Mary Roach wrote about this NASA document in her excellent book. Document - Where No Flag Has Gone Before: Political and Technical Aspects of Placing a Flag on the Moon, gives us an inside look at the difficulties in replicating mundane "earthly" tasks in the space and of-course it's hilarious:
Work on the lunar flag assembly began about three months prior to the Apollo 11 mission. Robert Gilruth, Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC)* and a member of the Committee on Symbolic Activities, asked Jack Kinzler, Chief of Technical Services Division at MSC, for ideas regarding the
EVA. Kinzler suggested that a full-size U.S. flag could be deployed using a specially designed flagpole. He drew up a preliminary sketch and the idea was presented to the committee. Working with Deputy Division
Chief Dave McCraw, he worked out the details of the lunar flag assembly over several days. The design was based on a number of engineering constraints. For example, to compensate for the lack of an atmosphere on
the lunar surface, the flag assembly included a horizontal crossbar to give the illusion of a flag flying in the breeze?
Finally, it was necessary to protect the flag during the descent portion of the lunar landing.To make the flag easily accessible during the EVA, it was mounted on the left-hand side of the ladder on the Lunar Module. This also reduced the amount of equipment that had to be carried inside the already crowded vehicle. It was estimated, however, that the LM ladder would be heated to 250°F by the descent engines as they fired during the descent staging phase of the landing. The ladder would experience temperatures up to 2,000"F during the 13 seconds of the touchdown phase. Tests run on the flag determined that it would withstam! temperatures of only up to 300°F. These conditions made it necessary to design a protective shroud for the flag assembly.
It is uncertain who manufactured the flag that was deployed by the Apollo 11 crew. According to a NASA Press Release of 3 July 1969, “the Stars and Stripes to be deployed on the Moon was purchased along with several others made by different manufacturers at stores in the area around the Manned Spacecraft Center near Houston. In order to attach the flag properly to its aluminum staff it was necessary to remove the binding and labels. For this reason the name of the manufacturer cannot be determined.” (NASA Press Release 69-83E, 3 July 1969, on file at the JSC History Office) In his book, All We Did Was Fly to the Moon, Dick Lattimer states that the flags that went to the Moon were made by Annin 8z Co. Randy Beard, Sr., of Annin contacted the Public Affairs Office at NASA Headquarters regarding the flag shortly after the Moon landing. His company had supplied many flags to NASA throughout the manned space flight program. Beard was told that three secretaries had been sent out to buy 3x5 foot nylon flags during their lunch hours. After they had returned, it was discovered that all of them had purchased their flags at Sears. Annin was the official flag supplier for Sears at the time so this story seemed to confirm that the flag had been made by Annin. Beard was informed that NASA would not confirm the manufacturer of the flag because they didn’t “want another Tang” - in other words, the agency did not want another advertising campaign based upon the fact that a commercial product had been used by the astronauts. Jack Kinzler was unable to verify that the flags were purchased at local stores or that the labels were removed. His notes indicate that the flags were purchased from the Government Stock Catalog for $5.50.
Work on the lunar flag assembly began about three months prior to the Apollo 11 mission. Robert Gilruth, Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC)* and a member of the Committee on Symbolic Activities, asked Jack Kinzler, Chief of Technical Services Division at MSC, for ideas regarding the
EVA. Kinzler suggested that a full-size U.S. flag could be deployed using a specially designed flagpole. He drew up a preliminary sketch and the idea was presented to the committee. Working with Deputy Division
Chief Dave McCraw, he worked out the details of the lunar flag assembly over several days. The design was based on a number of engineering constraints. For example, to compensate for the lack of an atmosphere on
the lunar surface, the flag assembly included a horizontal crossbar to give the illusion of a flag flying in the breeze?
Finally, it was necessary to protect the flag during the descent portion of the lunar landing.To make the flag easily accessible during the EVA, it was mounted on the left-hand side of the ladder on the Lunar Module. This also reduced the amount of equipment that had to be carried inside the already crowded vehicle. It was estimated, however, that the LM ladder would be heated to 250°F by the descent engines as they fired during the descent staging phase of the landing. The ladder would experience temperatures up to 2,000"F during the 13 seconds of the touchdown phase. Tests run on the flag determined that it would withstam! temperatures of only up to 300°F. These conditions made it necessary to design a protective shroud for the flag assembly.
It is uncertain who manufactured the flag that was deployed by the Apollo 11 crew. According to a NASA Press Release of 3 July 1969, “the Stars and Stripes to be deployed on the Moon was purchased along with several others made by different manufacturers at stores in the area around the Manned Spacecraft Center near Houston. In order to attach the flag properly to its aluminum staff it was necessary to remove the binding and labels. For this reason the name of the manufacturer cannot be determined.” (NASA Press Release 69-83E, 3 July 1969, on file at the JSC History Office) In his book, All We Did Was Fly to the Moon, Dick Lattimer states that the flags that went to the Moon were made by Annin 8z Co. Randy Beard, Sr., of Annin contacted the Public Affairs Office at NASA Headquarters regarding the flag shortly after the Moon landing. His company had supplied many flags to NASA throughout the manned space flight program. Beard was told that three secretaries had been sent out to buy 3x5 foot nylon flags during their lunch hours. After they had returned, it was discovered that all of them had purchased their flags at Sears. Annin was the official flag supplier for Sears at the time so this story seemed to confirm that the flag had been made by Annin. Beard was informed that NASA would not confirm the manufacturer of the flag because they didn’t “want another Tang” - in other words, the agency did not want another advertising campaign based upon the fact that a commercial product had been used by the astronauts. Jack Kinzler was unable to verify that the flags were purchased at local stores or that the labels were removed. His notes indicate that the flags were purchased from the Government Stock Catalog for $5.50.
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