Astronauts planted 6 flags on the Moon over past 50 years: What's with them now
What happened to the US flags that were installed on the Moon (photo: NASA)
Over the past 50 years, 6 flags have been planted on the lunar surface, and the first one was in 1969. Scientists have been trying to find out what happened to these flags.
RBC-Ukraine reports when these flags were installed, by whom, and what their fate is, regarding Space.
Who planted flags on the Moon and when
The first US flag was planted during Apollo 11 in July 1969. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted it on the lunar surface during their first landing.
This event led to many debates and discussions on the topic of who owns the moon. Matthew Ward, a senior lecturer in history at the University of Dundee in Scotland, noted that the American flag is extremely powerful, and seems to be present in images of almost every key event in American history, from the Apollo moon landing to firefighters raising the flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Neil Armstrong of Apollo 11 with Buzz Aldrin after planting a flag on the moon in July 1969. (Photo: NASA)
“It is difficult to think of any other flag that's so heavily invested in meaning. The Stars and Stripes expresses the spirit, history and identity of an entire nation,” Ward said.
The second flag was planted in November 1969 - during the Apollo 12 mission, lunar rover Pete Conrad placed it on the lunar surface.
NASA engineers were excited by the prospect of Apollo astronauts raising the US flag on the moon. They developed a flagpole with a horizontal strip that allows the flag to fly without wind to overcome the effects of the lack of atmosphere on the Moon.
Other factors that went into the design were weight, heat resistance, and ease of assembly so that astronauts whose spacesuits limited their range of motion and ability to grab objects could install the flag without problems.
During the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969, lunar rover Pete Conrad plants the American flag (Photo: NASA)
Buzz Aldrin, who planted the first flag with Neil Armstrong, later said in an interview that he felt an almost mystical unification of all the people in the world at that moment.
“Just beneath the powdery surface, the subsoil was very dense. We succeeded in pushing the flagpole in only a couple of inches. It didn't look very sturdy,” Buzz said of the installation.
Astronaut David Scott salutes Old Glory during the Apollo mission in 1971 (Photo: NASA)
Another flag was planted by astronaut David Scott in 1971. The next one was in December 1972.
In the early 1990s, scientist Ann Platoff did a large-scale study of the placement of US flags on the moon. She found that there were six such flags and they were all of different sizes.
The flag of Apollo 17, which was installed in December 1972, the last mission of the program to the Moon, was the most interesting - it was hung in the mission control room during other Apollo missions. Later, it was installed on the Moon by the last lunar rover astronauts, Eugene Cernan and Jack Schmitt.
During the last lunar walk of the Apollo program in December 1972, Gene Cernan of Apollo 17 with the American flag (Photo: NASA)
What about those flags now?
Scientists do not know what happened to the US flags. Even if they were left standing when the rocket crews took off from the moon, they are probably not in the same condition as they were originally.
“Most likely the nylon of the flag has degraded as the result of prolonged exposure to sunlight,” Platoff notes.
The lunar flags probably became brittle and eventually disintegrated. They may have been damaged by meteorite impacts.
“One thing that I keep seeing in articles is that the flags would be bleached white from exposure to sunlight. While this does happen to some flags on Earth, I am not sure about the chemical process involved and if that would occur in a lunar environment,” the scientist added.
She believes that regardless of whether these flags are still standing or whether they have withstood decades of exposure to the harsh lunar environment, their legacy as a symbol of human space exploration remains unchanged.
“The significance of these images "will endure long after the deaths of those who participated in this historic undertaking. Refuting the moon landing hoax conspiracies is not difficult to do. There is plenty of evidence out there to prove that the Apollo landings were real and that human beings have walked on the lunar surface,” Platoff emphasized.
