charlie Duke, Harrison Schmidt, Rusty Schweikart, Walt Cunningham joined by ESA astronauts Helen Sharman, Claude Nicollier, Tim Peake, former NASA astronauts Garrett Reisman, Sandra Magnus, Nicole Stott and Russian astronauts Gennadiy Padalka and Yuri Baturin.

Nobel Prize Laureates Donna Strickland, Edvard Moser, Elizabeth Blackburn, May-Britt Moser, Adam Riess, Robert Wilson, George Smoot, Brian Schmidt, Barry Barish, Eric Betzig and Kur Wuthrich joined the traditional discussion panel to debate on pressing issues of space exploration and the prospects of humanity in space. Another traditional panel titled 108 Minutes featured Harrison Schmitt, Charlie Duke, Brian Eno, Tony Fadell, May-Britt Moser, Donna Strickland, Garik Israelian, Michael Hintze, Al Worden and Gerry Griffin.

A constellation of scientists, artists and astronauts shared their discoveries during six full days, through lectures, panel discussions, concerts, and a new genre in science communication, the concert-lecture, by May-Britt Moser.