Last week, Virgin Galactic completed yet another flight, sending three passengers and an instructor to the edge of space.But it wasn’t a live passenger aboard the VSS unity It made a lot of people fuss. Instead, report memo Archaeologists around the world are outraged after a passenger carried ancient human fossils into space on a plane.
Fossils collected at VSS unity included some from Australopithecus sedibaResearchers estimate that it lived about 2 million years ago. The second fossil is homo naledi, an ancient human species that lived 250,000 years ago. Both species were discovered near Johannesburg, South Africa, by a team led by Lee Berger.
In fact, it was Mr Berger who obtained permission from the South African Heritage Resources Authority (SAHRA) to export the fossils taken to space. They were carried on board by one of the three passengers, South African businessman Tim Nash. unity.
Taking these ancient human fossils into space was part of an elaborate public relations campaign to draw attention to “science, exploration, human origins, and South Africa.” Berger’s request I got it. Despite the potential exposure, archaeologists say the move could put the site at risk and result in the loss of one of its key identifying materials. A. sedibasince the shoulder bone brought into space is actually the first one. A. sediba References that help define the fossils, or species, that are discovered.
Of course, if the flight had not been successful, this story would probably have been very different. Not only because of the loss of life, but also because of the loss of history that could have occurred if the flight had not gone so smoothly. Fortunately, that’s not the case.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen ancient fossils taken into space either. Until now, dinosaur fossils were collected from the Earth’s atmosphere. Still, archaeologists have a right to be upset. If the flight had failed, the bones here might have been lost forever. A small but important piece of history would have been lost with them.