In a move that may disappoint both Michael Jackson fans and overenthusiastic astronauts, NASA has issued a firm but diplomatically worded reminder to future lunar visitors: please stop trampling on the rocks. Not just any rocks, mind you, but scientifically invaluable lunar samples that took a few billion years to perfect and only a few careless bootprints to potentially ruin.
This announcement comes ahead of the Artemis III mission, which aims to return humans to the Moon by 2026, assuming everything goes to plan and that plans in space don’t go the way of Monday morning Zoom calls. The mission is expected to land astronauts near the Moon’s south pole, around an area delightfully named the “scientific exploration zone,” although it might as well be called “please don’t touch unless you’re holding a sterile container.”
NASA’s scientific community is particularly concerned about disturbing features like permanently shadowed regions that may contain ancient ice, undisturbed regolith layers and, presumably, the lunar equivalent of “wet paint” signs no one ever obeys. The goal is to study these pristine areas, not stomp across them like they’re part of an obstacle course on a lunar-themed reality show.
If history is any guide, it is worth noting that the Apollo astronauts enthusiastically embraced the spirit of exploration, occasionally at the expense of subtlety. Footage from those missions shows sprawling bootprints, casually tossed tools and, at one point, a golf ball. It was all very human, very exciting and very inconvenient for scientists who now want that data in less-squashed format.
In response, current mission planners are carefully mapping out routes for astronauts that resemble the lunar version of walking on a floor right after it’s been mopped. “Stay on the path” will likely enjoy new prominence in NASA training manuals, somewhere between “Don’t remove your helmet” and “Try not to crash on arrival.”
For the Artemis III crew, the message is clear: go to the Moon, make history, but for the love of lunar science, watch where you step. There are no do-overs on billion-year-old surfaces.
Turns out, even in zero gravity, you’re still expected to wipe your feet.