One of the photographs he took (shown below) was of the Lunar Module #2-Apollo, which was never used on a lunar mission.  Now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, it is a stunning exhibit (and no doubt one of the more expensive ones—but less expensive I suppose, than an entire moon mission). (Click into the photo icons for larger images.)

Alex’s photo reminded me of a previous Daily Flag article and my subsequent search for photos of the Eagle Lunar Module, used in the the first moon landing. I had concluded that the first flag on the moon surely was mounted on the Eagle L.M.  I spent several hours searching for photos then, but came up empty-handed. I think I was searching using the words Eagle lander instead of lunar module, and I was in the Library of Congress web site instead of the Smithsonian.

But thanks to Alex, my interest in the Eagle L.M. was renewed, and he pointed me in the right direction.

And this time I found what I was looking for.

The "upside-down" Eagle lunar module is on its way to the surface of the moon. Just to the right of the center ladder, and toward the bottom, the U.S. flag is visible.

Earth, Moon and Eagle lunar module perfectly captured in one frame by astronaut Michael Collins.

In this photo, the flag is hard to see, but it is to the right, and about even with Buzz Aldrin’s helmet.

Three flags are shown in this photo: the one on the lunar module—visible just to the right and slightly above the astronaut’s helmet. The second flag is on the astronaut’s life-pack (I don’t know the proper name for it), and the third flag—one of the most famous in the world—the one Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin "planted" on the moon.

So now I know what the first flag on the moon was, and so do you—for next time this question comes up on a trivia game!
]]> http://www.flagsbay.com/flag/2008/08/05/the-first-flag-on-the-moon/feed/ 0 http://www.flagsbay.com/flag/2007/09/24/the-daily-flag-news-september-24-2007/ http://www.flagsbay.com/flag/2007/09/24/the-daily-flag-news-september-24-2007/#comments Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:44:30 +0000 Larry Hendrick http://www.flagsbay.com/flag/2007/09/24/the-daily-flag-news-september-24-2007/ As readers know, I love the American flag and enjoy reading about others that have that same joy. Today’s news brings several stories that will delight flag lovers, and a follow-up on the Space auction.

Rudy Mummey is a man after my own heart. with over 500 flags, he flies a different one every day, along with his lighted U.S. flag. Way to go, Rudy!

Standard-Journal Online – News
LEWISBURG — Rudy Mummey’s interest in flags can be traced all the way back to his youth.

Mummey, who has been retired for four years now after teaching German, English and theater in the Lewisburg Area School District for 39 years, has amassed a flag collection that would strike envy in the hearts of most other collectors.

With almost 500 flags at his disposal, Mummey flies a different banner each day in front of his house on Fairground Road in East Buffalo Township. He also flies the American flag, which he lights at night.

Not only did they find a huge American flag, they rescued and repaired it. When you go to the WTRF website, click on the video link to see the flag flying—all 34′ of it.

WTRF-TV – News for Wheeling, West Virginia and the Ohio Valley
CHARLESTON — The Bruner home on Kanawha Avenue has always been a pretty patriotic place.

But for the last few weeks, that home has been overshadowed by one star-spangled banner that measures 34 feet in length.

“My son found it. It was to be recycled. It was frayed about three feet on the bottom. We set it up out here and cut about three feet off of it and paid a lady $30 to hem it for us,” said Harry Bruner, Sr.

One Charleston City Councilman got a few e-mails from residents wondering whether Bruner had the right to fly such a formidable flag.

While the city does have rules regulating signs in people’s yards, they don’t apply to American flags.

In The Daily Flag last Friday, I mentioned the story about the Dallas auction that included Buzz Aldrin’s written Communion service. This article include more of the items for bid, including Former President Clinton’s laptop, only slightly used. This is very interesting read.

Heritage explores space with latest memorabilia sale | Dallas Morning News
Another hot item was a laptop computer, its original hard drive intact, that was used by President Bill Clinton to e-mail to Sen. John Glenn, one of the original Mercury astronauts, during his 1998 return to space at age 77.

“Clinton wanted to convey his good wishes, and there was no effective way to do it except through e-mail,” says Mr. Slater. “Clinton as president had an aversion to sending e-mail, so this is one of only two e-mails he ever sent as president. The other was an internal test e-mail.”

Documentation, of course, makes any item soar in value. Both men provided it. Mr. Clinton even agreed to be photographed next to his rarely used, and now clearly outdated, computer.

Scouts and U.S Flags go together hand-in-hand, and Troop 25 getting a 50′ flagpole is great. A flagpole to be discarded … a Scout troop looking for a pole … it all fits.

SunHerald.com : Flag pole finds a new home
LUCEDALE –It’s almost like they were meant to be together. A flag pole without a purpose and a Boy Scout troop with a need found each other through a simple coincidence.

In his daily travels, Gulfport ambulance driver Greg Baggett noticed a solitary flag pole still standing amid the rubble and reconstruction on Veterans Avenue and U.S. 90 in Biloxi. Its flag was long gone, probably lost in the chaos of Hurricane Katrina or removed by crews later.

Baggett, an assistant for Boy Scout Troop 25 in Lucedale, knew his troop needed a pole to fly an American flag over their clubhouse hut in Lucedale City Park. He contacted Gavin Smith with RW Development, who owned the KFC restaurant property where the empty pole was located.

Smith said the property would be demolished and offered the pole to the troop.

Ten bits of trivia about the NASA Space program you might not know about. I have highlighted eight and nine, but all ten are interesting.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Space Exploration – US News and World Report
8. Although it may appear to be flying backward, the flag on the shuttle is positioned so as to appear as though it’s flying alongside the ship; this is done to be in accordance with the regulation for displaying the U.S. flag on a national vehicle so that the star field is positioned at the front of the vessel (or the nose cone end of the shuttle).

9. Flying American flags to space originated with the flight of the first American astronaut, Alan Shepard, in 1961. Elementary students from a Cocoa Beach, Fla., school purchased the flag for Shepard to carry onboard; the flag was rolled up and placed between cables behind Shepard’s head inside his Freedom 7 Mercury spacecraft. Onetime NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said, “The American flags are a patriotic symbol of our strength and solidarity and our nation’s resolve to prevail.”

Sixty-two years has passed since Corporal Poulsen brought home a small prize from WWII. That prize, a Japanese flag, is now back with its original family. A nice story.

Utah family returns WWII flag taken from fallen soldier to Japan – ABC4.com
U.S. Marine Corporal Ted Poulsen returned from World War II with honor and a few treasures to remind him of the courageous battles he fought. One of those items was a flag, found near the body of a brave Japanese officer. Now 62-years later and through a series of miracles, that flag has been returned to the Japanese family who lost its loved one so long ago.

POW/MIA Recognition Day is a day for flying the POW/MIA flag with the American flag. Bill Reynolds succeeded in encourging the City of Santa Clarita to fly that flag above City Hall today. Good job, Bill.

The Signal: News for Santa Clarita Valley, California
Another flag is flying high at City Hall today – a flag that honors prisoners of war and service men and women still missing in action.

The flag’s formal name is the National League of Families’ POW/MIA and it was raised today in support of National POW/MIA Recognition Day across the United States.

Bill Reynolds of Santa Clarita served in Vietnam with the 9th Infantry Division.

He approached City Hall officials about flying the flag after learning of the observance from other veterans online.

Congress has mandated the flying of the National League of Families’ POW/MIA flag on Sept. 21 and on five other days annually, including: Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day.

Reynolds said he’s happy just to see it flying in Santa Clarita.

Buzz Aldrin was prepared to conduct a Communion Service from the moon in 1969, but was prevented because of the possible lawsuits. I didn’t hear about this until yesterday when I read this story. Now you can own a piece of history, if you are the winning bidder.

News 8 Austin | 24 Hour Local News | TOP STORIES | Aldrin’s notes on handwritten card to be auctioned
DALLAS — A space-related auction by a Dallas company will include a handwritten note containing a Bible verse, but on a card that made it to the moon.

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 1969 had planned to broadcast a lunar Holy Communion service.

But Aldrin was asked not to read the verse publicly because of a legal challenge NASA faced from famed atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair.

He instead recited the verse during a private service with a communion kit from his church, Webster Presbyterian.

“Kill them so they won’t be trouble,” is the handwritten text on this Al-Qaeda flag now residing in the U.S. Military Museum. A good place for such a notorious flag.

AFP: Al-Qaeda flag featured at US military museum
TRIANGLE, United States AFP — A banner once displayed in front of an abandoned Al-Qaeda safehouse in Iraq has found a new home at a US military museum.

The three-meter-long 10-foot-long black flag, recovered by a battalion of marines in Fallujah in November 2004, is now on display at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia.

SGT Brandon W. Page is in Iraq, serving in the Army, and wrote this Letter to the Editor, and after reading it, you will see why I had to share it with you today.

Marion Daily Republican Online – News
If everyone had the opportunity to see how a third world country lives, you would realize how fortunate we are in America. I challenge you to do your part in making our country a better place. Send a letter to a random soldier serving in Iraq. Show them how much you appreciate them for what they do. Tell a spouse of a soldier or even a family whose soldier has paid the ultimate sacrifice, “Thank you for your sacrifice.” How many of you have an American flag flying high? Everyone should exercise their right to fly our flag.

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Aldrin and Armstrong spent two and one-half hours on the surface of the moon, during which they planted the American flag. The three Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins—made history that can only be repeated by standing on Mars and planting a U.S. flag. No, not quite the same, but very, very close.

The skeptics were plentiful, as some still believe the whole thing was a show on a sound stage. A good argument against the hoax theory is the USSR. They monitored the entire event (through gritted teeth, I’m sure). If the moon landing had been staged, they would have known it and said so, with great joy.

July 20, 1969 found me enjoying the summer before my Senior year of high school. I was working, playing, and having a good time. I remember the landing, but little else about where I was or who I was with.

How about you? Where were you when Armstrong took that small step?

Deborah here: I was with my sister, Linda. We were clustered with a dozen girls around a TV set in the lounge of the student nurses’ dorm at Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo, Texas. We watched the entire event from start to finish, which extended late into the evening as I recall.

You can read more on this at the Johnson Space Center NASA site.