Senators Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) have introduced a bill — the One Small Step to Protect Human Heritage in Space Act — that seeks to preserve and protect the historic Apollo 11 landing site.
The bill notes that the lunar landing sites of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, the robotic spacecraft that preceded the Apollo 11 mission, and the piloted and robotic spacecraft that followed “are of outstanding universal value to humanity.”
The Act explains that such landing sites: are the first archaeological locales with human activity that are not on Earth; provide evidence of the first achievements of humankind in the realm of space travel and exploration; and contain artifacts and other evidence of human exploration activities that remain a potential source of cultural, historical, archaeological, anthropological, scientific and engineering knowledge.
“As commercial enterprises and more countries acquire the ability to land on the moon,” the bill notes, “it is necessary to ensure the recognition and protection of the Apollo 11 landing site and other historic landing sites together with all the human effort and innovation the sites represent.”
Read more HERE
