[FPSPACE] Moon museum: Race to save space relics

[LARRY KLAES]

Moon museum: Race to save space relics

by Leonard David, SPACE.com Special Correspondent

Rover tracks cross the path of Apollo 17 astronauts' boot prints. New treads 
by commercial rovers may threaten erasing history.

July 26, 2008, Mountain View, Calif. — The moon is sprinkled with historical 
hardware hurled from Earth that signifies the pioneering steps taken over 
decades in robotic and human exploration of Earth's celestial next-door 
neighbor.

But numbers of spacefaring nations, including commercial enterprises, are 
readying their respective assaults on the moon. That fact has sparked 
growing concern about safeguarding lunar heritage sites, keeping them free 
of future "Kilroy was here" graffiti-like abuses.

This issue was aired at the NASA Lunar Science Conference staged here July 
20-23 by the new NASA Lunar Science Institute situated at the space agency's 
Ames Research Center.

Full article here:

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-072608a.html