I was watching the footage of the First Man On The Moon, and noticed this. How can the flag be fluttering, when there's no wind on the atmosphere-free Moon?"
Any guesses?
2007-05-02 02:23:31 · 13 answers · asked by tachyon 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I was thirteen years old when the Apollo 11 mission took place. In the news reports even prior to the launch, they told us how the astronauts would be carrying a US flag to place on the moon. (BTW my family still has copies of some of those newspapers giving these details.) And they also said that because there is no atmosphere on the moon, the flag was made with very fine strands of springy wire in the fabric so that it would "wave" (for a while) after being unfurled.
And that's exactly how it turned out. In the first few minutes after the flag is unfurled (and saluted), it was moving. A little later, it was still, although still maintaining an "outward" position on the small flag pole, because the wire supports it.
Oh, just in case you start wondering why the tires on the lunar rovers (used on later Moon missions) didn't explode in the vacuum or whatever, it's because they were not inflated rubber tires. They were made of woven piano wire. Springy, very strong, and also puncture proof! :) Just thought I'd mention that before someone brings it up as another "they-never-went-there" argument. lol!!
2007-05-02 02:37:13 · answer #1 · answered by Lenky 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
The flag does not 'flutter' at all.
Since there is no air on the Moon, the flag had an extendible rod sewn into a hem along the top edge in order to keep it outstretched, otherwise it would simply hang down the flagpole. Not a very inspiring sight. This rod is very obvious in numerous photos and during the flag-planting video footage on all of the missions.
The flag was an ordinary nylon flag. There was nothing special about the fabric whatsoever, so of someone waved the flag around it would flap like an ordinary sheet of fabric would. The flagpole and horizontal rod were made of aluminium and were quite springy. When an astronaut plants the flag he twists and bends the pole and awful lot trying to get it in the ground. Since there is no air on the Moon, and lower gravity, the flag will flap around a lot more than it might be expected to on Earth, and with no air to damp the movement this will continue for far longer than it would on Earth. However, once the flag has been planted, the astronauts have let go, and the motion has stopped, it stays totally and utterly static for the rest of the time. That is just not possible in an air-filled studio. If it were staged here on Earth the flag would move every time an astronaut went past it, and would be constantly shifting poition. It doesn't move so much as an inch. That flag was unquestionably planted in a vacuum environment.
The 'how can the flag be waving' argument for the faked lunar landing makes no sense in any case. Why would they be so stupid as to fake putting a flag up and have it flapping in a breeze when it was well known that the Moon had no atmosphere? Like so many arguments in favour of conspiracy theories it requires the peretrators to be so brilliant and resourceful that they can pull off such a hoax, and yet so stupid they make fundamental schoolboy errors. That makes no sense at all.
2007-05-02 02:52:22 · answer #2 · answered by Jason T 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Flag Flutter
2016-12-10 18:54:07 · answer #3 · answered by gillerist 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the flag had a plastic skeleton to keep it wide open.
However this was not true for apollo 11 mission. So the famous photo of apollo 11 with the flag is considered by some people a fake.
Apollo 12-14-15-16-17 all had rigid skeletons for the flags.
2007-05-02 02:30:26 · answer #4 · answered by scientific_boy3434 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The very act of planting the flag requires motion and gives the cloth and pole momentum, which will cause the flag to flutter, bounce back and forth unabated by the friction of air, since there is none.
2007-05-02 02:42:16 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
There is a wire supporting the flag. Since it was known that there is no air on the moon, the flag was fitted with a wire before it ever left the earth.
2007-05-02 02:27:59 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
It's held up by a flexible long spring. If you look at subsequent footage after it's planted and the spring stops moving, it's perfectly still. That was one of the arguments used by the Flat Earth Society to discredit photo's of a round earth. They said it was all done in a studio.
2007-05-02 02:28:05 · answer #7 · answered by Gene 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I've seen most of that footage and its obvious theres a wire holding it up,plus if you notice the creases never did go away. It there was gravity they would have fallen out.
2007-05-02 02:28:46 · answer #8 · answered by kickme 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
This question has been asked and answered many times already. Next time, try using the search function here on Y!A, because we are getting tired of explaining the obvious to conspiracy theory nuts.
2007-05-02 03:34:28 · answer #9 · answered by Randy G 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
what are ya new , thats old, get with the times now
2007-05-02 02:31:26 · answer #10 · answered by jim m 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋