LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California preservation panel has taken the unusual step of naming the Apollo 11 moon landing site as a state historical resource.
The vote on Friday by the California State Historical Resources Commission is part of a five-state effort to have Tranquility Base become a national historic landmark and then a world heritage site.
The designation applies to everything left there by astronauts Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, not the lunar surface.
State Historic Preservation Officer Milford Wayne Donaldson says similar moves will be made in Texas, New Mexico, Georgia and Florida — the other states highly involved in the Apollo program.
Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon after the lunar module Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969.
