Lunar Flag Assembly
Encyclopedia
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
and flagpole planted on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts. It was specially designed with a horizontal pole to support the flag on the airless Moon, to make it appear similar to how it would look waving in the wind on Earth. The LFA presented a range of technical challenges including packaging, tolerance of environmental conditions, and deployment.
Some Americans anticipated possible controversy over planting the US flag on the Moon, since territorial claim to any extra-terrestrial body was prohibited by the Outer Space Treaty
Outer Space Treaty
The Outer Space Treaty, formally the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is a treaty that forms the basis of international space law...
signed by the US, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on January 27, 1967, but since it was made clear the US had no intention of making territorial claim to the Moon, no serious controversy materialized. In fact, the US Congress passed a bill in November 1969, signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon, stating "the flag of the United States, and no other flag, shall be implanted or otherwise placed on the surface of the moon, or on the surface of any planet, by members of the crew of any spacecraft ... as part of any mission ... the funds for which are provided entirely by the Government of the United States. ... this act is intended as a symbolic gesture of national pride in achievement and is not to be construed as a declaration of national appropriation by claim of sovereignty."