posted 03-13-2025 07:12 PM               

It is not that I have not heard that before, but in researching your query, I came across information that calls that assertion into question. In fact, the Wikipedia entry on the subject has conflicting info on the same page. First, it states:

The flag which had hung in the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR) in the Mission Control Center through the prior Apollo landings was flown to the Moon on the final mission, Apollo 17. This flag measured 20% wider and taller than the others requiring a 6-foot (1.8 m) long horizontal pole. Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt carried a second, identical flag to the Moon and back, and presented it to flight controller Gene Kranz after the flight, to replace the one left on the Moon.

The flag that we took to deploy was the one that had hung on the wall of the Mission Control Center during all the landing missions. And we also had another flag, which we brought back to replace the one that we deployed at Taurus-Littrow.

Referring to the Apollo mission press kits, regarding each flight's flag kit, only the Apollo 11 entry mentions having "two large American flags" in addition to the 4-by-6-inch smaller flags common to the other missions. There is nothing said, though, that these larger flags were prepared as was the one that was deployed on the surface.

Johnson Space Center displays a large American flag that was flown on Apollo 11 outside the Teague Auditorium in Building 2. It was originally presented by the crew to Robert Gilruth, if I recall correctly.

And here is a photo of Cernan and Harrison Schmitt presenting the flag they flew to replace the one they took from Mission Control to Gene Kranz in December 1973. The NASA caption for the photo makes no mention of Apollo 11, either.

Two of the three Apollo 17 crewmen join in commemoration of their historical lunar landing mission of one year ago by presenting to flight controllers in Mission Control Center (MCC) the U.S. flag which flew with them to the moon. Astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, center, Apollo 17 commander, and Harrison H. Schmitt, right, lunar module pilot, are shown with Eugene F. Kranz, who accepted the flag on behalf of all the flight controllers during special ceremonies in the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR) of MCC during the third manned Skylab mission. Kranz is chief of the Flight Control Division of the Flight Operations Directorate at JSC.

posted 03-13-2025 09:32 PM            

Apollo 11 MOCR

Apollo 12 MOCR

posted 03-14-2025 12:36 AM            

The flag that Apollo 17 left on the Moon was somewhat unique. It was a flag that went to the Moon and back on Apollo 11, hung on the wall in Mission Control until it made a return trip to the Moon, this time to stay. An identical flag made a round trip on Apollo 17 and now hangs in Mission Control.

posted 03-14-2025 10:55 AM               

First, from the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, Harrison Schmitt's words after deploying the flag on the moon:

Houston, I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but this flag has flown in the MOCR (Mission Operations Control Room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston) since Apollo 11. And we very proudly deploy it on the Moon, to stay for as long as it can, in honor of all those people who have worked so hard to put us here and to put every other crew here and to make the country, United States, and mankind, something different than it was.

Apollo 17 Flag to Fly in MOCR

On December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 touched down on Taurus-Littrow to finalize manned lunar landings.

Commemorating the event, Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan and lunar module pilot, Jack Schmitt last Tuesday presented a U.S. flag which flew aboard the Apollo spacecraft, the "America," to mission controllers and "all the people at JSC who supported the operation."

The ceremony took place in the Mission Control Center at approximately 1:54 p.m.

"The real significance of this flag," Cernan stated, "is manifested in its own history, but to us, the fact that we had the opportunity to carry it, sort of represents the dedication and effort and the courage and self-sacrifice of so many of you people at the Center who made the mission possible."

Schmitt added, "I think all of you remember what I said when we deployed the flag similar to this on the Moon, that was the flag that flew in the MOCR during Apollo 11 through Apollo 16 and its up there, not only representing the country, but everyone involved in Apollo through the years. This flag went to the same place, but comes back to fly in the MOCR and I hope you'll let it fly here as long as we're flying in space."

Eugene Kranz, Deputy Director of Flight Operations, accepted the flag on behalf of the Center.

"The flag shall always stand in the Mission Control Center," Kranz stated, "and when we look at it, we'll think that dedication to the job, self-sacrifice, attention to detail and craftsmanship are what we need to keep this country great."

posted 03-14-2025 02:44 PM            

Schmitt said his idea was to take the flag that was in Mission Control through Apollo 16 and put it on the Moon. He added it may have been the Apollo 11 backup flag, but he didn't recall that part of it. He also said they took another flag to the Moon and returned it to MOCR.

Another one of the Apollo MOCR alumni members recalled Gene Cernan telling him that, "We took two flags to the moon. The flag we placed on the moon was the backup flag for Apollo 11." This is the reason I always believed the story was true.

posted 03-17-2025 04:59 AM            

NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine looks on as the only flag to be returned from the Apollo 11 Lunar Module is presented to MSC Director Gilruth by Deke Slayton, on behalf of the Apollo 11 astronauts at the Honor Awards Ceremony on October 2.

posted 03-24-2025 09:22 AM            

An overall view of the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission Control Center during the joint U.S.-USSR Apollo-Soyuz Test Project docking mission in Earth orbit.