NASA: Oops, We Erased the Moon Landing Tapes

(NEWSER) - Forty years ago today Neil Armstrong strode across the surface of the moon and became the most famous man in the galaxy. Then he disappeared—leaving NASA for a university job, attending almost no public functions, and refusing nearly all interview requests. "Neil was very much the same person after Apollo 11 as he was before it," a space historian tells the Washington Post. "The pragmatism, the modesty, the shyness were there from an early age." More»

(NEWSER) - America should boldly turn its space program toward colonizing Mars instead of trying to retrace the dusty footprints that he and Neil Armstrong made on the Moon 40 years ago, Buzz Aldrin writes in the Washington Post on the anniversary of Apollo 11's launch. NASA's attempt to resume lunar exploration will end up like its predecessor, "a dead end littered with broken spacecraft, broken dreams and broken policies," Aldrin writes. More»

Calif. aims to preserve Apollo urine containers, space boots

(NEWSER) - California has named the remains of the Apollo 11 mission—including urine containers and space boots—a state historical resource. Experts in the nascent field of space archeology worry that, without preservation, what they call a "sacred site of world history" might be looted by future missions or space tourists. "Can you imagine someone driving a cart over Neil Armstrong's first footprint?" one asks—or pieces of Apollo 11 on eBay? More»

Space fans want to protect landing site

(NEWSER) - California wants to protect the junk the Apollo 11 astronauts left behind from careless future visitors to the moon. If a state panel approves a proposal to declare the landing site an official historical resource, California would become the first state to protect the location. New Mexico and Texas are considering doing so as well, and space heritage buffs hope that if they do, the UN will follow suit. More»

(NEWSER) - What do you do when you’re the first men back from the moon and you have a cargo of moon rocks and other lunar specimens? Make a customs declaration, of course. Well, not really, Space.com reports. A customs form, filed in Honolulu and released by NASA to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s return to earth, bears the signatures of all three astronauts—who were quarantined on an aircraft carrier at the time. More»