nasa flag on the moon

How did the flags on the Moon get there?

Fifty years ago this week, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps on the Moon and raised an American flag at the landing site. Every Apollo crew after them followed suit. But the story of the flags on the Moon, starting with Apollo 11, is a complicated mix of engineering, politics, and symbolism.

nasa funding graph

What does NASA’s budget cover?

The budget specifies funding amounts for programs and projects in human spaceflight, space science, aeronautics, technology development, and education. NASA’s budget peaked during the Apollo program in the 1960s. After the United States won the race to the Moon, space exploration lost political support and NASA’s budget was cut significantly.

nasa flag on the moon

What is the size of the flag on the Moon?

Six of the flags (including one for Apollo 13 which was not planted on the Moon) were ordered from a government supply catalog and measured 3 by 5 feet (0.91 by 1.52 m); the last one planted on the Moon was the slightly larger, 6-foot (1.8 m)-wide flag which had hung in the MSC Mission Operations Control Room for most of the Apollo program.

Is the flag of the United States on the Moon still standing?

"Apollo Moon Flags Still Standing". NASA. Retrieved December 23, 2018. ^ Fincannon, James (April 21, 2012). "Apollo 14 Flag Deployment". Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. NASA. Retrieved December 23, 2018. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flag of the United States on the Moon. Cernan, Eugene; Davis, Don (2009) [1999]. The Last Man on the Moon.

nasa funding graph

Is NASA’s budget really bigger than the federal budget?

The American public, on average, believes NASA’s budget has a much larger share of the federal budget than it actually does.

nasa flag on the moon

What was the Lunar Flag Assembly used for?

Lunar Flag Assembly. The Lunar Flag Assembly (LFA) was a kit containing a flag of the United States designed to be planted by astronauts on the Moon during the Apollo program.

nasa funding vs spacex

What is the difference between NASA and SpaceX?

NASA is also vastly larger, spending tens of billions of dollars every year on hundreds of major projects while SpaceX spends millions of dollars on a select few. Space exploration brings out the best in us. When government agencies like NASA and private companies like SpaceX work together, everyone wins.

Will SpaceX get a second contract with NASA?

In May, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington submitted the amendment requiring NASA to award a second contract and allocate the extra funding between SpaceX and the second contractor. It didn’t mention Blue Origin, but the company is based in Washington.

What does NASA’s new budget request mean for SpaceX?

This is the first budget request under NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. On a reference basis alone, the budget uses the word “commercial” almost twice as much as last year. That is a boon to companies like SpaceX, as CEO Elon Musk has said his company wants to be a part of returning cargo and humans to the moon’s surface, as NASA aims to do.

nasa flagro

What is NASGRO/flagro?

NASA/FLAGRO was originally developed at the NASA Johnson Space Center in the early 1980s to perform fracture control for manned space programs. The name was changed to NASGRO with the release of version 3 in 1999. Southwest Research Institute and NASA have been jointly developing NASGRO since version 4 in 2001.