A Monument Out of This World

The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has just released its 2025 Watch list, and this year one of the historic places that it wants to preserve is out of this world. The WMF says that it wants to protect the Apollo 11 landing site because, "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." Hopefully this will keep Texans from getting any wild ideas since the Texas based company, SpaceX, is planning to send people to the moon again. While I may be joking, the WMF is serious about protecting these lunar treasures of Apollo 11 from future looting or exploitation.

 

Why the Moon Matters

Putting the Moon on the WMF watch list is more than just a symbolic gesture. There are multiple missions to the moon being planned between NASA and SpaceX, so the president of the WMF, Bénédicte de Montlaur, says, "As we enter a new era of space exploration, protecting this cultural landscape is crucial". There are some amazing things up there like the Lunar Landing Module, commemorative objects, and even Neil Armstrong's boot print.

Texas and the Moon

The addition of the Moon to the WMF watchlist should be important to Texans because of the significance of Texas to the Moon landings. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin trained at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and Charles Duke, the 10th man to walk on the moon, has lived in New Braunfels since 1975.

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In 2017, NASA opened the digital doors to its image and video library website, allowing the public to access more than 140,000 images, videos, and audio files. The collection provides unprecedented views of space. Stacker reviewed the collection to select 31 of the most breathtaking images, including the first from the James Webb Space Telescope. Keep reading to see these stunning images, curated with further information about the captured scenes.

Gallery Credit: Deborah Brosseau

 

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