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Neil Armstrong's bootprint on the moon is now protected by U.S. law
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoIn other news, the entire Universe is a nature park according to the town council of Nowhere, Wyoming. Just kidding. But what's the point of legislating things beyond our control?
- vkou 6y agoA couple of reasons. 1. Your nationals can be expected to follow your laws. 2. You can use this as a stepping stone to asking other countries to normalize their laws to be similar to yours, or for a treaty negotiation, or for a UN decision. The principle of this law isn't a bad one, and it should be extended to other early artifacts of lunar exploration.
- elmo2you 6y ago> You can use this as a stepping stone to asking other countries to normalize their laws to be similar to yours You are certainly correct, if maybe only in theory. At the rate things are going, good luck with any country freely harmonizing anything with the USA. The USA is more likely on a steady course of becoming increasingly less relevant to anyone but themselves. A different president is not going to change that. The country's international policies (current and past), in particular its use of their relative economical and military power imbalance, have been abusive for way longer than just this last president. Ordinary citizens around the globe have become increasingly more aware of this, often from experiencing its unpleasant consequences. It already has become harder for many foreign politicians to keep giving in to US power play, to how it essentially treats the rest of the globe as its own territory. Expect things to get a lot harder for the USA. Meanwhile, a growing group of people looks at the USA's internal affairs, wondering why on earth anyone would take any guidance or example from such a nation. I guess that plenty of US citizens will blame that all on the last president (certainly in part for very valid reasons), but the problem extends way beyond that. Regretfully, the USA just can't stop itself, for what it does internationally (mostly unknown to its own citizens). Feel free to shoot the messenger .. it won't matter.
- HourglassFR 6y ago> The USA is more likely on a steady course of becoming increasingly less relevant to anyone but themselves. While it is certainly true that the USA is loosing it's status as the world's only superpower, it is still very much the most powerfull country and will probably stay, if not number 1, at least in the top 3 for at least the rest of our lifetime. I wouldn't call that irrelevant.
- masswerk 6y agoHowever, the US has about entirely lost their status as a model. As-is, following US legislation would require some amount of apologetic discourse anywhere outside of North America. (That the US have left the international community for the most, or, at least, have proposed to do so – especially, when it comes to treaties and jurisdiction – doesn't especially help either.)
- mensetmanusman 6y agoThe US stumbled into becoming a model only due to the behavior of European nations constantly fighting each other every century. Especially post Vietnam, it should never have been regarded as the model, humanity needs competing systems to better allocate risk.
- masswerk 6y agoOn the other hand, it was exactly this loss of power, which allowed European states to overcome their long-lasting contest and to unite… Realistically, immediate post-Vietnam would have been too soon for this.
- HourglassFR 6y agoI tend to think of the US isolationist stance as a temporary consequence of their loss of total control. Like pouty child who would prefer to pass entirely on cake than to have to share it with their siblings. The frustration to not have the final say anymore is real but reality has purchase and in the end I expect the US to sit at the conference table like everyone else. After all, with it's still mighty power, it's in a good position to negociate. Now I might be wrong, maybe the isolasionist mentality is more profound than that. An historical argument to show how this is stance is not new is the refusal for the US to enter WWII until Japan basically forced their hand on the issue.
- MeinBlutIstBlau 6y agoIt's just a CB fabrication since their spy network built up to 60 for "instigate trade conflict." The US needs a reason to pad it's pockets when times get tough.
- Tepix 6y agoJust reading the headline leads me to the immediate reaction: Who cares about a U.S. law outside of US jurisdiction? If the U.S. wants other countries to follow the same rules they need to make international treaties like the outer space treaty from 1967. That requires actual diplomacy of course.
- saberdancer 6y agoNo one cares, but US is probably closest to landing on the moon. In 20 years we might have private companies flying to the moon, this type of law will prohibit someone from taking the footprint to bring it back to Earth.
- LatteLazy 6y agoBetter still, it applies only to companies and only to companies working with Nasa.
- rendall 6y ago> Who cares about a U.S. law outside of US jurisdiction? Alas, Julian Assange for one, as an Australian citizen, indicted for breaking a US law while not in the US. The recent UK court decision not to extradite him to the US nevertheless in no way disputes US standing nor jurisdiction, and he remains in custody while the US appeals. So, we're all living in America.
- Daho0n 6y agoThe UK should just get it over with and become a US state.
- avianlyric 6y agoPlease don’t say things like that. Someone might get the bright idea to put it on a referendum...
- ben_w 6y agoIf I had to guess, I’d expect such a referendum to return a “join America” result and then for almost everyone to be surprised that doing so means (1) losing the Queen, (2) losing the Pound, and (3) losing essentially all gun restrictions.
- dis-sys 6y agowell done, US long-arm jurisdiction on the moon!
- ur-whale 6y agoNot a problem, I guess, at least not until arrogance becomes illegal.
- gameswithgo 6y agowow we had time to pass that law what with the revolution?
- lukeitup 6y agoAnd in the meantime, the country is suffering on earth.
- TLightful 6y agoPlease ... the first group of Space-tourists, on a weekend bender trip to the moon, will render that boot print as dust in minutes.
- Saint_Genet 6y agoSo is Buzz Aldrin gonna be posthumously indicted?
- Saint_Genet 6y agoWhat, he’s still alive. I was convinced he died a few years ago.
- jes 6y agoBuzz Aldrin and Mike Collins are still alive.
- globular-toast 6y agoGood to know people are spending their time working on such important issues.
- lol2143651 6y agoHow long before it gets erased for being called a monument to white supremacy?
- yitchelle 6y agoSo what would be the penalty if someone does something happens to it? Not flippant question as I am genuinely interested.
- srean 6y agoThat wouldn't be cricket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj-7SPf8_Qk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj-7SPf8_Qk Cricket on the moon would sure be interesting.
- DyslexicAtheist 6y agohow utterly arrogant and entitled this headline sounds. A case of "US superiority" which makes me want the Russians or the Chinese to nuke the ruddy thing just so they have some additional thing to whine about.
- mensetmanusman 6y agoYour anger is making you illogical. This is a treasure of humanity’s achievement; and since there is no global governance body, it makes sense to start here.
- DyslexicAtheist 6y agologic has nothing to do with it, there is obviously 0 logic in wanting to nuke the moon just because Americans have set foot on it and 50+ years still keep talking about it. seriously who cares. It was just another spectacle and fuel for Reagan's wet StarWars dream: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative apologies if I don't participate in this empire-building dream of US superiority. it was the culmination and outcome from decades of measuring dicks between 2 super powers where one arrived quicker than the other. how is this not the same as when the DPRK is displaying their ICBM's and idiots in uniform goose stepping? this kind of nostalgia is 50ies 60ies wishful thinking and no different than waving flags or rooting ones ego in nationality or religion. utterly backward but not unexpected for a country that values military achievements higher than the need for an affordable health care system etc. Yeah they've been to the moon x years ago but these days they got thousands dying literally every day and 30% of the populace looks and acts like this: https://projects.propublica.org/parler-capitol-videos/ https://projects.propublica.org/parler-capitol-videos/
- Havoc 6y agoUS taking their we have jurisdiction over everything to a whole new level
- user982 6y agohttps://frinkiac.com/video/S08E25/TgoGThGJQI1NbhzU25san1zSniM=.gif https://frinkiac.com/video/S08E25/TgoGThGJQI1NbhzU25san1zSni...
- ajarmst 6y agoNot that the US has a long history of caring a great deal about jurisdiction, but the US ratified the Outer Space Treaty which denies specific jurisdiction over parts of the moon to countries on earth. They can likely make laws concerning the LM landing stages they left up there---which probably remain US property---but the footprints would be considered either for the benefit of all mankind or possibly vandalism that the US may be required to clean up by other signatories.
- eigenschwarz 6y agoI am SHOCKED at the ignorance of some comments here on how the timing and passing of legislation works in Congress. This was enacted on Dec. 31, 2020 but passed earlier, being introduced with bipartisan support the spring/summer (for house and senate, respectively) of 2019! Does anyone read before commenting? Talk about assumptions. Perhaps this is why the ills some are complaining about seem ubiquitous in their worldview.