Jefferyintexas

Space Age, You mentioned your "City Directory 1969." I love those old "city directories." Do you know where I might find some from the 50s and 60s to purchase? Thanks, Jeffery in Texas

...if there is no wind on the moon, how does the flag blow?? Well, quite simply, NASA wanted to have a flag to plant in the lunar surface. There is no wind, so the flag would just hang there limp. That would not be very impressive. Also, it would be just a swatch of colored fabric in photos. There would be no way to tell that it was an American flag. So, they came up with an ingenious way of sticking a flag in the surface that looked like it were waving. The fabric of the flag has a wire mesh sewn into it. The flag rolls up into a nice little package. When on the Moon, the astronauts extend the pole and stick it into the ground. They can then unroll the flag. Working in heavy spacesuits, though, it is easier to unroll the flag and then stick it into the ground. The lunar surface is grainular and tough to poke the flag into. So, they have to rock the pole back and forth shoving it down into the ground. Watching on the TV, this back and forth motion makes the flag swing back and forth like it is waving. The wire mesh is sewn into the fabric so that the flag will appear to stand out straight in the absense of wind. But, a flag sticking straight out from the pole doesn’t look natural. So, the astronauts often would extend the flag and bend ripples into it so that it looked more like it were waving. Look at video of the astronauts moving around the flag. It looks like it is waving, but it is frozen in position as the astronauts move by. It doesn’t actually wave. As it turns out, the flag didn’t really unroll as smoothly on the Moon as it did in tests on Earth, so the astronauts didn’t have to do much work to make it look like it were waving. It tended to look crinkly anyway. My final image is of the flag left by Apollo 11, as seen from the lunar lander. Without weather, one would expect that this scene would remain like this forever. But, that isn’t quite what happened. When the ascent module took off, the blast from the exhaust of the rocket engine blew over the flag. Just before it blew over, the blast shook it. This is the only time that the flag actually waved while on the Moon — while it was being blasted with rocket exhaust. Also, sadly, I would imagine that it probably isn’t red, white, and blue anymore. Likely the intense ultraviolet light from the Sun has faded the colors, just as it does to flags on Earth. But, without the protection of the Earth’s atmosphere, the ultraviolet light on the Moon is far stronger than it is on Earth, so I would be rather surprised if after this much time any color is left. My neighbor across the street helped design that flag!!

Musicman: One of the first NASA sites was on Wayside Drive [the west side] between Lawndale and the Gulf Freeway. I think this was in about 1961 or so. My 90 year old neighbor was indeed one of those folks who came to Texas from Virginia. This gentleman actually "designed" the flag that was first put on the moon by Armstrongs crew. What a wonderful man!