Archaeology and Heritage of the Human Movement into Space

This volume addresses the creation, documentation, preservation, and study of the archaeology of lunar, planetary, and interstellar exploration. It defines the attributes of common human technological expressions within national and, increasingly, private exploration efforts, and explore the archaeology of both fixed and mobile artifacts in the solar system and the wider galaxy.
This book presents the research of the foremost scholars in the field of space archaeology and heritage, a recent discipline of the field of Space Archaeology and Heritage. It provides the emerging archaeological perspective on the history of the human exploration of space. Since humans have been creating a vast archaeological preserve in space and on other celestial bodies. This assemblage of heritage objects and sites attest to the human presence off the Earth and the study of these material remains are best investigated by archaeologists and historic preservationists. As space exploration has reached the half century mark, it is the appropriate time to reflect on the major events and technological development of this particular unique 20th century arena of human history.
The authors encapsulate various ways of looking at the archaeology of both fixed and mobile human artifacts in the solar system. As missions continue into space, and as private ventures gear up for public and tourist visits to space and to the Moon and even Mars, it is the appropriate time to address questions about the meaning and significance of this material culture.

B.L. O'Leary is a professor in the Department of Anthropology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM. From 2003 - 2011 she has served as the Governor appointed vice chair of the Cultural Properties Review Committee. For the last 12 years she has been involved with the cultural heritage of outer space and the preservation of sites related to space exploration. A recipient of a grant from the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NASA), she investigated both the archaeological assemblage and the international heritage status of the Apollo 11 Tranquility Base site on the Moon.

P.J. Capelotti is associate professor of anthropology at Penn State University Abington College. Author of more than a dozen books, his archaeological research has taken him several times to Svalbard and Franz Josef Land and twice to the North Pole. The U.S. Coast Guard decorated him with the Arctic Service Medal and twice with the Meritorious Service Medal.