Last week, the Google Lunar X Prize Foundation announced that it will recognize the guidelines NASA has established to protect historic sites on the moon.

For the 26 teams currently vying for prize, this means their attempts to land on and rove around the moon have to stay clear of the Apollo landing sites. After all, its not just technological relics that rest on the surface; there's a human record tied into those sites, too.

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The Apollo landing zones are incredibly unique. On Earth, preserving an historic site usually comes with a multimillion dollar price tag to cover ongoing maintenance. But on the moon, where theres no weather to wear theses sites away, preserving them is as simple as never going near them.

Neil Armstrongs boot prints will never fade. Theres also science at those site that ought to be left alone; bacteria in fecal collection bags could be of interest to future biologists.

But theres more than just waste, spent descent stages, and lunar rovers in six areas on the moons surface. There are personal effects that humanize the missions, the program on the whole, and tell the stories of the individuals who walked on the surface.

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, whose Apollo 11 mission patch didnt list theirs and Michael Collins names, brought another crews insignia to the surface. After their two and a half hour EVA, the crew left an Apollo 1 patch bearing the names of the three astronauts who died in the pre-launch fire in 1967. It joined the American flag and official mission plaque as permanent fixtures at the Sea of Tranquility.

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Apollo 12 also paid tribute to a fallen colleague. Clifton Curtis Williams was in line to serve as lunar module pilot on the lunar flight when he was killed when his T-38 jet entered a fatal spin and crashed. The crews commander Pete Conrad brought Alan Bean into the crew to take Williams place. Suddenly making the jump from rookie to moonwalker, Bean paid tribute to Williams by adding a fourth star to the crews mission patch. He also took Williams naval aviator wings of gold pin to the moon and laid it to rest on the Ocean of Storms. Beans own silver astronaut pin is up there too inside the Surveyor crater. He wouldnt need it after the mission since it would be replaced with a gold one, and couldnt think of a better place to leave it.

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NASA's Apollo Landing Sites Will Be Protected