Some of it is waste from the trip that the astronauts dumped when they got to their destination. Aside from trash—from food packaging to wet wipes—nearly 100 packets of human urine and excrement have been discarded. The Apollo astronauts also dumped tools and television equipment that they no longer needed.
Every Apollo crew left behind seismometers, lots of geological tools, most of their cameras and their lunar module ascent stages. The Apollo 16 crew even left a gold-plated ultraviolet telescope. Apollos 11, 14 and 15 left the Laser Ranging RetroReflectors (LRRR) — and they still work.
As Neil Armstrong and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin began their return journey to Earth, they disposed of anything they didn't need from the lunar module. This included the tube that the US flag had been rolled up in, the TV camera they'd used to send footage back to Earth, and the tools they'd used to gather moon rock and dust.
James Irwin, an Apollo 15 astronaut, left a bible on the dashboard of his mission's buggy.
No, it is not possible for a telescope to see the flags on the Moon. The flags are only 121 centimeters (4 ft) long and the average home telescope can only see objects larger than 1.5 kilometers (0.9 mi). Even the Hubble or the James Webb aren't big enough to reach that level of magnification.
So why haven't astronauts been back to the moon in 50 years? "It was the political risks that prevented it from happening," Bridenstine said. "The program took too long and it costs too much money." Researchers and entrepreneurs have long pushed for the creation of a crewed base on the moon — a lunar space station.
The moon is a difficult target for Hubble because it moves across the sky faster than Hubble can track it and is very dim in ultraviolet light. The observations required steady, precise, as well as long exposures to search for the resources.
Since only the upper stages of the lunar excursion modules could return to lunar orbit from the surface, the vehicles, along with the lower stages were abandoned. As a result, the only lunar rovers on display are test vehicles, trainers, and mock-ups.
The lunar rovers of Apollo 15, 16 and 17 parked American automotive culture on the lunar surface, and expanded the scientific range of the missions' astronaut explorers.
The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was a battery powered "dune buggy" taken to the moon on Apollo missions 15, 16, and 17. The LRV was stowed on the descent stage of the Lunar Module and deployed upon arrival at the lunar surface. The LRV was operated with a spacecraft "stick," rather than a steering wheel.
It took until 1969 before a man—astronaut Neil Armstrong—would take a giant leap for mankind on the surface of the Moon, but there is still no base of any kind on the Moon.
Roger Launius, the former NASA chief historian and a former senior curator at the National Air and Space Museum, agreed, saying, “there is no evidence to support the assertion that he left a bracelet of his daughter on the moon.” Though apparently fiction, the moment is a critical one.
The moon's surface contains a new source of water found embedded in microscopic glass beads, which might one day help future astronauts produce drinking water, breathable air and rocket fuel, scientists say.
How many flags are on the Moon? A total of six flags have been planted on the Moon – one for each US Apollo landing.
There is no monolith, no secret base on the rim of a lunar crater. Close up, it turns out to be just a rock. The seemingly perfect geometric shape was just a trick of angle, light and shadow. The report was earlier noted on Twitter by Andrew Jones, a journalist who follows the Chinese space program.
There are some extremely valuable resources on the moon that could support such a lunar economy. Helium-3 is one moon resource that is rare on earth but much more abundant on the lunar surface and could potentially be cheaper to mine from the moon. Helium-3 is a very attractive fuel for future nuclear fusion reactors.
July 15-24 marks the anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), the famous “Handshake in Space.” ASTP was the first American-Soviet space flight, docking the last American Apollo spacecraft with the then-Soviet Soyuz spacecraft.
The United States is the only country to have successfully conducted crewed missions to the Moon, with the last departing the lunar surface in December 1972.
The team's findings suggest the moon possesses a solid, iron-rich inner core with a radius of nearly 150 miles and a fluid, primarily liquid-iron outer core with a radius of roughly 205 miles.
Four of America's moonwalkers are still alive: Aldrin (Apollo 11), David Scott (Apollo 15), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17).
Bumblebee: The Autobot scout and Sam Witwicky's guardian who transforms into a yellow and black 2011 Chevrolet Camaro. Crowbar: The Leader of the Dreads who transforms into a black Police 2011 Chevrolet Suburban. Crankcase: A Decepticon Dread who transforms into a black Police 2011 Chevrolet Suburban.
Commercial electric cars have more features that would suit them for Mars in addition to their batteries and ability to function at low temperatures. Despite differences in atmospheric pressure on Earth and Mars, sealed and pressurized components of the cars would likely not be affected, according to the report.
The size and distance of the said object are incredibly significant factors in determining Hubble's ability to view it clearly. Pluto is much closer than any galaxy, but it's also insignificantly tiny, which makes it tougher to focus on. Galaxies, although much farther away, are massive.
We calculated earlier that Pluto appears only 1/1300th as large -- so it's not even 3 pixels across in Hubble's view.
Hubble does not travel to stars, planets or galaxies. It takes pictures of them as it whirls around Earth at about 17,000 mph. Hubble has circled Earth and gone more than 4 billion miles along a circular low earth orbit currently about 340 miles in altitude.