New images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera confirm that five of the six American flags on the moon survive.


Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin unfurl the first U.S. flag on the moon. Of the six flags planted, this is the only one that does not remain upright. (NASA)

When NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2009, of course scientists were hoping the spacecraft would add to the knowledge we have of our sole natural satellite -- its geography, topography, weather, and so on. But one question many were hoping the LRO would answer had little to do with the moon's environment: What had become of the Apollo sites, left behind by the humans who visited the surface between 1969 and 1972? Mark Robinson, the principal investigator for the LRO Camera (LROC), says questions about the Apollo sites were "the most common" ones posed to the LROC team.

In particular, had the six American flags planted on the moon survived? The conditions were not friendly, Geologist Paul Spudis wrote:


Historian and editor of, Robert Pearlman, raised the separate issue of the quality of the flags. "We didn't design a special American flag to go to the moon to last thousands of years," he said. "They literally sent out a secretary to the nearby Sears and bought an off-the-shelf flag and modified it. The natural disintegration of the flag's material in the harsh conditions on the moon's surface is to be expected."

But now Robinson says that he is "a bit surprised" that the flags could survive the harsh conditions. However, he writes, "They did."

He explains:


Robinson continues, "The most convincing way to see that the flags are still there, is to view a time series of LROC images taken at different times of day, and watch the shadow circle the flag," as a video posted to YouTube by the LROC team shows below.

More images of each of the Apollo landing sites are available on the LROC website, including a flip-book feature in which the shifting shadows are clearly visible.

Of course, the flitting shadows don't provide much clues as to the condition of the flag, which in all likelihood is a faded, tattered, white ghost of its former self.

H/t @joergheber.