On January 31st, 1971, Apollo 14 blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Onboard was this Lebanese flag, among others, and which returned to earth 10 days later.
In all, there were 25 United States flags, and flags of states and territories, as well as all of the flags of United Nations members, including Lebanon, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Apollo 14 was the third manned moon landing after the infamous “Houston, we have a problem” aborted mission on Apollo 13.
The crew members on Apollo 14 were Stuart A. Roosa, Edgar D. Mitchel, and Alan B. Shepard, who was also the first US citizen to travel to space in 1961.
Shepard presented the Lebanese flag to the 26th session of the UN General Assembly on December 20, 1971, in New York.
On the mission, he played golf on the moon, the first and only sport to be played on the moon.
The first manned moon landing mission Apollo 11 made it to the moon on July 20, 1969.
It was then when Neil Armstong spoke the famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” and planted the United States flag on the moon for the first time.
According to Encyclopedia Astronautica, the Johnson Space Center (formerly MSC) stated that “136 flags of other nations, the U.N. flag, and flags from each state and territory of the United States had been flown on Apollo 11.”
Since Lebanon was of the original 51 members who formed the United Nations, is it possible that the Lebanese flag visited the moon earlier?
