Preserving Lunar History

Plans to return to the Moon's surface, both by various nations and by private efforts, has brought up the question of how and whether to preserve the landing sites associated with the first era of lunar exploration some forty years ago.

It's an interesting subject. Virtually everyone involved in the debate agrees that the landing site of Apollo 11 should not be disturbed in any way, but the other Apollo sites might not merit such protection. Apollo 17, for example, left some items on the Moon specifically for future explorers to retrieve in order to study the affects of long term exposure to the lunar environment. Bringing those items back would seem justifiable-- finally ending the Apollo 17 mission, in a sense. Beyond the Apollo sites, there are also the unmanned sites-- from the American Ranger and Surveyor probes, and the Soviet Luna and Lunakhod vehicles.

The idea is to preserve certain areas of the Moon much as we preserve parts of Earth in national parks and heritage sites. The first such project in the world was Yellowstone National Park in 1872. At that time, the American West was still a frontier. Custer and his command died four years later. So, maybe it's not too soon to protect some areas of the lunar frontier.