Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/03/05/humans-have-left-500000-pound.html
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How much of that did Andy Griffith bring back?
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It’s now a world heritage site.
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Garbage? You mean highly collectable merch, and it is just free up the for the taking!
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Pounds? NASA uses pounds?
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Some people say you can’t pollute space because there is no life or ecosystem of any kind.
I think I disagree, Kim Stanley Robinson make some case about the preservation of lifeless planet like (you guess it) Mars.
Those 226,7 ton of trash on the moon are history now (really all the trash of the past is gold for archaeologists) but it rise an interesting question : how do we define pollution in space ?
Is it practical (a polluted orbit is useless and dangerous) ?
Or aesthetic ?
Bonus : my favourite lunar trash, the Lunokhod Soviet rovers.
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The real proof that we were there.
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So more $2 bills on the moon than in daily use on earth then
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It’s less “trash” and more “evidence”.
Unfortunately, at the moment it’s evidence that we used to be a species of explorers.
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A “urine-collection assembly” with genuine moon urine would be front-and-center in any collector’s display case.
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Finally a good reason to believe the moon landings were a hoax-- you get to believe none of that stuff is up there and the moon is pristine.
La la la la la la la la la laaaaa. . . . .
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Here’s more information than you ever thought possible about how Apollo astronauts peed in space: 
In fairness, it weighs less up there. (I’m assuming that the kilogram value quoted by NASA is being properly used as a measurement of mass, and not weight, as it often is on Earth.)
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Meh…that’s only 68000 earth pounds
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Calling the abandoned equipment and vehicles left on the moon “trash” or “garbage” is stretching those words all out of shape.
Sure, we left behind some actual garbage, ranging from astronaut poop to empty film packages and broken equipment. But it’s probably no more than a few hundred pounds per Apollo mission. The rest of the stuff up there is not garbage. It’s either vehicles of one kind or another (lower stages, rovers, etc), or it’s experiments and other scientific equipment deliberately placed there.
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Garbage? Sounds like treasure to me! If anybody wants to go gather it up, I’ve got an eBay account!
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That’s a bit misleading. We aren’t talking about plastic bags and can holders. It’s heavy equipment to begin with. And it’s also quite reusable and recyclable when we get back there permanently.
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Likewise, feet. Seemed to work.
04 06 44 54 LMP (EAGLE)
Okay. 75 feet. There’s looking good. Down a half, 6 forward.
04 06 45 02 CC
60 seconds.
04 06 45 04 LMP (EAGLE)
Lights on. …
04 06 45 08 LMP (EAGLE)
Down 2 1/2. Forward. Forward. Good.
04 06 45 17 LMP (EAGLE)
40 feet, down 2 1/2. Kicking up some dust.
04 06 45 21 LMP (EAGLE)
30 feet, 2 1/2 down. Faint shadow.
04 06 45 25 LMP (EAGLE)
4 forward. 4 forward. Drifting to the right a little. Okay. Down a half.
04 06 45 31 CC
30 seconds.
04 06 45 32 CDR (EAGLE)
Forward drift?
04 06 45 33 LMP (EAGLE)
Yes.
04 06 45 34 LMP (EAGLE)
Okay.
04 06 45 40 LMP (EAGLE)
CONTACT LIGHT.
04 06 45 43 LMP (EAGLE)
Okay. ENGINE STOP.
04 06 45 45 LMP (EAGLE)
ACA - out of DETENT.
04 06 45 46 CDR (EAGLE)
Out of DETENT.
04 06 45 47 LMP (EAGLE)
MODE CONTROL - both AUTO. DESCENT ENGINE COMMAND OVERRIDE - OFF. ENGINE ARM - OFF.
(GOSS NET 1) Tape 66/12 Page 317
04 06 45 52 LMP (EAGLE)
413 is in.
04 06 45 57 CC
We copy you down, Eagle.
04 06 45 59 CDR (TRANQ)
Houston, Tranquility Base here.
04 06 46 04 CDR (TRANQ)
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED.
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I’m happy to do my bit for the environment and call dibs on the hasselblads that are just lying around up there. If anyone’s in the area and wants to pick them up for me, there’s a crisp 20 in it for you.
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Technically, since moon gravity is only about 17% of earth gravity, wouldn’t that be closer to 68,000 lbs?
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