Huh... I didn't realize NASA owned the moon.

NASA doesn't own the Moon, and if anyone wanted to they could, by all rights, send their own Moon rover anywhere they want.

... But then again, that would be a huge disrespect of the history. And you don't want to be that guy do ya?

Like the Pirate's Code, NASA's guidelines can be followed or ignored. And, as mob said, you don't want to be that guy that messed with history. It's a little bit of respect for prior accomplishments, and preserving them for others to enjoy.

NASA doesn't own anything here, they just made a recommendation to the people (Google) who own the Lunar X Prize. The X Prize, in turn, added a rule to their contest that you don't get the prize money if you violate NASA's wishes. All perfectly in compliance with Libertarian principles, no need to get your tea bags in a twist :)

So if a private company brings back moon rocks, is it still a crime to sell them? They would not be property of the government, so could they confiscate them if they found their way on ebay or were auctioned off publicly? I'd rather one of these private companies go and see what's on the backside of the moon. Since NASA has been very hush-hush about what is actually there.

The moon is HOLLOW??? WTF are you smoking?

Yeah I read about a few places they think might go down inside the moon like a big cave or something.

And I hope they are able to show all even if there are alien artifacts there.

I think I'll bid for the green cheese import franchise.

Been there, done that.

Kubrick already filmed the alien artifact.

Next!!

You're a private entity. Should the government have the right to screen every photo you were to take on the Moon...?

NASA wants us to stay far away so we don't find out that the landing sites don't actually exist! (Of course I'm joking).

Actually I would think that the same rules for determing who owns what land on the Moon would be the same as the Earth. Technically, if those rules are applied, the USA 'OWNS' the part of the Moon where the American flags are planted, and the surrounding explored area. Its kinda of like 'staking a claim'. But if push ever comes to shove, just like history shows, its whoever has the biggest stick that determines who owns what.

I"d have to agree, we planted a flag; therefore, some part of that moon is US territory :P

The USA landed on the Moon and planted the flag and then proclaimed it belonged to all mankind. This is common knowledge.

NASA owns that hardware though and they have a right to say who messes with it, that being said all of mankind should want to preserve the first footsteps on another celestial body.

How is this even debatable?

There is even a NASA plaque on the moon SAYING it belongs to all mankind. The US specifically made no claim.

The Outer Space Treaty signed in 1967 says that no country can claim territory in space, so no, the US does not own any part of the moon, regardless of the flag. That being said, NASA can ask them not to disturb sites and they can agree to do that. If they choose to ignore NASA, NASA could then decide to never do business with them in the future. Its just in their best interest to follow NASA's guidance.

This is not about owning 'the Moon,' it's about 'your stuff' that happens to be on the Moon.

Same applies to stuff at sea...

As I said above, if you read the article you will note that NASA appealed to, and proposed guidelines for, private Moon trips. Like the Pirates's Code, guidelines can be followed or ignored, and from Earth there is not much we can do about it. But would YOU want to be the one who messed with history?

Even laws can be followed or ignored. If they say they own it (which no one ever has) then it is their duty to protect it and, like frontier law or the pirate code, if you can't defend what's yours then how can you expect to lay claim to it?

The Earth and the Moon do not belong to anyone. We mere humans are a insignificant in comparison and this whole debate is a farce.

I heard that the chinese will fly back stuff they find and put in a chinese musem to the former super power :P

They will probably get lost and drive all over the foot prints. Oh well.

" Sh+t happens".

Newt Gingrich, self-appointed mayor of the moon.

Oh! That would be cool. Always wanted to be a park ranger. Wouldn't that be the best park to get assigned to?

Realistically, though, James-3672256 probably has it right - at least for the near future. Someone messes up and NASA does no more business with them. Might not be the case in the distant future, but for now everyone depends on NASA for the technical support and such.

Oh great, I wonder how much the National Park Service would charge for parking on the moon?

It's not the parking so much as the valet. At $1,000 a lbs, tips can really start to bite.

You don't know a lot, do you? Get out much? Is your squared-headed girlfriend a cheap date?

Dude, back off the Faux Outrage indignation. I proves you are an idjit.

You dont know we have high def cams in the surface, mounted on rovers, and in orbit constantly streaming pictures and video and other data back to Earth? Really?

IT does nhot gat any "liver" than constant data streaming.

Here is one of the streaming sites for the current rovers:

http://www.livestream.com/marsrover

Here is a streaming site for Curiosity, the new rovers video stream

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

It will land in August.

Odd that you would assume this is not being done, its 2012!

By "mystery wind" you mean the metal wire inserted into the flag to make it stiff and viewable to the camera?

LMFAO!

You've never had much experience with the behavior of objects in a vacuum, have you? You might take a few physics courses and them come back.

Think of the difference between air to water, and the difference between vacuum to air is even greater. Dust settles instantly, fabric "waves" magically at the slightest disturbance due to no air resistance, a feather and cannonball fall at the exact same speed. Powdery dirt is totally different, since there is no air to fill in spaces between the particles.

My physics teacher in high school, Ted Haubein, had this huge vacuum chamber he would pump down overnight and demonstrate these kinds of things. He also had two large test tubes with a penny in each one. One of them had normal air in it, the other a vacuum. If you shook the latter, that penny acted like it wanted to bust through the bottom of the test tube since there was no air to slow it down. That little demonstration was incredible.

Really? I think it's a step forward that American citizens make trips to the moon while giving the government the raspberry.

Like SF said, I believe it says far more about our society that private citizens CAN look forward to this. IF government ran as efficiently...

Rightbehind,

The United States government most certainly CAN afford to send as many people as is desired to the Moon. You must familiarize yourself with the federal budget. We don't have a problem with revenue, we have a problem with spending. Perhaps the good accountant could provide some insights in that respect..

Anywho, my point is that American can afford moonshots.. The problem is our federal budget prioritizes things like defense spending and social programs (social security, medicare). Congress typically wants to cut NASA's budget because the uneducated and/or uninformed general public sees NASA as some kind of good-for-nothing provides-no-direct-benefit agency. In fact NASA provides a very real return on investment, but the ROI doesn't always come about in the same manner as it might in, say, a simple small business.

Yea tell the 49 million Americans in poverty. Yea they are all idiots and mooches.

I guess having rich parents brain washes many into above normal self importance.

Then we'll send our rocketeers to vandalize their landing site!

And thus the space race will deteriorate into an extremely expensive Internet flame war.

The Chinese are probably at least a decade away from a lunar trip. Going to the Moon "ain't like dusting crops" and certainly isn't like spending a few days in low Earth orbit. Outside of Earth's protection, you have a lot more crap that can go wrong, and quickly. And just like the US during Apollo, dead astronauts would be a PR disaster.

Well MB we'll wory about what you will do on the Moon when you get there. I for one support NASA's REQUEST that those HISTORICAL sites be preserved for all of us here on Earth.

Can't you limit your shenanigans to the Russian's stuff? You know, just as a courtesy?

Please?

I'm with MB ! I think he has a right to do whatever he wants on the moon.

Personally I think he should take a deep breath and head there now.

Read the article. They have as much right to appeal to these private efforts to not disturb the sites as you do of asking your neighbor to turn down their stereo, clean their yard, or do/stop doing anything else you don't like. They can comply, or give you the finger. Likewise, the X prize teams can either cooperate with NASA or not.

Do you want to be the guy who goes down in history as destroying or defacing lunar items?

NASA has demanded nothing. They are smart enough to realize that no one has the right to demand anything of the sort. And they also realize that they are not obligated to reward anyone for doing anything they deem unfit for reward (like messing with the Apollo site).

MB, have you ever asked anyone to do anything? Consider this, What right did you have to ask them to do or not do anything? You have the same right as anyone else. You are only asking. There is no obligation on anyone's part to comply.

Someone will kick the dust and their wont be any foot prints left. Just give it time.

It will enrage some of the nitwits in congress.

For the lulz?

I mean, really, that's the only thing I could think of.

And it's not like there's going to be a lot of traffic, so it's not like we wouldn't know who did it. They'd have to be very dedicated pranksters.

IF the Apollo Lunar Modules were used in Earth's atmosphere they would be quite flimsy, as they were designed for use exclusively in the vacuum of space, and in going to and from the Moon's surface in particular. Remember, no atmosphere on the Moon changes things greatly.

You can easily put your fist right through the thin aluminum wall of the lunar lander. The trick was to not do that.

The assent stage only weighed 10,000 pounds, about what a 3/4 ton dually pickup weighs, and 3500 pounds of that weight was fuel. Add the weight of the rocket engine and the rest of the craft weighed almost nothing because it had to. It was modeled after a helocopter which is another very light and fairly flimsey craft.

There is your problem. We have this huge debt thanks to the fools in congress and GWB.

Instead of starting a war we didn't need. We should of been on the moon. Maybe it would be a group of US companies now and we would have US colony on the moon.

But no. We had to go and blow up donkey riding terrorists.

I am amazed that no-one said the thought. Is there mass amnesia in the States?

Except we have recent pictures of the landing sites from orbiting sats, you can even see the foot trails and rover tracks.

That and the fact that Russia, China, India, and others that would benifit from exposing a mass hoax by the US have not been able to do so, mostly because Russia and to a certain extent China monitored the whole thing and know we atually did it and the artifacts are still sitting there, including the laser mirror from Apollo 11 that is still used today.

How exactly could thousands of people remain silent and our rivals stay silent also for FOURTY YEARS if there were one shred of verifyable proof that we did not land 14 humans on the moon?

Using conspiracy theories to explain things people cant conceive of is so pathetic. If we can go 17,500 mph, who could we not go 24,000 and travel the equivalent of circling the Earth just 10 times, albeit somewhat indirectly because of orbital mechanics and available thrust...

Please explain, because no one has ever answered these questions before and I post them to every person that brings this up.

Reminds me of people wanting to believe Bush did 9/11 or could have stopped it because that was more comforting in a bizarre way than the fact that events like that are random and uncontrollable and usually have no justification. People would rather believe anything if it answers why than accept something they cant understand or is not understandable if that is a word.