Before Neil Armstrong could take his small step down to the surface of a new world, before he and Buzz Aldrin could plant the flag, or scoop up moon rocks, or bunny-hop across the desolate lunar landscape, the astronauts of Apollo 11 had to take out the trash.
From the porch of the lunar module, Mr. Armstrong tossed down a “jettison bag” filled with empty food pouches, sacks of bodily waste, and scraps that were cluttering their cramped spacecraft. A few minutes later, as Mr. Armstrong climbed down, he paused to read from a plaque attached to his ladder: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”
The last-minute addition of this plaque meant that the Eagle, as the lunar module was named by its crew, was in some small way designed with an eye toward its afterlife as an artifact. That it’s up there still, 50 years later, resting on the Sea of Tranquillity, is a reminder of the enduring dream of the Apollo program — and the six trips that Americans made to the moon.
But if any of us were to stand at the foot of that ladder today, the plaque would be one of the last things we noticed. At the Apollo 11 landing site, and at the five others like it, the moon has become an archive of remnants that, not always intentionally, say more about humankind than any carefully designed monument ever could. If we wish to remember what it took and what it meant to send 12 men to the moon’s surface, we ought to account for all that was left behind, both the grand gestures — and the garbage.
American Flags
Made of nylon, the iconic flags planted by the Apollo astronauts have long since faded to white, bleached by the light of the sun.
Footprints
Because the moon has no atmosphere, and therefore no wind, lunar soil is engraved with the footsteps of every visitor. The landscape itself has become a map of their curiosities.
$2 Bills
A cache of American currency was accidentally left behind on the moon by the Apollo 15 astronauts Dave Scott and Jim Irwin. They’d brought the bills on the flight with the intention of selling them as collector’s items once they’d returned, but apparently forgot some of them.
Bible
After they’d finished driving their lunar rover, the astronauts of Apollo 15 placed a small Bible on the control panel.
‘Transfer Assembly’
A NASA euphemism for “bags of urine.” There are scores of bags of bodily waste scattered around the moon. The Apollo astronauts saved a few samples, however, to take back home for testing.
Soviet Medallion
When the Soviet probe Luna 2 — the first human-built object to reach the moon — crashed onto the surface, it released a battery of small medallions engraved with a Soviet coat of arms.
Plutonium
Five small electric generators, each containing about eight pounds of plutonium, were used to power scientific experiments, starting with Apollo 12.
Family Portrait
The Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke left behind a photograph of his family.
Wrecked Spacecraft
The lunar surface is pitted with craters made by crashed spacecraft. Some, like early Soviet probes, were designed to make impact with the moon, while others, like the Apollo lunar modules, were scuttled after their missions were complete. And a fair number of spacecraft collided with the moon by accident.
Falcon Feather
To demonstrate the soundness of Galileo’s experiments with gravity, Apollo 15 astronauts dropped a hammer and a falcon feather. The feather and hammer hit the ground at virtually the same time.
Two Golf Balls
The Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard smuggled two golf balls onto the moon, and with the help of a jury-rigged golf club and the moon’s weak gravity, he managed to hit the balls for, as he later put it, “miles and miles.”
Ceramic ‘Moon Museum’
A collaboration by the artists John Chamberlain, Forrest Myers, David Novros, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, this tile, the size of a thumbprint, was (allegedly) secretly hidden somewhere on Apollo 12.
Jonathan Fetter-Vorm is the author and illustrator of “Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight.”
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Home » Analysis & Comment » Opinion | To the Moon, but Not Back
Opinion | To the Moon, but Not Back
Before Neil Armstrong could take his small step down to the surface of a new world, before he and Buzz Aldrin could plant the flag, or scoop up moon rocks, or bunny-hop across the desolate lunar landscape, the astronauts of Apollo 11 had to take out the trash.
From the porch of the lunar module, Mr. Armstrong tossed down a “jettison bag” filled with empty food pouches, sacks of bodily waste, and scraps that were cluttering their cramped spacecraft. A few minutes later, as Mr. Armstrong climbed down, he paused to read from a plaque attached to his ladder: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”
The last-minute addition of this plaque meant that the Eagle, as the lunar module was named by its crew, was in some small way designed with an eye toward its afterlife as an artifact. That it’s up there still, 50 years later, resting on the Sea of Tranquillity, is a reminder of the enduring dream of the Apollo program — and the six trips that Americans made to the moon.
But if any of us were to stand at the foot of that ladder today, the plaque would be one of the last things we noticed. At the Apollo 11 landing site, and at the five others like it, the moon has become an archive of remnants that, not always intentionally, say more about humankind than any carefully designed monument ever could. If we wish to remember what it took and what it meant to send 12 men to the moon’s surface, we ought to account for all that was left behind, both the grand gestures — and the garbage.
American Flags
Made of nylon, the iconic flags planted by the Apollo astronauts have long since faded to white, bleached by the light of the sun.
Footprints
Because the moon has no atmosphere, and therefore no wind, lunar soil is engraved with the footsteps of every visitor. The landscape itself has become a map of their curiosities.
$2 Bills
A cache of American currency was accidentally left behind on the moon by the Apollo 15 astronauts Dave Scott and Jim Irwin. They’d brought the bills on the flight with the intention of selling them as collector’s items once they’d returned, but apparently forgot some of them.
Bible
After they’d finished driving their lunar rover, the astronauts of Apollo 15 placed a small Bible on the control panel.
‘Transfer Assembly’
A NASA euphemism for “bags of urine.” There are scores of bags of bodily waste scattered around the moon. The Apollo astronauts saved a few samples, however, to take back home for testing.
Soviet Medallion
When the Soviet probe Luna 2 — the first human-built object to reach the moon — crashed onto the surface, it released a battery of small medallions engraved with a Soviet coat of arms.
Plutonium
Five small electric generators, each containing about eight pounds of plutonium, were used to power scientific experiments, starting with Apollo 12.
Family Portrait
The Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke left behind a photograph of his family.
Wrecked Spacecraft
The lunar surface is pitted with craters made by crashed spacecraft. Some, like early Soviet probes, were designed to make impact with the moon, while others, like the Apollo lunar modules, were scuttled after their missions were complete. And a fair number of spacecraft collided with the moon by accident.
Falcon Feather
To demonstrate the soundness of Galileo’s experiments with gravity, Apollo 15 astronauts dropped a hammer and a falcon feather. The feather and hammer hit the ground at virtually the same time.
Two Golf Balls
The Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard smuggled two golf balls onto the moon, and with the help of a jury-rigged golf club and the moon’s weak gravity, he managed to hit the balls for, as he later put it, “miles and miles.”
Ceramic ‘Moon Museum’
A collaboration by the artists John Chamberlain, Forrest Myers, David Novros, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol, this tile, the size of a thumbprint, was (allegedly) secretly hidden somewhere on Apollo 12.
Jonathan Fetter-Vorm is the author and illustrator of “Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight.”
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