Conspiracy theorists cite this as evidence the moon landing was filmed in a warehouse with air conditioning creating the ripple. Many say the flag in the photo looks like it's flowing in the wind. (And no, NASA didn't invent Velcro during the Apollo missions, though it did popularize its use.) What caused the ripples in the flag? The astronauts were able to access it by removing pins and Velcro it was attached to. Eleven steps were needed to mount the flag on the ladder. Packing the flag involved a 12-step process and five people, Platoff wrote. A protective shroud was built to protect the flag from the heat from the engines. The flag traveled to space tacked onto the ladder on the lunar module, so the astronauts could access it when they walked on the moon. The astronauts struggled to drive the flag's base beyond 6 to 9 inches deep into the surface, which probably contributed to the flag falling. The flagpole had a base that allowed it to more easily be driven into the moon's surface, and a red circle was painted at 18 inches from the bottom to help judge how deep it needed to go. Why isn't the flag drooping?Īs expected, hoisting a flag presented NASA engineers with a number of technical problems, Anne Platoff wrote in a paper in August 1993 for NASA on the history of the Apollo 11 flag.īecause the moon has no substantial atmosphere, NASA scientists led by Jack Kinzler designed a horizontal crossbar to support the flag and keep it from drooping down, Platoff wrote.Ī hem was sewn across the top of the 3-by-5-foot nylon flag so the bar could go through, then be lifted and locked into place at a 90 degree angle. Uri said later Apollo missions placed flags farther from their lunar modules to prevent them from tipping over. It's likely that the colors have faded over the years from extreme exposure, Uri said. Now, the Smithsonian is putting a rocket on the Mall The working presumption at NASA is that the flag fell, said John Uri, manager of the Johnson Space Center History Office. Aldrin said he thought he saw the flag tip over from the exhaust when the lunar module lifted off, and the shadow of the flag is not visible in satellite images.Ĭelebrating 50 years: NASA put a man on the moon. However, the flag probably isn't still standing. flag planted on the moon have been topics of conversations concerning patriotism and conspiracies ever since the world first saw stars and stripes on the lunar surface. Though the Soviet Union sent the first person into space, the United States took the lead in the space race when it landed two men on the moon. Space race: Apollo 11 moon landing celebrated as pioneering milestone, but it was really about winning the space race EDT, the scene depicted in one of the most iconic photos ever taken unfolded. Who's in the suit? And how we got to the moon in the first place Here's the backstory of what you're seeing in the photograph. The flag, a topic of many a conspiracy theory, probably toppled over when the astronauts departed, and medals for Soviet astronauts lie on the surface as well. Spoiler alert: Not everything went as the space agency planned it. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, USA TODAY spoke with experts at NASA and reviewed its archives to explain the most notable details in the famed photo. What's really in the image? Why is the flag waving? Where are the stars? And how did those shadows get there? You know the photo: Buzz Aldrin, standing on the moon and saluting the American flag. July 20, 2020, marks 51 years since the moon landing. Despite the emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean, Armstrong’s piloting skills stood out and he was named spacecraft commander for the Apollo 11.USA TODAY first published this story in July 2019, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. In 1966, he was the command pilot of the Gemini VII mission, where he docked the vehicle to the orbiting Agena spacecraft. With both the practical training and the post-graduate education, he soon received astronaut status in 1962. During that time, he also received his master’s in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. When he was transferred to NASA’s Flight Research Center in the 1950s, he became a research pilot and flew more than 200 kinds of aircraft. Soon he became part of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), an early rendition of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), working various roles, including as an engineer, test pilot and astronaut. Like Aldrin, he served in the Korean War, and Armstrong flew in 78 combat missions. Navy scholarship and trained as a Navy pilot. He went on to study aeronautical engineering at Purdue University on a U.S.
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