Flags on the Moon

There are currently precisely six American flags on the Moon, which were left behind by the respective astronauts at the moon landings of the Apollo missions 11,12,14,15,16, and 17. The flag of the Apollo 11 mission led the way. On 21st July 1969 at 03:56 am (CET), Neil Armstrong was the first human to set foot onto our Moon and spoke the legendary sentence: »That’s one small step for (a) man … one … giant leap for mankind«. Together with his colleague Buzz Aldrin, he then planted the first flag on the Moon, which was apparently not so easy, due to the space suits, the pole rods and the condition of the ground.

It often has been discussed, whether the moon landings have really happened or may have been simply a studio production. But there is no argument of conspiracy theorists that has not been refuted, so far. The planting of the flag, as well, is readily invoked by moon landing opponents and it is claimed that the movement of the flag’s fabric should be different, to how it is shown in the film material. Indeed, one can see strong movements of the fabric and you expect this to be much calmer, due to the low gravity on the Moon and the lack of air motion. But this is not the case. The Australian documentary series “MythBusters” has examined this subject and came to the conclusion that a flag does oscillate, indeed, more inside a vacuum than in normal air.

It is likely that these flags are no longer recognizable, as a consequence of the material’s exposure to extreme conditions like UV radiation and temperature. Apparently, the flag of the Apollo 11 mission was also blown over by the force of the engines during the Earth return launch.

Since December 2020, there has been a Chinese flag on the moon, which was placed on a probe during an unmanned moon landing and was probably manufactured with a more resistant material.

Incidentally, the flags are only part of the materials left behind that also include the lunar rovers. One day, the telescopes on Earth will be powerful enough for us to see some of these objects from down here. After that, the conspiracy theories will fall silent.