At first I was annoyed at the audacity of NASA; "don't touch our stuff because its important and has a historical significance". But as I read more of the stor

At first I was annoyed at the audacity of NASA; "don't touch our stuff because its important and has a historical significance". But as I read more of the story I realized that the historical significance is related to the fact that we're not really sure what 40 years on the moon can do to equipment. Keeping some of the existing sites in "pristine" condition is necessary to find out how long term exposure to a hard vacuum as well as large doses of radiation could effect future missions.