Flags left by Apollo astronauts forty years ago may not be waving, for there is no breeze on the moon. But they are still standing in place on all but one landing site, at least according to high res images snapped by the Lunar Reconnaissance Observer. Images and link below.
LRO Home– From the LROC images it is now certain that the American flags are still standing and casting shadows at all of the sites, except Apollo 11. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reported that the flag was blown over by the exhaust from the ascent engine during liftoff of Apollo 11, and it looks like he was correct! The most convincing way to see that the flags are still there, is to view a time series of LROC images taken at different times of day, and watch the shadow circle the flag (see movie below; the flag is just above the LM descent stage).
Yes, I know there are typos and a link missing. You would not believe the amount of unnecessary crap I went through trying to address that. Suffice it to say computers simply suck, they started out sucking pretty bad and have only gotten worse, more unreliable, more confusing, cheaper and cheaper, crappier and crappier, until they and the net they are a part of barely function half the time and completely fail multiple times every day. That we are forced to depend on these pieces of shit and dicey connections for virtually every aspect of our lives frightens me to death. In no other industry – outside of Halliburton in Iraq or something — would this level of epic fail be tolerated.
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Synfandel
July 30, 2012 at 2:06 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
“We came in peace for all mankind.”
And we planted a flag to stake our claim on behalf of 4.5 per cent of mankind.
Gvlgeologist, FCD
July 30, 2012 at 2:52 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
ITS FAKE, ITS FAKE, IT’S FAKE. IT’S ALL A BIG CONSPIRACY BY BIG GOVERNMENT TO FOOL US THAT WE LANDED ON THE MOON!!!11111ELEVEN
/channeling conspiracy theorists.
(deep breath)
OK, and the word is “Reconnaissance” (although I kind of like “Reconescience”).
Gvlgeologist, FCD
July 30, 2012 at 2:53 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Oh, and by the way, that’s so cool that I can’t stand it.
jakc
July 30, 2012 at 3:18 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Maybe we need to send Neil, Buzz and Michael back to put their flag upright.
jacobfromlost
July 30, 2012 at 4:51 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Remember when the US did cool stuff like this?
Not anymore. If it doesn’t turn a profit immediately for oil companies…why bother?
blindrobin
July 30, 2012 at 7:10 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
If you are in the market for a used computer, I have (most of) an old PDP 11 in the shed that you can have if you’ll cart it away. There are numerous rodent nests etc. and the roof out there is leaky so don’t expect it to work or anything.
machintelligence
July 30, 2012 at 8:13 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
The Apollo 11 flag will probably be there until it is placed on the president’s desk by the Chinese ambassador with a note saying “You dropped this…”
Randomfactor
July 30, 2012 at 8:43 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Well, not “waving” as such…
jakc
July 30, 2012 at 9:04 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
@machineintelligence
That’s what I am afraid of.
StevoR
July 30, 2012 at 10:22 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
There are, however, occassional moonquakes which could those flags to shake around a bit! ;-)
StevoR
July 30, 2012 at 10:31 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Yet far, *far*, less advanced computers than today’s put those Apollo astronauts and their flags on our Moon. Forty years ago.
Forty years ago – Dec. 1972 – the last astronauts left the surface.
We could do it then.
We can’t and Obama has dismissed the idea of even trying to return there today.
So depressing and infuriating that is.
@7. machintelligence :
Yes. All too likely a scenario that now.
A world where the PRC has unrivalled militray, technological and astronautical power over everyone strikes me as a very worrying possible future given, among other things, what the PRC have done in Tibet and Xinjiang and against their own people back in the Tianamen square massacre.
StevoR
July 30, 2012 at 10:35 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
@4. jakc :
They’re probably a bit too old for that now.
John Glenn may volunteer once more though! ;-)
More seriously be great to see them send some women astronauts and more scientists such as astronomers as well as geologists and ecologists – test bed for new ways of growing and sustaining lives – up there next time.
So much of the Moon we haven’t seen and explored in person yet.
Aliasalpha
July 31, 2012 at 1:11 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Whip the ultrapatriotic nutters up by saying the flag isn’t waving but they need to support a mission to install small motors to make the flag wave in the way god intended. It will only be after the mission is over that they’ll realise that the little motors are SOLAR POWERED and it was all a liberal atheist conspiracy (conceived by a foreigner at that)