Ella Scott
A space expert has revealed exactly how many of the six USA flags Nasa believes are still standing on the moon.
On July 21 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first and second men to walk on the Moon.
To mark the success of their Apollo 11 mission, the pair planted a pole seven inches deep into the lunar surface before raising up and saluting a nylon US flag.
Advert
It’s said that Nasa had been inspired to have its astronauts plant a flag on the first landing upon hearing former President Richard Nixon’s inaugural address in January 1969.
Since then, five more American banners have been erected on the moon - one for each US Apollo landing.
But what has happened to the six markers over the years and are any of them still standing?
According to astrophotographer Robert Reeves, not all have stood the test of time.
Taking to YouTube to share his expertise, the astronomy expert began by explaining why it is so difficult to pinpoint the fate of these pennants.
“The Moon is about a quarter million miles away. The smallest objects on the Moon that can be seen with any Earthbound telescope, even the largest research telescope, are only a little under a mile across.
“Since the flags left on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts are only about four feet wide, unfortunately, they’re a thousand times smaller than what we can spot from the Earth.
“Not even the powerful Hubble Space Telescope can see the flags.”
Though we can’t see the flags from Earth, there is a way that Nasa can track whether they’re still standing, says Reeves.
Introducing Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO): a robotic spacecraft that has orbited the Moon since 2009.
The space agency has revealed that in recent years LRO has captured images showing the shadow of flags posted on the Apollo 12, 16 and 17 missions.
So three of the six are thought intact, but what about the others?
Unfortunately, LRO has been unable to locate the makers at the Apollo 14 and 15 sites.
“Scientists believe those flags weren’t just bleached, but their nylon was completely disintegrated by solar ultraviolet radiation,” Reeves explained in his YouTube video.
Therefore, the status of the 1971 Apollo 14 and 15 flags remains inconclusive.
The expert then went on to reveal the fate of the first banner planted by Armstrong and Aldrin.
The moonwalkers placed the Apollo 11 flag 27 feet from the Lunar Lander Eagle’s centerline.
Thus, the flagpole didn’t withstand the rocket exhaust of liftoff, writes Celestron.
The good news is that the nylon flag could one day be recovered as experts believe it would have been preserved by being buried beneath moon dust.
However, as the last crewed Nasa Appolo mission to the moon was in December 1972, it could be some time before the hypothesis is proved correct.