Back on July 20, 1969, astonishingly to me  fifty-four years ago, I remember staying up to watch this with my Father. Here is a NASA Contractor Report on the flag raising. My Dad was not the most talkative man in the world, but I could tell he was quite proud when the flag was raised. So was I.
The flag raising has been seized upon by conspiracy theorists who claim that the moon landings were government hoaxes. How could a flag wave without an atmosphere? This has been answered numerous times.
Also see a response to the moon “truthers” Â here.
My favorite refutation as to the flag waving is contained in this Mythbusters clip.
Bill Whittle below notes that quite a few young people believe in the conspiracy theories that the moon landing was a hoax. This is a testament to both the ignorance of many people in contemporary society and the ability of people to believe what they wish to believe, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.
The moon landings were an amazing feat, considering the technology of the time was just barely adequate to accomplish it.  Our technology in the past 54 years has advanced quite a bit, but I think in what really counts in this Vale of Tears: Faith, Courage, Daring and Optimism for the Future, we have radically declined as a people. Perhaps that is why so many young people refuse to believe that with laughable computers fifty-four years ago, along with endless hard work, superb creativity, determination and astronauts who had daring to spare,  we became a space faring nation. More’s the pity.
At least a partial Criterion for our next choice for president of U.S. : “… what really counts in this Vale of Tears: Faith, Courage, Daring and Optimism for the Future…”
“space age values”
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I’m trying to raise my boys with those values. My husband is the embodiment of those values. 🙂 We’ll see how well we do.
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I was baptized at the Chapel of the Space Age. No, really. That’s what it was called in my baby book.
My father worked for Grumman, the company that built the Lunar Module. He was the Director of Federal Legislation so travelled to that pit of vipers, DC, every week. He and Mater, who is still kicking at 95, ensured we knew how the government worked and that we knew our rights as citizens.
Anyway, I clearly remember the nights he came home with the contracts for both the Module and the F14 signed. As a child, I would tell people my dad built both even though he wasn’t an engineer-
We watched the moon landing that day and I saw my Dad raising that flag and I still do-
Grumman employed a lot of people on Long Island and it was devastating when it was bought by Northrop in 1995- my parents met there during Mom’s first two weeks of work there, her twin worked as the admin assistant for a group of engineers and under President Carter held a security clearance linked directly to him, the husband of their eldest sister worked for Grumman as an engineer, several cousins worked in different capacities, my eldest brother during college break and later for a few years after he retired from the military (and when it was Northrop Grumman)-
The flag waving on the moon was acting like a pendulum under the influence of the lunar gravity with the horizontal support rod acting as the pivot point. When talking about the NASA moon program we need to remember that the NASA budget at its peak was around 4-5% of the federal budget during the Apollo program. It is currently around .5% of the federal budget. No bucks no Buck Rogers.
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There is an interesting video debunking the moon hoax on YouTube where a filmmaker goes into what it would have taken to attempt to fake the moon landings. The technology back then was nothing like what we have available today. In the light of what is taking place in current events the video also has very relevant social commentary as well.
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One of my favorite stories of the Apollo era involved a profound insight into the adventurous nature of the astronauts.
When it was announced that Apollo 11 would tentatively be the moon landing mission, Apollo 10 had yet to launch, but it was planned to be a full “dress rehearsal” for the moon landing, complete with taking the lander close-ish to the surface.
Recognizing the nature of the men they were working with, mission control personnel met with the Apollo 10 crew and told them this essential fact: “yes, you could take the lunar lander to the surface, but you won’t have enough fuel to get back to the command module.”
As it was, the Apollo 10 crew had some unpleasant excitement during the dress rehearsal mission, but thought their way out of it.
https://www.history.com/news/apollo-10-disaster-apollo-11-practice-run#Apollo%2010%20Was%20A%20Full%20Dress%20Rehearsal%20For%20Apollo%2011
If you follow the links on the history.com article the author of the article has a YouTube Channel The Vintage Space. She as many videos covering the history of the space program.
This cloud easily be put to rest with satellite photos of the flag today. Surely it’s still up there?
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The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has photographed the Apollo landing sites. IIRC they have also been imaged by lunar orbiters of other nations. There are laser retroreflectors left by the Apollo missions that allow astronomers to measure the distance to the moon.
With the way the Soviets were watching everything, had this not actually occurred, they’d have been all over it.
Communist China will beat us back to the moon. And they have a plan to build lunar colonies and stay. We however got woke NASA.
https://www.space.com/return-to-moon-china-space-race
LQC, I have been saying that for years
By all that the woke CRT advocates hold dear, NASA is the very definition of “white privilege.” Any attribute that produces success and achievement is “white privilege.” By the process of elimination that leaves no positive attributes for people of color to aspire to. Talk about negative racial profiling.