The White House has convened a last-minute meeting to discuss a private mission to the moon \u2014 set to launch in days \u2014 after the largest group of Native Americans in the United States asked the administration to delay the flight because it will be carrying cremated human remains destined for a lunar burial. <\/p>\n
If successful, the commercial mission scheduled to launch Monday \u2014 dubbed Peregrine Mission One \u2014 will be the first time an American-made spacecraft has landed on the lunar surface since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. But Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said that allowing the remains to touch down there would be an affront to many indigenous cultures, which revere the moon. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe moon holds a sacred place in Navajo cosmology,\u201d Nygren said in a Thursday statement.\u00a0 \u201cThe suggestion of transforming it into a resting place for human remains is deeply disturbing and unacceptable to our people and many other tribal nations.\u201d <\/p>\n
The private companies providing these lunar burial services, Celestis and Elysium Space, are just two of several paying customers hitching a ride to the moon on Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology\u2019s Peregrine lunar lander.\u00a0The uncrewed spacecraft is expected to lift off on the inaugural flight of the\u00a0United Launch Alliance\u2019s Vulcan Centaur rocket\u00a0from Florida\u2019s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. <\/p>\n
Celestis\u2019 payload, called Tranquility Flight, includes 66 \u201cmemorial capsules\u201d containing \u201ccremated remains and DNA,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>which will remain on the lunar surface \u201cas a permanent tribute to the intrepid souls who never stopped reaching for the stars,\u201d according to the\u00a0company\u2019s website.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> <\/p>\n \u201cWe reject the assertion that our memorial spaceflight mission desecrates the moon,\u201d Chafer said.\u00a0\u201cJust as permanent memorials for deceased are present all over planet Earth and not considered desecration, our memorial on the moon is handled with care and reverence, is a permanent monument that does not intentionally eject flight capsules on the moon.\u00a0It is a touching and fitting celebration for our participants \u2014 the exact opposite of desecration, it is a celebration.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been disappointed that this conversation came up so late in the game,\u201d John Thornton, Astrobotic Technology CEO, said. \u201cI would have liked to have had this conversation a long time ago.\u00a0We announced the first payload manifest of this nature to our mission back in 2015. A second in 2020.\u00a0 We really are trying to do the right thing and I hope we can find a good path forward with Navajo Nation.\u201d <\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time Navajo Nation has expressed concerns about burials on the moon. In a December letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Nygren referred back to NASA\u2019s Lunar Prospector mission, which in 1999 deliberately crashed a spacecraft into the moon carrying the remains of former astronaut Eugene Shoemaker. <\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, Navajo Nation President Albert Hale voiced our objections regarding this action. In response, NASA issued a formal apology and promised consultation with tribes before authorizing any further missions carrying human remains to the Moon,\u201d Nygren said. <\/p>\n While NASA is the primary customer on this mission, it\u2019s still one customer among many paying to put technology and cargo on Astrobotic\u2019s lunar lander. <\/p>\n The space agency paid Astrobotic $108 million to develop the lander and carry science experiments to the moon, said Sandra Connelly, deputy associate administrator of NASA\u2019s science mission directorate in a Friday press call. The space agency also developed the\u00a0Artemis Accords, a document that outlines what should and shouldn\u2019t be allowed on the moon that has been signed by the US and 32 of its allies. <\/p>\n \u201cWe recognize that some non-NASA commercial payloads can be a cause for concern to some communities, and those communities may not understand that these missions are commercial.\u00a0They\u2019re not US government missions,\u201d said Dr. Joel Kearns, NASA deputy associate administrator for exploration. <\/p>\n Peregrine Mission One marks the start of NASA\u2019s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative, which allows the US space agency to outsource the launch and transport of its lunar cargo to private companies.\u00a0The mission is at the dawn of the lunar economy, and the rules are still evolving. <\/p>\n \u201cAmerican companies bringing equipment and cargo and payloads to the moon is a totally new industry \u2014 a nascent industry \u2014 where everyone is learning,\u201d Kearns said.\u00a0\u201cWe take concerns expressed from the Navajo Nation very, very seriously. <\/p>\n Nygren, who represents the roughly 430,000\u00a0<\/strong>enrolled members of the Navajo Nation, says the tribe is \u201cnot opposed to scientific progress or space exploration\u201d but continues to hold \u201cprofound concerns regarding the lack of oversight and regulation of non-NASA commercial payloads, particularly when such payloads include human remains. <\/p>\n The Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s Office of Commercial Space Transportation is responsible for licensing all private space launches in the US. But by law, the office only has oversight\u00a0in matters involving \u201cthe public health and safety, safety of property, and national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.\u201d <\/p>\n But the executive director for the Navajo Nation\u2019s Washington Office, Justin Ahasteen, calls that argument \u201cabsurd.\u201d <\/p>\n The debate raises new questions at the dawn of a race to colonize the moon about who controls Earth\u2019s only natural satellite. <\/p>\n Ahasteen argues that Navajo Nation\u2019s intent isn\u2019t to claim the moon. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re saying be respectful.\u00a0We\u2019re turning the moon into a graveyard and we\u2019re turning it into a waste site,\u201d\u00a0Ahasteen said.\u00a0\u201cAt what point are we going to stop and say we need to start protecting the moon as we do the Grand Canyon?\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n Friday\u2019s meeting convened by the White House is scheduled to feature representatives from NASA, the FAA, the US Department of Transportation, and the Department of Commerce. But Navajo Nation officials have little hope that they will be able to stop Monday\u2019s launch. <\/p>\n \u201cBased off of what we\u2019re seeing, and NASA are already having their pre-launch briefing, it doesn\u2019t look like they have any intention of stopping the launch or removing the remains,\u201d Ahasteen said. <\/p>\n\n The White House has convened a last-minute meeting to discuss a private mission to the moon \u2014 set to launch in days \u2014 after the largest group of Native Americans in the United States asked the administration to delay the flight because it will be carrying cremated human remains destined for a lunar burial. If <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Dawn of the lunar economy<\/h3>\n
Who controls the moon?<\/h3>\n