The planting of the United States flag on the lunar surface was not a simple one.  There were many different things to think about.  The moon has no atmosphere so NASA had to design a flag with an extra crossbar to make it stay open.  They also needed to think about the spacesuits that the astronauts wore.  Those spacesuits weren’t like wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, they limited movement.  So the flag needed to be easy to open and assemble in space. 

Believe it or not, work on the flag began about three months before the flight to the moon.  The entire flag and poles weighed 9 pounds and 7 ounces.  The flag is 3x5 feet.  They painted a ring on the pole 18 inches from the bottom, so the astronauts would know how deep they were putting the flag.  The flag was stored on the side of the ladder of the Landing Module, but they needed to protect it from the heat produced during landing, around 2000 degrees.  Man, that would over-cook anything.  Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin planted the flag, but only about 9 inches deep!