Deep within the rugged mountains of Southern California and rising above the desert landscape of Southern New Mexico are the oncemajestic historic rocket test stands and facilities that helped send humans to the moon for the first time in 1969. Many of these areabandoned. Countless others across the American landscape and on the lunar surface have become ruins, silent and largely forgotten. The Final Mission explores the critical sites linked to space exploration and calls for their urgent preservation. The authors provide fascinating background information on significant sites and discuss ways to preserve and protect the buildings and artifacts that remain for future generations. These facilities helped refine the Saturn V rocket engines that carried the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon and developed the critical equipment that made it possible for humans to survive and return safely to Earth. This book gives these sites the recognition they have long been due for their roles in the landmark Apollo missions that blazed at the height of the twentieth-century space race.

When three college students enrolled in a summer archaeological program in Mexico, they never suspected their summer adventures would extend past dusty pottery sherds and margaritas. However, when one of their number starts having visions and seeing signs, they realize their dig has greater implications than course credit. Now, they must work together to appease the ancient Mayan Gods and discover the identity of the only person who can restart the world's calendar -before all hell breaks loose.

The world will always remember Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for their first steps on the moon, yet few today hold in respect the sites that made these and other astronauts' journeys possible. Across the American landscape and on the lunar surface, many facilities and landing sites linked to the Apollo program remain unprotected. Some have already crumbled to ruins-silent and abandoned. The Final Mission explores these key locations, reframes the footprints and items left on the moon as cultural resources, and calls for the urgent preservation of this space heritage. Beginning with the initiation of the space race, the authors trace the history of research, training, and manufacturing centers that contributed to lunar exploration. From the early rocket test stands of Robert H. Goddard, to astronaut instruction at Meteor Crater, to human and primate experiments at Holloman Air Force Base, innumerable places proved critical to developing the equipment for exploring space, surviving the journey, and returning to Earth safely. Despite their significance to the history of human spaceflight, many landmarks face the threat of damage or destruction. Most alarming is that the rapid advancement of technology renders stations obsolete long before they are deemed worthy of preservation. Moreover, the lack of precedence for protecting off-planet artifacts poses a unique challenge for space archaeology. While NASA's 2011 recommendations for spacefarers suggest avoiding close proximity to this cultural landscape, the authors advocate stronger routes of preservation and present models for safeguarding space history-both on Earth's surface and beyond.