Flag Day: 7 interesting facts about the American flag and its history
6. Flags on the Moon
On July 20, 1969, the United States became the first country to land on the Moon. As part of this achievement, the American flag became the first banner to be planted on land outside of Earth.
Since that inaugural landing, six U.S. flags have been planted on the Moon by different missions, with them specially made to appear as though they were flying in a breeze.
“NASA engineers, who must have had premonitions of a flag hanging limply in one of the most historic scenes ever captured on film, designed the Moon flag, and all subsequent ones, with a horizontal bar that allowed them to ‘fly’ without the benefit of a breeze,” explained The National Air and Space Museum in 2009.
“Altogether, Apollo Moon missions have left six American flags on the lunar surface, but all are symbolic, not representative of any territorial claim. The United Nations Treaty on Outer Space precludes any territorial claims on the Moon.”
