In what is an underhanded coup against the rest of the world, the House of Representatives is considering legislation that would pave the way for the United States colonizing a large swath of the moon. The legislation introduced by Ms. Edwards names every single Apollo landing site as a national park under the control of the Secretary of the Interior, and with oversight by the Administrator of NASA.
Curiously, the legislation also names the instruments associated with the failed Apollo 13 mission as falling under the scope of the act, just by virtue of Apollo 13 having circled the moon. The act lists every single footprint and every single instrument associated with Apollo as falling under its scope. The act does not clarify what range from those footprints classify as part of the Lunar Park, but it is likely to stretch into the hundreds of miles.
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| Apollo 13 crash site not listed. |
I quite possibly believe that the United States plans to interlink every Apollo site, thus bringing into US control a large, contiguous chunk of lunar territory. Whether the US will be able to successfully lay claim to that area of the moon remains to be seen, but the act very clearly states that the Secretary of the Interior is responsible for coordinating access to the Lunar Park.
The law will then become black and white: a nation that enters an Apollo area without permission of the Secretary or the Administrator of NASA is officially breaking the law by illegally entering US territory. Since most cosmonauts and taikonauts are also members of their respective military forces and are acting under an official government capacity, their entry into an Apollo zone would constitute an act of war against the United States.
The legislation is likely to further escalate tension with Beijing and Moscow, if not the rest of the world. The United States is signatory to treaties that prevent nations from claiming outer space as part of their territory, but we're also signatory to laws that make Guantanamo a crime against humanity. Sadly, the US is not signatory to the International Criminal Court, so it is unlikely that anyone will be able to effectively challenge us in the near future.
Secretary Sally Jewel has been tasked with creating a plan for how the Lunar Park will be administered. Given the specific time frame in the article, it's apparent that Rep. Edwards wants this plan to be approved before Obama leaves office. Obama will likely sign the law, and given his loose interpretation of the word "border" and his zealousness with US government property, we can possibly expect that the Apollo sites may be contiguously linked as US territory.
Furthermore, the act is likely to fan conspiracies, as some individuals doubt that the US ever landed on the moon. The evidence of multiple manned lunar landings is overwhelming, but the legislation introduced by Ms. Edwards would make it difficult for other nations to independently verify evidence of the lunar missions. One known skeptic of the Lunar Landings stated: "The Feds don't want anyone getting in and seeing the lie, the big lie that we never made it to the moon."
However, as with most fringe conspiracy theories propagated by a media conglomerate, the real objective is to distract from a financial conspiracy. it is now a wide concern that the world is running out of Helium. This legislation is merely an attempt to corner the Helium supply. The global supply of Helium is finite, and it is a very valuable element in medicine and weapons. Already private firms are considering mining on the moon, so this is ultimately a war for what will prove to be a valuable resource. After all, the US Congress decided to sell all the supply by 2015, just in time for Lunar Park to become vital to national security.
