This is a report synthesizing discussions of the Astronomy/Astrophysics Definition Team at the Lunar Science Strategy Workshop for the Exploration and Development of the Moon which was held at the NASA Johnson Space Center during August 15‐16, 1989, and was chaired by F. Vilas. Astronomical observatories on the Moon offer the benefits of enormous scientific return and large community interaction. We envision the long‐term goal of lunar based astronomy as the development of a diverse facility covering all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. This facility will build on and eventually replace the Great Observatories. The development of optical and infrared interferometry should be a principal activity, optimized by a lunar site. However, we believe strongly that lunar observatories should evolve from simple to complex systems and that they should not and need not make major demands on the limited amount of manpower envisioned for the first 20 years of the lunar outpost. We advocate a program in which we build on our lunar experience, initially using small facilities to answer questions critical to the design and construction of larger, more complex systems in the future. At the same time these small initial facilities offer the potential of significant scientific benefits immediately upon our return to the Moon.