Naturally, there's a much better explanation. For one thing, the flag had just spent the last three days packed tightly in an insulated steel tube attached to the lunar module's ladder, so it arrived at Tranquility Base looking pretty wrinkled.
And somehow nobody thought to bring an ironing board to the Moon. And if the astronauts didn't get the crossbar fully extended not as easy as it sounds, for people wearing spacesuits and heavy gloves , the flag wouldn't hang perfectly straight, causing the fabric to bunch up in places and heighten the illusion of rippling in a nonexistent lunar breeze. In the months before the Apollo 11 launch, NASA officials started talking about leaving some sort of symbolic item on the Moon to mark the occasion of humanity's first visit.
Paine appointed a committee to come up with something appropriate, but he sternly reminded them not to let symbolic gestures get in the way of crew training or safety, keep the weight and space requirements to a minimum, and -- oh, by the way, don't violate the Outer Space Treaty. The U. Signatory nations agreed to leave behind the old days of planting a flag on an island and declaring it a colonial possession. Paine wanted to avoid giving the impression that the U.
At various points, the committee considered sending up a United Nations flag or a set of miniature flags for every country on Earth that would have been around or flags at the time, depending on who was counting.
Ultimately, they recommended an American flag and an engraved plaque bearing the words "We came in peace for all mankind. Other souvenirs of humanity's lunar adventure were less formal: discarded lunar overshoes, urine bags, armrests from the lunar module, empty sample bags, and dozens of other items thrown away at the last moment to save weight and increase the chances of escaping the Moon's gravity.
NASA was braced for the international community to take the flag-raising the wrong way, but the controversy never materialized. A few months later, in November , Congress passed a law stating that the American flag would be placed on every moon, planet, or asteroid astronauts might land on in the future, as long as the mission had been solely funded by the U.
So if the first crewed Mars mission is an international effort, American astronauts won't be bringing a flag. The law also clarified that "this act is intended as a symbolic gesture of national pride in achievement and is not to be construed as a declaration of national appropriation by claim of sovereignty. The Apollo missions left 6 American flags on the Moon, all on the near side. Follow her on Twitter anneryman.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral. Facebook Twitter Email. What happened to the American flags on the moon? Arizona professor has the answer. Anne Ryman The Republic azcentral. Show Caption. Hide Caption. What happened to the U. Cameras orbiting the moon have photographed five of the six flags left by astronauts from the Apollo missions. The fabric flag was unfurled by the Chang'e-5 lander vehicle just before its ascender vehicle took off using the lander as a launchpad.
It has taken soil and rock samples to China's lunar orbiter 15km nine miles above the lunar surface - which will then be enclosed in a module that will be aimed at China's Inner Mongolia region. The Chinese flag is 2m wide and 90cm tall and weighs about a kilogram. All parts of the flag have been given features such as protection against cold temperatures, project leader Li Yunfeng told the Global Times.
China's national flag was seen on the Moon during its first lunar landing mission, Chang'e-3 in photographs taken by the lander and rover of each other. The Chang'e-4 lander and rover brought the flag to the dark side of the moon in However, in both cases the flag was on the crafts' coating rather than being an actual fabric flag on a pole. The Chang'e-5 mission is China's third successful landing on the Moon in seven years. China's Chang'e-5 mission leaves Moon's surface.
It was one of the only experiments to be carried on every lunar landing mission, and it was the only non-American experiment to be part of the Apollo landings.
It consisted of an aluminium foil sheet, 1. Before launch, someone had playfully suggested attaching a Swiss flag inside the roll of foil, so that it would be the first flag placed by man on the Moon! These data would help to resolve the competing theories about the origins of the Solar System, planetary atmospheres and solar wind dynamics. The foil was exposed to the Sun for 77 minutes on Apollo 11, allowing solar wind particles to embed themselves into the foil.
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