Step Away from the Lunar Module, Folks
By Steve Casimiro, Adventure Journal on January 11th, 2012
The moon is the last place you’d have to worry about preserving artifacts, right? After all, the tracks of Apollo astronauts will last until interstellar dust fills them and the American flags until ultraviolet rays shred them. Well, not so fast. There’s a race to put spacecraft back on the moon between states like Russia and India and private efforts like the Google Lunar X Prize, any of which could run roughshod over the signs of one of humanity’s greatest achievements. Well, now preservationists in California and New Mexico, after being shunned by officials at the National Park Service, have announced state connections to the NASA stuff on the moon and listed them as historical resources not to be disturbed. They’ve drawn boundaries around the landing sites that shouldn’t be crossed — a 75-meter radius for the Apollo 11 lander, for example, and their effort is gaining traction with NASA to publicize it. And, while it doesn’t have the force of law, their declarations are paying off: One private company seeking the Google prize says it now will avoid the Apollo 11 and 17 sites.
