The Apollo astronauts' bootprints on the Moon are expected to remain visible for up to a million years due to the absence of wind, rain, and biological activity. Unlike Earth, where footprints vanish within hours, the Moon’s surface is only slowly altered by micrometeorite impacts and space weathering. These processes, known as impact gardening, churn the top layers of lunar soil over tens of thousands of years, but not fast enough to erase human traces in the near term.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured images decades after the Apollo landings showing clear tracks from astronauts and rovers. The dry, sharp regolith holds impressions well, preserving the crisp detail of each step. While no single footprint has an exact expiration date, broader landing site features—like rover paths and equipment scars—are expected to outlast most human-made structures on Earth.

Still, the marks aren’t permanent. Scientists estimate that within ten to a hundred million years, constant micrometeorite bombardment will erase all traces of Apollo missions. At a surface erosion rate of about one millimeter per million years, the Moon changes slowly—but relentlessly. The bootprints endure not because the surface is frozen in time, but because lunar time moves on a geological scale.