Why did the flag flap in the "wind" in the space landings on the moon?

Question

It can be clearly seen flapping, yet there's no atmosphere on the moon.

Now I believe that NASA DID land on the moon, but, how can the flapping flag be explained?

ok ok, there is an atmosphere on the moon but it's negligible, in fact a fart would generate more wind..

Answer 1

The flag is not flapping in the wind. It is moving becuase of the momentum imparted by opening the flagpole, stretching out the flag itself, and then the drilling motion used to put the flagpole in the ground.

The flag keeps on moving because there's no atmosphere to STOP it.

go see www.badastronomy.com for more truth

Answer 2

1) Twelve 12 American astronauts have walked on the moon.

Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin
Apollo 12: Pete Conrad & Alan Bean
Apollo 13: << failed to land on the moon >>
Apollo 14: Alan Shepard & Edgar (Ed) Mitchell
Apollo 15: David Scott & James Irwin
Apollo 16: John Young & Charles Duke
Apollo 17: Eugene (Gene) Cernan & Harrison Schmidt


2) Why haven't we been back?

a) American astronauts visited the moon on six occasions.

b) The "moon race" was an extension of the cold war. It was mostly about national prestige. We got there first and achieved our primary objective. There was some good science: surveys, measurements, sample collection. But it was mostly about being there first. Once we achieved our primary objective, there was no political will to go back. There still isn't. Perhaps, if we discover He3 or something else valuable, there will be.

c) I used to travel to Crested Butte, Colorado every year to ski. Because I don't go anymore, does it mean that I never went?


3) What about the Van Allen radiation belts? Wouldn't it have killed the astronauts?

The existence of the Van Allen radiation belts postulated in the 1940s by Nicholas Christofilos. Their existence was confirmed in *1958* by the Explorer I satellite launched by the USA.

The radiation in the Van Allen radiation belts is not particularly strong. You would have to hang out there for a week or so in order to get radiation sickness. And, because the radiation is not particularly strong, a few millimeters of metal is all that is required for protection. "An object satellite shielded by 3 mm of aluminum will receive about 2500 rem (25 Sv) per *year*."

"In practice, Apollo astronauts who travelled to the moon spent very little time in the belts and received a harmless dose. [6]. Nevertheless NASA deliberately timed Apollo launches, and used lunar transfer orbits that only skirted the edge of the belt over the equator to minimise the radiation." When the astronauts returned to Earth, their dosimeters showed that they had received about as much radiation as a couple of medical X-rays.


4) The U.S. government scammed everyone?

In 1972, there was a politically motivated burglary of a hotel room in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. There were only about six or eight people who knew about it. However, those people, including Richard M. Nixon, the President of the United States, failed to keep that burglary a secret. It exploded into a scandal that drove the President and a number of others from office.

If six or eight people couldn't keep a hotel room burglary a secret, then how could literally thousands of people could have kept their mouths shut about six faked moon landings? Not just one moon landing, but six of them!


5) What about the USSR?

Even if NASA and other government agencies could have faked the six moon landings well enough to fool the general public, they could NOT have fooled the space agency or military intelligence types in the USSR. The Soviets were just dying to beat us. If the landings were faked, the Soviets would have re-engineered their N-1 booster and landed on the moon just to prove what liars Americans are. Why didn't they? Because the landings were real and the Soviets knew it.


6) Why does the flag shake? Where are the stars? Who took the video of Neil Armstrong?

Take a look at the first two websites listed below. They deal well with all of the technical questions.


7) Finally, please tell us what you would accept as definitive evidence that the six moon landings were real. Is there anything?

Answer 3

The flag DOES NOT FLAP! Why do people who have only seen STILL photographs claim they can see it flapping??? Nothing in a still photo moves, so you cannot say if it flaps or not unless you look at a moving video. If you DO look at the video, you will see that it only flaps when the astronauts are touching the pole, and maybe a few seconds more just after they let go, and then it JUST HANGS MOTIONLESS! It sticks out sideways because the pole was designed with a stiff horizontal bar sticking out sideways to support it in that position!

There are video clips in the source, but it is a big source and you will need to make an effort to find the right ones. Will you please do that? Click on "Apollo 11", then on "Video and Movies", then on "Mobility and Photography" then on the 4th video down the list, the "(1 minute 15 seconds; 7.8MB)" link. You will see the moving astronaut next to the NOT FLAPPING flag! I picked this video because it is MPEG and does not require QuickTime or any special software, it plays in Windows Media Player, but there are many other videos in other formats.

Answer 4

I can't believ how many people try to answer a simple question with no idea of the truth. There was a wire or spring IN THE STINKING FLAG!!! How hard is it to do some friggin research? They decided to leave it wavy instead of flat because it looked better.

The astronauts dropped a feather and a hammer on the moon and they hit the ground at the same time. If that's not a vacuum it's close enough.

Answer 5

Bad: When the astronauts are assembling the American flag, the flag waves. Kaysing says this must have been from an errant breeze on the set. A flag wouldn't wave in a vacuum.

Good: Of course a flag can wave in a vacuum. In the shot of the astronaut and the flag, the astronaut is rotating the pole on which the flag is mounted, trying to get it to stay up. The flag is mounted on one side on the pole, and along the top by another pole that sticks out to the side. In a vacuum or not, when you whip around the vertical pole, the flag will ``wave'', since it is attached at the top. The top will move first, then the cloth will follow along in a wave that moves down. This isn't air that is moving the flag, it's the cloth itself.

Answer 6

The flag was not solid, it was made from fabric.
The flag was held up by a pole through the top.
any force applied to the flag or pole will make the flag move...even in a vaccum.

The very fact that something like a space shuttle can move through space is proof enough that a flag can move in space.

Have you ever seen the videos of the astronauts replacing solar panels on satelites etc. when they release the old ones they flap and bend due to the forces applied when moving them.

Answer 7

*points at the ship/craft and the astronauts*

How are they landing, hovering, and moveing? Think that might be spreading out in all drections. The moon also has some gravity going on,... combine the wind blasting from stuff with the gravity and maybe that wave is what you get.

Added1: Since people are clearly not catching on to what I'm saying. Let's compare your fart to the energy coming out of things to propell them. Such as the "rocket" or whatever helps place the landing and the burst of gas from the packs on the Astronauts

Answer 8

NASA's answer is that there was a small spring holding the flag out. Since there was no air resistance, the spring kept oscillating once it was released making the flag move about.

Personally, I don't believe it. I think they landed on Mars by mistake and brought back George W.

Answer 9

There is a wieght in the end of the flag to keep it taught when it's 'flying'. As this weight moves when Armstrong is walking it looks as though the flag is moving in the wind.

Answer 10

Lunar breeze...there IS an atmosphere on the moon, just nowhere near as thick as the one on Earth. The lunar equivalent of air moves from the heated sunlit side (high pressure) to the cooler dark side (low pressure) just like here on Earth! That's all that wind is!