WI: Apollo 11 planted the UN flag on the moon

The idea came to me after reading Advise and Consent. The subplot involved the Space Race and the USSR tries to claim the moon, so the US launches an expedition and the crew is suppose to land and plant the flag of the UN.

So what if the crew if Apollo 11 planted the the flag of the United Nations on the moon? Could this have an effect on relations between the US and Soviet Union? How so?
 

Driftless

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Probably no Apollo 12... Depending on who authorized the UN flag planting, maybe no NASA...

My read: even US taxpayers who were/are UN supporters, would have balked at the idea. The manned space program was a source of immense national pride back then. School schedules were interupted so kids could watch the shorter flights, and PA announcements were made providing regular updates on the longer flights. It was a really big deal. Both political parties routinely touted the manned space program as evidence of US superiority, so shared credit would have been a "non-starter"

Nixon, who was a bold thinker on the international front, would have not considered the idea for a millisecond. He may have been paranoid, but he also understood his own political base.
 
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CalBear

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American taxpayers blow a valve. NASA leadership are ALL fired. Reasonable chance that the entire U.S. space program is scrapped.
 
And there's a open building in NYC for sale or rent, as the UN has been moved to Canada to prevent the Americans from 'venting'.....
 

CalBear

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Wouldn' t scrapping the space program be abit far?
Not at all. For all the "for all mankind" talk the U.S. space program, especially in the 1960s/early 70s, was a war by another means against the Soviet Union. The "race to the moon" wasn't against the made up deadline that JFK give in a speech, it was against the USSR. Both countries knew it, and both countries did their damnedest to win it.

The average American voter would have seen the planting ofa UN flag as the ultimate FU after the U.S. poured billions into space. As was NASA barely managed to keep funding going after Apollo 12.
 

Driftless

Donor
As a young man back then, I kinda bought the "for all mankind" ideal; but CalBear's absolutely correct. This was warfare by science - "good ole 'murican science will beat those godless commie's science everyday". People who didn't give a rat's behind about space exploration were content to keep funding it at a high rate, as long a we (USA) beat the snot out of the Soviets in the process. The best outcome for NASA would have been for the Soviets to stayed with their manned program longer; or for the Chinese to enter the contest.
 
The idea came to me after reading Advise and Consent. The subplot involved the Space Race and the USSR tries to claim the moon, so the US launches an expedition and the crew is suppose to land and plant the flag of the UN.

So what if the crew if Apollo 11 planted the the flag of the United Nations on the moon? Could this have an effect on relations between the US and Soviet Union? How so?
The idea came to me after reading Advise and Consent. The subplot involved the Space Race and the USSR tries to claim the moon, so the US launches an expedition and the crew is suppose to land and plant the flag of the UN.

So what if the crew if Apollo 11 planted the the flag of the United Nations on the moon? Could this have an effect on relations between the US and Soviet Union? How so?

If the NASA leadership authorized this without running it by the President-who will NEVER approve-they can kiss their career goodbye. If the crew did this without authorization, someone is gonna carry the can on this. How the fuck could they smuggle it on board the capsule when EVERYTHING that made the trip was weighed and measured to whatever tiny fraction an ounce can be subdivided into, and literally inspected a thousand times over?
 
I don't see this as a problem as long as the Stars and Stripes went up first. The "we come in peace for all mankind" rhetoric was intrinsic to the Cold War messaging which was part of the West's strategy. Planting the UN flag -- after the Stars and Stripes -- as a symbolic gesture of that would not have been out of line for the period. Some would have grumbled -- the get US out of the UN crowd -- but they were a distinct minority in 1969. I am just old enough to remember Apollo 11. It was a high mark of national pride and there was room for the public to give a lot of latitude to NASA and the astronauts...

But CalBear is right about this if the UN flag went up in lieu of the US flag. Poo meet fan.

No effect on US-Soviet relations. The space race was a contest between the US and the USSR and the Soviets lost. Planting the UN flag wouldn't make a difference here.
 
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