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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.
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