Moon Added To List Of Threatened Heritage Sites Amid Space Race Concerns

Moon has been placed on a list of threatened heritage sites as the space race risks jeopardising Earth's only natural satellite. World Monuments Fund (WMF), a nonprofit that releases a list of cultural heritage sites at risk, has gone beyond the usual landmarks such as temples, cemeteries and neighbourhoods this year to place Moon on the list. The group has warned that more than 90 important sites on the Moon could be harmed in the coming years.

A division of the International Council on Monuments and Sites devoted to aerospace heritage nominated the Moon for WMF's watch list. The group is worried that beyond space debris destroying the lunar surface, sites which have significant heritage importance, connecting them to humanity, could also be wrecked.

The experts have stated that the Tranquility Base, the landing site of Apollo 11 where astronaut Neil Armstrong first stepped on the lunar surface, could be at the most risk owing to wealthy people going to space and more governments pursuing exploration missions to the Moon.

"The moon seems so far outside of our scope. But with humans venturing more and more into space, we think it is the right time to get ourselves organised," Bénédicte de Montlaur, the organisation's president was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

“Items such as the camera that captured the televised moon landing; a memorial disk left by astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin; and hundreds of other objects are emblematic of this legacy."

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Space and Moon

Notably, on the same day the group released its 2025 report, a SpaceX rocket blasted off from Florida to launch two private robotic landers on the Moon. Additionally, NASA has long been planning to put humans back on Moon, later this decade, through its highly-publicised Artemis mission.

The US space agency is also hoping to build a permanent settlement on the lunar surface that will help for possible human missions to Mars.

Apart from the Moon, the vast majority of the list includes sites endangered by challenges such as climate change, tourism, natural disasters and conflicts, with Ukraine and Gaza finding a spot. Despite the rather alarming addition of Moon, the list is simply an educational and promotional tool, serving the nonprofit's other efforts to preserve cultural heritage.