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This is actually kind of fascinating – how do you protect the historical items left on the moon? They have, after all, become pieces of history that have high relevance to American and world culture:
The most attractive objects include the remains of the Soviet Lunik 2 space probe, which crashed into the moon at 12,000 kilometers per hour (7,500 miles per hour) in 1959; dozens of small Soviet emblems shed by the probe shortly before impact; the first moon vehicle, brought to the moon on the Apollo 15 mission in 1971, and now parked near the Hadley Groove; and, finally, the golf ball that US astronaut Alan Shephard hit about 300 meters (984 feet) with a six-iron near the Fra Mauro crater on Feb. 6, 1971 -- not bad for a one-handed stroke in an uncomfortable space suit.
Urine Containers, 'Space Boots' and Artifacts Aren't Just Junk, Argue Archaeologists
This is actually kind of fascinating - how do you protect the historical items left on the moon? They have, after all, become pieces of history that have high relevance to American and world culture:
The most attractive objects include the remains of the Soviet Lunik 2 space probe, which crashed into the moon at 12,000 kilometers per hour (7,500 miles per hour) in 1959; dozens of small Soviet emblems shed by the probe shortly before impact; the first moon vehicle, brought to the moon on the Apollo 15 mission in 1971, and now parked near the Hadley Groove; and, finally, the golf ball that US astronaut Alan Shephard hit about 300 meters (984 feet) with a six-iron near the Fra Mauro crater on Feb. 6, 1971 -- not bad for a one-handed stroke in an uncomfortable space suit.
Urine Containers, 'Space Boots' and Artifacts Aren't Just Junk, Argue Archaeologists
What about the face on Mars "structure" in the Cydonia region? Does this qualify? 🙂
I predict that eventually the Tranquility site will be surrounded by a museum. It should be too. If it would get me to the moon I would switch disciplines to space archaeology today.One of these days we will get off of this dirt-ball and stay off. I used to think I would see a permanent moon presence in my life-time, I am not so sure now that the space program has been gutted in the name of social spending. I would gladly pay higher taxes to support spaceflight. We could even cut welfare completely and send that money to NASA and I would not mind. I can think of few parts of the federal budget that so much tangible benefit has come from than the space program. I read somewhere that for every dollar spent on the space program, thee is something like 50$ of economic activity because of spin-offs and such. That is tax money well spent.{quibbling}In the original quote the name of the feature where Apollo 15 landed is incorrectly called Hadley Groove it's proper name is Hadley Rille.{quibbling}
One of these days we will get off of this dirt-ball and stay off.
Wow you sound like a regular Han Solo with that line. 😉
I used to think I would see a permanent moon presence in my life-time, I am not so sure now that the space program has been gutted in the name of social spending. I would gladly pay higher taxes to support spaceflight. We could even cut welfare completely and send that money to NASA and I would not mind. I can think of few parts of the federal budget that so much tangible benefit has come from than the space program. I read somewhere that for every dollar spent on the space program, thee is something like 50$ of economic activity because of spin-offs and such. That is tax money well spent.
When I was growing up my family had an encyclopedia that must have been published in the late 1960s or sometime in the 1970s. In the section on space exploration, there was text which stated something about how by the 1980s we would have something like a permanent moon base. There was an artist's depiction along with the article which showed astronauts buzzing around on the moon in their jet packs. Kind of funny. I always thought it was interesting how forward-looking we Americans used to be in regard to space travel.
I always thought it was interesting how forward-looking we Americans used to be in regard to space travel.
We did. Sometime in the 70's around the time of the Apollo-Soyuz missions space stopped being sexy. Then came the Challenger and Columbia accidents and everybody started pointing fingers at NASA. nobody ever stopped to think that NASA could have done better with more money and it is amazing what they have done with the pittance they get. NASA only had an annual budget of $16.2 Billion Dollars in 2007, compare that to just medicaid and food stamps and other welfare programs which spent a combined $543 billion in 2006. I would love to see some social programs cut and NASA's budget increased.Yes, I am a huge space enthusiast. I have been to the Cape and seen a couple of Delta launches but never seen a shuttle launch and probably never will. I would gladly pay more taxes if every dollar went to fund space development and exploration. I also invest in aerospace companies. Space is our future, even if most of the proles dont realize it and are content to subsist on government largesse. We need a new frontier and that frontier is beyond low-earth orbit, we just have to expend the resources to get there.
