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Western Slope Skies - Mankind's Mementos on the Moon

The Duke family portrait in April 1972
NASA
The Duke family portrait in April 1972

Sixty-nine years ago, Humanity first contacted the Moon’s surface with Luna 2, the former Soviet Union’s uncrewed lunar probe. The Soviets quickly advanced this achievement, spurring the United States to land the first humans on the Moon in July 1969. Since then, several nations have inaugurated their own explorations, and NASA’s Artemis Program aims to establish the first permanent moonbase by the 2030s.

One may wonder what has been left behind over the decades. The answer is well over 200 tons of diverse artifacts. Behind the materials are many stories-- mundane, poignant, controversial, and amusing.

By mass, spacecraft remnants comprise the artifact majority-- spent rocket stages, landers, and rovers essential for exploration, but infeasible to return to Earth. There are also shipwrecks-- mostly Soviet and American probes deliberately crashed upon mission completion. But some were unplanned, like Russia’s Luna 25 in August 2023, and Israel’s Beresheet in April 2019. Other remnants include experiments, survey instruments, cameras, spacesuit gear, footprints and tire tracks.

The American flag was famously planted during Apollo 11 and several later missions. According to NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, three of six flags remain visibly standing, bleached and brittle from the extreme surface conditions. Lest you try, the flags are not visible from Earth. Apollo 11 also left behind a silicon disc micro-etched with 73 international goodwill messages, and a commemorative stainless steel plaque.

Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke left a small plastic-wrapped family portrait in April 1972, a touching personal moment. Cremated remains of famed comet-hunter Eugene Shoemaker were “buried” near the lunar south pole, when NASA’s Lunar Prospector orbiter was deliberately crashed in July 1999. The memorial gesture unintentionally offended Navajo religious belief, raising the importance of intercultural respect in the sciences.

In August 1971, Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck persuaded Apollo 15’s David Scott to install an art piece-- a small figurine titled Fallen Astronaut. While NASA administrators authorized the installation, they took exception to Hoeydonck’s intention to sell replicas for profit. Hoeydonck desisted, but not before selling one to an investment banker.

Astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell organized a “lunar Olympics” during Apollo 14. Shepherd smuggled aboard a 6-iron golf head and two balls, jerry-rigging a club for a few line drives. Mitchell fashioned a thrown javelin from detection equipment. Both balls and javelin remain on the Moon; the club resides in New Jersey’s US Golf Association Museum.

By international agreement, lunar artifacts do not constitute territorial possession; like Antarctica, the Moon is the peaceful “province of all mankind”. But critical questions remain-- lunar property rights, lunar mining regulation, biological spoliation control, effective personal sanitation, etc. Ultimately, new space law will provide answers to govern Humanity’s lunar future.

Music written and produced by Kenny Mihelich (ma-HELL-itch). Western Slope Skies is produced by the Black Canyon Astronomical Society and KVNF Community Radio. This feature was written and voiced by Michael T. Williams.