A Heritage Site That’s Out Of This World
This Apollo 11 poster will have you dreaming of a lunar vacation.
This story is part of our celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. View the rest of our special coverage here.
On this day in 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon. And some day, you might be able to visit that historic site yourself.
Recently on Science Friday, we talked with space archaeologist Beth O’Leary and aerospace engineer Ann Darrin about preserving humanity’s history in space.
Although space tourism is still a ways off, NASA is already taking steps to preserve significant sites on the moon. In 2011 the agency issued recommendations for protecting the first and last landing sites on the moon, essentially creating a no-landing zone within two kilometers of where Apollos 11 and 17 were located. As O’Leary says, “there has been a buy-in by the different people involved in the Google XPRIZE to say we’re going to avoid those [landing sites].” You can learn more about O’Leary’s quest to preserve the Apollo 11 site at the Lunar Legacy Project.
While touring a lunar national park isn’t yet possible, that doesn’t mean you can’t get excited about it! We commissioned artist Julia Kuo to create a poster for an Apollo 11 historic site. And yes, you can print out your own copy for free.
Illustration by Julia Kuo.
Download the printable version here
Meet the Writer
About Brandon Echter
@bechterBrandon Echter was Science Friday’s digital managing editor. He loves space, sloths, and cephalopods, and his aesthetic is “cultivated schlub.”