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Annin Flag Company

Flag Companies - First Flag on the Moon

On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong placed the first flag on the moon during the first moon landing which was seen on television around the world. The Apollo 11 crew included Commander Neil Armstrong, Colonel Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Lieutenant Colonel Michael Collins. But it was Armstrong and Aldrin who landed on the moon, while Collins circled the moon in the larger ship Columbia.

NASA engineers faced a difficult challenge. The problem was, there is no air on the moon, so a flag would not "fly" or wave in a breeze. It would just hang down. The engineers figured to find a way to make sure the flag would be up and look like it was flying. So after going through painstaking research and trial runs, NASA finally came up with a plan. They decided to use a horizontal rod which they attached to the top of the flag. This rod was attached to the vertical rod with a hinge.

Where did they get the flag?

NASA is not confirming where they got the flag as far as who the manufacturer is.

Some people believe it was an Annin flag. There's a story that NASA secretaries were asked to purchase some 3x5 foot nylon flags during their lunch time. They bought their flags at Sears. At that time, Sears only sold Annin flags. NASA will not confirm this.

We'll never know for sure. Even if you could look at the real flag, you probably still couldn't tell because the binding and labels were removed to attach it to the rods.

(summary by Kyle)

This is a photo of Buzz Aldrin and the U. S. flag on the moon. This photo was taken by Neil Armstrong.

The flag looks like it is flying, but really it has a rod across the top to make it look this way. There is no air on the moon, so there is no breeze.