image for illustration: Buzz Aldrin on the moon (Apollo 11, 1969) -by Neil A. Armstrong, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
As a new era of space exploration dawns, international collaboration is required to protect the physical remnants of early Moon landings and preserve these enduring symbols of collective human achievement
World Monuments Fund writes:
… With the 2025 World Monuments Watch, WMF seeks to increase awareness and protection of lunar heritage..
As a new era of space exploration dawns, the physical remnants of early Moon landings are under threat, jeopardizing these enduring symbols of collective human achievement. People throughout time have looked up at the Moon in wonder, incorporating it into myths, sacred rituals, astronomical calendars, and scientific pursuits. This captivation soared to new heights with the dawn of the Space Age, when nations made groundbreaking strides in space exploration. On July 20, 1969, when the Apollo 11 mission landed in the Sea of Tranquility, 650 million people on Earth watched humans walk on the Moon’s surface for the first time.
The landing site, known as Tranquility Base, preserves some 106 assorted artifacts related to the event, including the landing module, scientific instruments, biological artifacts, and commemorative objects, as well as Neil Armstrong’s iconic boot print.
Tranquility Base is one of over 90 historic landing and impact sites that mark humankind’s presence on the Moon’s surface and testify to some of our most extraordinary feats of courage and ingenuity. They represent remarkable science and engineering milestones rooted in millennia of astronomical study and remain a source of growing scientific knowledge. These landing sites also mark moments that stirred the collective imagination and inspired a sense of global wonder and shared accomplishment.
Due to the absence of wind and flowing water, these landing sites have been preserved in relatively stable condition over decades without intervention. A recent resurgent interest in human activity on the Moon, including a burgeoning commercial space industry, welcomes an exciting new era of space exploration while posing novel risks to the integrity of historic landing sites. Exploitative visitation, souveniring, and looting by future missions and private lunar exploration could eventually compromise this truly unique cultural heritage, removing artifacts and forever erasing iconic prints and tracks from the Moon’s surface.
International collaboration can help protect this rich legacy for posterity. In 2023, an interdisciplinary group of archaeologists, heritage managers, aerospace scientists, and researchers formed the International Scientific Committee on Aerospace Heritage (ISCoAH), which operates under the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), to promote the preservation of humanity’s tangible and intangible aerospace heritage. While the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty outlined principles for the Moon’s peaceful exploration and use, there is currently no dedicated international agreement addressing lunar heritage protection.
Guided by successes such as the Antarctic Treaty System, which protects heritage that lies beyond the jurisdiction of any nation or intergovernmental body, ICOMOS through the ISCoAH is spearheading efforts for greater recognition of lunar heritage and seeks to establish international heritage protections and regulations for future lunar missions. These efforts also invite a broader public conversation on the value of our shared lunar heritage, as well as the potential impact of human activities in space—what this new Space Age might mean for the cultural and natural landscape of the Moon.
