NASA Radio:"Eagle (this is) Houston, looking good"
After 21h and 36m on the surface of the Moon it was time for the first people to walk here, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to start heading home
NASA Radio: "nine, eight, seven, six, five, abort stage, engine arm ascent, proceed"
In this video we will look at what the astronauts left behind on what is one
of the most significant historical sites that no one has visited since
During the astronauts takeoff Buzz Aldrin observed the site from a window noticing that the engine's
spearing exhaust was whirling up Moon dust and caused the American flag to tip over falling
to the ground. A special mounting mechanism had been designed for the flag as with no wind on the
moon it had to be held upright by a horizontal crossbar. The flag itself however made of nylon
is not a custom-made product but was ordered through the standard government supply catalog
In addition to the flag, other commemorative items that serve no scientific purpose were
left on the moon. Attached on the ladder of The Descent stage there is a metal plaque
featuring the signatures of the Apollo 11 crew and then U.S president Richard Nixon
The astronauts also placed a number of small objects with symbolic meaning on the surface.
These items were stored in a shoulder pocket on Buzz aldrin's spacesuit and he almost forgot to leave them on the
moon and was reminded to do so by Armstrong while he was already on the ladder to re-enter the lunar module.
From there Aldrin dropped the objects onto the lunar surface.
Part of it was an Apollo 1 Mission patch to honor the astronauts that had died in a tragic accident two and a half
years prior. Their cabin had caught fire during a launch rehearsal killing all three crew members
The astronauts also left two commemorative medals to honor the Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin
and Vladimir komarov: two space Pioneers that died in different tragic accidents
Even amidst the Cold War the aim was to express mutual respect for those
who risked their lives for the exploration of space. Another object that was placed to
express the spirit of international cooperation is a small silicon disk
Tt contains Goodwill messages from the leaders of 73 countries around the world. In addition it
features the names of Congress members responsible for NASA legislation as well as names of NASA senior staff.
The astronauts also left a gold Olive Branch as a symbol of Global Peace.
Besides these purely symbolic objects we can find instruments that we used for
experiments such as this seismometer that can measure ground vibrations
The device, powered by solar panels, records data on the strength, duration
and approximate direction of seismic events and transmits this data to Earth
Unfortunately just three weeks after the moon landing the device stopped sending data back
presumably because it overheated in the midday Sun. The temperature fluctuations between day
and night are much more extreme than on Earth. This is because the sun's heat is not absorbed
by an atmosphere, which could distribute it and retain it during the night
Further we find another experiment, the lunar laser retro reflector, it acts as a special kind
of mirror reflecting incoming light in exactly the same direction from which the beam originates
This means scientists on Earth can direct a laser beam towards this device which will
reflect the light back to Earth. Since the speed of light is known, this instrument can
be used to measure the exact distance between the Earth and the moon. And it is the mission's
only experiment that still works to this day. Other experiments that the astronauts carried
out can only be recognized by the traces they left behind. The astronauts took rock samples
and drilled into the ground measuring the resistance. They also hung up a special sheet for
the duration of their stay in order to measure the solar wind outside of Earth's magnetosphere
Because the astronauts had to bring this sail back to Earth, only the pole remains on the moon
Close to the Lander we find an area that is cluttered with objects. This is the trash we left behind.
A number of rock samples were brought back to Earth and in order to be able to take as
much as possible of those the astronauts tossed away equipment that had already served its purpose
Also the black and white camera which had transmitted both the first steps on the moon,
and the raising of the flag to a worldwide audience stayed behind on the moon
In addition to commemorative items, scientific experiments, and tossed away equipment,
the astronauts left one other thing behind: their footprints, which are often used as a metaphor
for the achievement that this journey represents. The paths that the astronauts took are clearly
visible in the moondust and they reveal one path that was taken far away from the landing site
Towards the end of the extra vehicular activity Neil Armstrong took the chance
and went on an unplanned trip to the little West crater.
After the astronauts left, the site's condition is expected to only change slow, not so much in
periods of weeks or months but decades centuries and even greater intervals. And so today more than
53 years after Apollo 11 left, it can be assumed that solar radiation has visually changed the site
Without a significant atmosphere to protect the moon, the intense ultraviolet radiation of
sunlight will have an impact on the materials used in the mission. It is widely assumed that
the colors of the U.S flag have faded over the years. In addition the materials
were exposed to the extreme temperature fluctuations alternating between 14 days
of 100 degrees celsius heat and then 14 days in the dark at negative 150 degrees celsius
And so it's likely that the nylon flag is also tattered and disintegrated as other
materials will have suffered and will be covered in dust. Ultimately however these are assumptions
to the best of our knowledge, what's left is a truly fascinating historical site that unlike
archaeological sites on Earth is superbly preserved but yet hardly studyable.
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