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U.S. Flags On The Moon

U.S. Flags On The Moon
Dolores Black, seamstress

See also:

U.S. Flags on the Moon

Apollo 11

Apollo 12

Apollo 14

Apollo 15

Apollo 16

Apollo 17

There are six U.S. flags on the moon planted by the Apollo astronauts (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17). I don't believe any of the unmanned U.S. probes have planted flags.
Joe McMillan, 28 Feb 2001

The problems of flying a flag in the vacuum of space are fairly obvious. Most people know that the U.S. flags planted on the moon were made of cloth or nylon and were rigged with a wire along the top and/or bottom so that they looked like they were "waving." It is rumored that the Apollo 11 flag was actually knocked down by the dust kicked up by the exhaust of the lunar module, and is currently lying in the Lunar dirt.
Josh Fruhlinger, 17 Nov 1996

I recall seeing a film of one of the Apollo Lunar Module lift-offs where the camera was aimed out the window. Upon launch from the lunar surface, you could clearly see the U.S. Flag spin on its staff and was waving briskly in a direction pointing away from the rocket blast. There was no indication that the pole or flag were dislodged by the exhaust. I presume, therefore, that the flags left by the Apollo astronauts were all left standing after the departure of the LM.

That does not mean to say that the flags are there today. I work two blocks south of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum where a major exhibit is a LM on a simulated lunar surface, complete with astronaut mannequin and flag. The flag, which was similar to those used in the 1969-1971 lunar missions, has only been at the site since the museum’s 1976 opening, and already it is quite noticeably faded. Here, the sun’s rays are filtered by miles of atmosphere and the plexiglass roof of the museum. I dare say that the unfiltered UV rays hitting the lunar surface have fully destroyed all the flags left by the Apollo crews by now.
Nick Artimovich, 18 Nov 1996

After I saw the movie Apollo 13, I read several books about the Americans going to the moon, and I remember reading about this little-known episode. I can’t remember exactly which book it was in, but it was either in an official NASA history or in Moonshot by astronauts Deke Slayton and Alan Shepard, so I would consider this much more than a rumor.
Dean Tiegs, 19 Nov 1996

I remember watching a television special on the lunar landings and one of the astronauts (Buzz Aldrin, I think) mentioned that he actually saw the flag fall as they were lifting off and that they had decided that mentioning this on their return would have been bad PR (Public Relations).
Nathan Augustine

In 1992, I gave a paper at the NAVA meeting in San Antonio entitled "Where No Flag Has Gone Before: Political and Technical Aspects of Placing a Flag on the Moon" [pff92a]. NASA has since published the paper as a contractor report (NASA CR-188251) [pff92b]. The NASA version of the paper includes some of the engineering drawings for the lunar flag assembly. A shortened version of this paper was published on an American space magazine called "Final Frontier," July/August 1994 issue, pages 94-95 [pff94].
Annie Platoff

Dolores Black, Seamstress

On "Fox TV", 30 May 2009, Ray Collins introduced Dolores Black, the woman who sewed the flag put on the moon by Neil Armstrong on 20 July 1969. Ms. Black then worked in Milwaukee for the main flag manufacturer in the country [more accurately, Eder Flag Manufacturing Co. in Oak Creek, Wisconsin]. A secret well-kept by Ms. Black and her boss was that she signed the flag by sewing her name on the inner seam. The video footage and its transcript are available on Fox TV Tampa Bay website: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/scitech/space/moon_flag_lady_052909.

Dolores Black was already introduced on 8 September 2008 by "Bay News 9", as "the second Betsy Ross" (sic). She refuted the conspiracy theory that the moon landing was fake: "She says pictures of the flag that make it look like it's blowing in the wind when there is no wind is exactly how she created it. Black says she sewed a nylon lining into the flag so that it would withstand the conditions on the moon and hold its shape better. She says there was also a pole across the top which made the flag stand out when there was no wind to blow it." http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2008/9/8/380464.html - transcript, TV footage no longer available

As reported by Vin Mannix, "The Bradenton Herald", 27 May 2009, Dolores Black, now aged 82, is being honored by an art exhibit at Manatee Community College, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. She gives more details on the flag manufacturing: "Black usually took three hours to make a flag. She was given two weeks for this one. It was made of double-faced nylon with embroidered stars and a lining for reinforcement."
http://www.bradenton.com/vin_mannix/story/1465349.html
Ivan Sache, 1 June 2009