Question:

Who will save the footprints!?!

When a significant event occurs at a particular place on the surface of our Earth, that place is often regarded as “historical”. Often, historical places are preserved for many years. They are preserved in remembrance of the event and those persons associated with it. By designating historical sites, we ensure that generations to come will not lose their awareness of persons before them who were either pushed or thrust themselves into history’s limelight. This includes pioneers, inventors, martyrs, philosophers, politician, accident victims and others.

Some persons believe that a community with a vague awareness of its heritage and legacies can have only limited confidence in its future. In the near future we will return to the Moon. Once there, we will establish communities. Those communities, unlike the communities left behind on the Earth, will have little in the way of permanent historical sites to connect them with the legacy of those pioneers and explorers who came before them. What will build their confidence in their futures?

The historical sites remembered by those living in early lunar communities; such as a launch pad where towering rockets rose on plumes of flame, the small white house where a cosmonaut was born or the salt covered desert sand where a space shuttle landed after its maiden flight, will all be back on Earth. Their heritage will be far away.

SPELLS is an organization dedicated to creating historical sites upon the lunar surface.

There are a multitude of impact and landing sites that can be used for this purpose. Not only can these places be designated as historical, some of them must be! And, it is the world community’s responsibility to do so, just as we do here on Earth. Many very significant events have occurred upon the Moon’s surface. Should we not preserve the areas of their occurrence and regard them as it as historical? And should we not remember those associated with them, from planners to pilots?

What about possibly the most significant event thus far, in recorded history - the place where the human race first placed its footprints on the soil of another celestial body - the landing site of Apollo 11’s lunar module on the Sea of Tranquility? What term would we use to place the deepest historical value upon this vicinity? Would the designation “historical site” be enough? SPELLS believes this place, where our race realized its destiny, to be hallowed ground and that it must be sheltered and protected for as long as the Earth and Moon shall exist and must remain un-owned, but the property of all humanity.

All nation and peoples of the Earth must declare the place where Apollo 11 came to rest upon the face of our closest neighbor in the universe “The First Interplanetary Historical Site”.

Have you ever enjoyed a visit to a museum, art gallery or historical site? Maybe, during such types of excursions, you are consciously aware of, and thankful for, the planning and preparation that went into your surroundings or the articles you survey. Or, maybe like me, you usually just marvel in awe, taking for granted, the planning, collecting, reconstruction, preservation and maintenance that go on behind the scenes. Even something as simple as a scenic overlook along a mountain roadway takes some forethought and planning.

For a few minutes, use your imagination, that magnificent tool of forethought and planning, and visualize a museum, a gallery and historical site that are far away in years and kilometers. See adults staring in into a room-sized display and watch as two seven year olds pass behind them in a bounding gallop. One of the adults whirls ninety degrees in a flash. Listen, and hear a loud whisper.

“Stop it right now, and go over there, and set down!” snaps one the chaperons, emphatically and through gritted teeth.

See the scene now from above the two impish criminals, as they set with heads down, trying to stifle their giggles and hide the grins covering their faces. They stare straight down, past their small feet, through a gleaming, un-scuffed and completely transparent floor. See the image of their feet, covered in clean, brilliant white socks, resting upon the floor. Take note of the gray soil, about arm’s reach below the floor. Picture deep impressions in that soil made by a large pair of boots that seem to have no heel. Can you tell the left boot from the right?

Muse for a moment at the scene, then return quickly to the here and now. At this point, stop and realize that This Here, and This Now is the place and time for the forethought and planning for the place you just paid a visit to, in your mind’s eye. Where were you? You were in The Gagarin-Grissom Lunar Museum of Early Space Age Exploration – on our Moon – at the Apollo 11 landing site - in the year Twenty, Sixty-Nine.

Copyright 2000 / James S. Seidle