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55 years ago today, Apollo 11’s flag-raising on the former lunar surface lasted a total of 10 minutes. Neil Armstrong‘s and Buzz AldrinA two-and-a-half-hour moonwalk in July 1969.
But that seminal event in vexillological history was not without many arguments, debates and initial concerns that were driven by the strategy of “who is the moon?” (Vexillology is the study of the history, symbols and use of flags.)
Matthew Ward is a senior lecturer in history at the University of Dundee in Scotland. He notes that the American flag is uniquely powerful and appears in the picture of almost every important event in American history, from the Apollo moon landings to the -firefighters raising the flag over the ruins of the World Trade Center on 9/11 in 2001. “It’s hard to think of another flag that has more meaning. The Stars and Stripes represent the spirit, history and identity of the whole community,” Ward points out.
A symbolic event
In the early 1990s, Anne Platoff, then working with Hernandez Engineering Inc. Houston, Texas put together a NASA contractor report titled, “Where No Flag Has Gone Before: The Political and Technical Aspects of Planting a Flag on the Moon.”
Platoff explains that raising the Apollo 11 flag on the moon was a truly symbolic event. Because the United States was a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Outer Space, that treaty prohibited any territorial claim to the moon.
“However, there were local and international debates about the validity of the event,” Platoff explains. Congress changed NASA’s funding bill to prevent the space agency from displaying the flags of other countries, or of international organizations, on the moon during missions funded only by the United States.
Platoff states in his report that the legal status of the moon clearly would not be affected by the presence of the US flag on the moon, “but NASA was aware of the potential international controversy it happened because of that.”
Designer of flagpoles
In Platoff’s report, he points out that raising the Apollo flag also presented NASA engineers with technical problems.
“They designed a flag pole with a horizontal hole that allowed the flag to ‘fly’ without the aid of wind to overcome the effects of the moon’s lack of atmosphere. Other factors considered in this design were weight, heat resistance and the ease of gathering moonshine. Astronomers whose spacesuits prevent them from moving and their ability to hold objects,” Platoff explains.
Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin later recounted the script Life that when he looked at the flag, the moonwalker felt “at that time all the people of the world were strangely united.”
Aldrin also described how he and Armstrong were able to place the flag, a pennant that was purchased in the Houston area for $5.50.
“Beneath the surface of the powder, the subsoil was very dense,” Aldrin recalls. “We only managed to move the flagpole a few inches. It didn’t look very solid.”
The decay of the sun
While doing his research, Platoff discovered that the six flags placed on the moon by the Apollo moonwalkers were not all the same.
Additionally, the Apollo 17 flag planted in December 1972, the program’s final lunar mission, was uniquely notable; The flag was placed in the Mission Control Room during some of the Apollo missions, and was placed on the moon by the last moonwalking crew, Eugene Cernan and Jack Schmitt.
What is not known is the status of those flags today. Even if the flags remained in place when the crew landed on the moon, it is likely that they are not in the same position as when they were first placed on the lunar surface. “It’s possible that the nylon of the flag has been damaged by prolonged exposure to the sun,” Platoff feels, a damaging effect labeled “sun rot.”
Moon flags may become brittle and may break over time. However, another threat that destroys lunar flags is a meteoroid strike from the moon, Platoff concludes.
Platoff is now a librarian, historian and entomologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
“One thing I keep seeing in the headlines is that flags will turn white due to exposure to sunlight. Although this happens to some flags on Earth, I’m not sure about the chemical process. hale is concerned with whether that would happen in the lunar environment,” Platoff tells Space.com.
Search: to think critically
As Platoff writes in his 2011 research paper, “Six Flags on Luna: The Role of Flags on the Moon in Instilling Misconceptions,” either the flags have remained stationary or endured decades of environmental exposure. hard moon, “their legacy as a symbol. the way man explores space has not changed.
Clearly, the significance of these images, said Platoff, “will last long after the death of those who contributed to this historic work.”
As for those who support the Apollo moon landing conspiracy, Platoff is adamant about it.
“Disproving moon landing conspiracies is not hard to do,” Platoff explained to Space.com. “There is a lot of evidence out there to prove that the Apollo landings were real and that people walked on the moon.”
The real problem, Platoff adds, is that there is a need to teach people to be critical thinkers.
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“Do you really think it is possible to maintain a level of cooperation from everyone involved in the Apollo Program to maintain a lie for fifty-five years? Or does it make sense that people working together were they able to use the power of science and technology to achieve the goal of landing scientists on the moon and bringing them home safely?”
People who deny that the Apollo moon landings happened, Platoff concludes, “are free to believe what they want, but that doesn’t make them right.”
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