Guardians of Apollo: the curators preserving the Moon mission's legacy

Lying on a workshop counter that is closed to the public at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s annex near Washington Dulles airport, Neil Armstrong’s gloves look almost as good as new. You can hardly tell they made a trip to the Moon and back 50 years ago. To their side is the slightly yellowed “Snoopy Cap” (formally known as a “communications carrier”) worn by crewmate Buzz Aldrin. The space suit worn by Michael Collins, Apollo 11’s third astronaut, is in near mint condition. But the blue silicon fingertips of Armstrong’s gloves have begun to degrade — a process that for now remains invisible to the naked eye — as has Collins’ suit. “After 50 years, we do know that the rubber i