quick question-Apollo 11

Sorry if this has been asked before or if it is a stupid question, new here...

On the first moon landing made by the Apollo 11 crew, a big venture into the unknown, did they take any weapons with them.? and what where they.? considering the low gravity Lunar environment.

They had no real idea if life was still thriving on the moon and how advanced this could be...I suppose the crew was classed as expendable, but it still seems unwise to sacrifice such skilled and brave men, who would be the most important witnesses and carriers of vital information if the life forms were hostile.

reply to post by ironbutterflyrusted


I honestly don't know...

I would somehow doubt it. Despite opinions to the contrary, they had no reason to expect anyone hostile, or otherwise, to be on the moon.

Since firearms work via chemical reaction ones as good as the other, I suppose. Though you'd have to compensate for the lesser gravity and the effects on recoil from it.

If the pictures from this `walkabout` have been censored and domes, craft etc. existed in the background and radio code words had been created for such an event, I would have thought that some prior knowledge of these structures existed and provisions would have been made incase of confrontation...I would have been very nervous of finding someone at home.

reply to post by ironbutterflyrusted


Buzz Aldrin took a golf club. They had a hammer for the flag as well. And I'm pretty sure they picked up a lot of rocks. All weapons, no?

reply to post by seagull


Firearms require oxygen for burning gunpowder. No oxygen on the moon.

Spear guns would've worked better, but they carry the risk of a puncture to things that shouldn't be.

I heard they took phasers, but that they were only set on "stun."

As anyone knows, a golf club and some moon rocks are formidable weapons.

reply to post by jdub297

Black powder does not require an atmosphere. The oxidizer is contained in the compound. Potassium nitrate furnishes all the oxygen for the reaction.

It seems strange to go on a venture like this with no means of defence, other than a `golf club and hammer`especially when you do not know what you are going to find...voyages of discovery by ship, on our own planet carried weapons to impress the natives.

Does this mean that no obvious structures exist on the lunar surface.? so theories of picture tampering are untrue.
...if they do, and was known about, why the conclusion that nothing existed there now.? inside
...the sightings of UFO`s flying above the surface must have been of no concern and had explanations, as for being perched on the edge of a crater...utter nonsense.
...if no technology of the earth could be used successfully, does this mean that no advanced technologies had been left here by visitors.? and that the non-use on later missions, that nothing could have been left here by 1972.?

Why would they need weapons?

A. Nobody in all of our observations had even the slightest scrap of evidence or inclination to suspect any sort of life at all on the Moon, let alone complex life or intelligent life.

B. If there was, by some far flung chance, intelligent life on the Moon - is carrying deadly weapons up to them really the best way to make a first impression?

C. The astronauts spent several days in quarantine to test them for "space bugs" they may have potentially brought back. No trace of alien bacteria, viruses, or other organic contaminants were ever found.

There seems to be a lot of astronaut accounts of strange things occuring above or on the moon, radio discussions and pics/vids...most of it on this site...does this mean that this kind of stuff should be dismissed as `spaced out craziness`.?

I just thought that the three dozen or so probes sent before the mission might have seen something, if they didn`t isn`t it better to be cautious when visiting a strange new world.? if you can and have technology availiable to you.

I don`t imagine the astronauts meeting a life form. would approach it with guns drawn, like a `Robby the robot`clip.

I don`t think all my questions regarding those who believe in picture tampering, video footage, radio code words, lunar accounts, theories of UFO crashes leaving advanced alien technology etc. have been answered...do you believe all this to be false.?
...do you accept that historically, humans on such journeys of discovery have usually armed themselves.? why not at this unique time.?

It seems then that the evidence for lunar`smoking gun`accounts and advanced technologies, can be debunked by the lack of a smoking gun.

Originally posted by ironbutterflyrusted
There seems to be a lot of astronaut accounts of strange things occuring above or on the moon, radio discussions and pics/vids...most of it on this site...does this mean that this kind of stuff should be dismissed as `spaced out craziness`.?

We have an instance of astronauts using the word bogey during gemini... it was their own booster that they were assigned to follow after separation. We have an instance of astronauts using the words "there is a santa claus." It was Christmas and they had just come out of radio blackout after doing the world's first TEI burn and were very happy that it had worked and were on their way home safely. We have an instance of astronauts reporting an object on the way to the moon they couldn't immediately recognize... it turned out to be the SLA panels that were on the same trajectory to the moon as the command module. I don't think any of that qualifies as "spaced out craziness," but that doesn't make it anything abnormal either.

if they didn`t isn`t it better to be cautious when visiting a strange new world.?

Why should we expect to encounter any advanced or intelligent life on an airless dead rock? At best, they anticipated the very slim possibility of microbial spore contamination that would start germinating once returned to an air filled environment, but they considered that to be such a low risk that the astronauts put themselves directly in harms way had there been any infectious materials there. They certainly didn't expect to run into any sentient life.

I don`t imagine the astronauts meeting a life form. would approach it with guns drawn, like a `Robby the robot`clip.

If it makes you feel any better, there was a survival knife in the command module... but it never reached the lunar surface.

I don`t think all my questions regarding those who believe in picture tampering, video footage, radio code words, lunar accounts, theories of UFO crashes leaving advanced alien technology etc. have been answered...do you believe all this to be false.?

I believe it's false and in some cases the result of incomplete knowledge of apollo and related space programs.

...do you accept that historically, humans on such journeys of discovery have usually armed themselves.? why not at this unique time.?

Because by the astronauts' own accounts they thought they were completely alone there.

I was watching "Moon Machines" on the science channel, and they mentioned that the command module equipment included a machete -- but I think it was meant to be used as a survival tool on Earth in the case that the capsule splashed down off-course and the astronauts could make it to solid land. (the command module also included a rubber raft)

[edit on 4/14/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]

Thank`s for clearing it up for me. I am fascinated by the broad spectrum of beliefs on this site regarding the moon landings and advanced technologies...but couldn`t find enough reasons to believe most of them and thought that given the human tendency for using things in an oppresive manner, it would have been on these missions if there was a need for concern.

I hope for a return to the moon in the coming years, and hope that the purpose of these missions is towards a goal of constructing a base, from which exploration and experiment can take place.

weapons ?

what for ?


that would have been a huge mistake, since you can't predict how any of the astronauts would have dealt with the mental aspect of being in space, having weapons around would just be a really bad idea

Very true...they could have freaked and jeopardised the whole mission.

I just thought that evidence for `lunar strangness` existed before the landing, from American and Russian sources. And then wondered if any of this was seen as a cause for concern and what could have been used at that time to protect the crew from possible encounters...if there was no concern, then the theories of alien civilisations was false and so were the theories of advanced technology being left here.

They took the chairs out of the lander to save weight. I doubt they would have tossed in a blunderbuss on the one in trillion chance they'd meet a BEM up there.

Here is something to consider, when it comes to reaching escape velocity from Earth's atmosphere and then accelerate to the Moon, landing-escape velocity again and then back to Earth weight is a crucial factor. Most of the weight being the fuel and its containment leaves little room for the massive computers they had back then.

Even if there was evidence of hostile critters on the Moon the chances were still more likely that the astronauts would perish due to some error or technical problem then being attacked by monsters. On the other hand if there did happen to be some inter-stellar ancient alien culture with a base on the Moon I doubt any weapon we have would make a difference.