# Did the Apollo 11 astronauts carry weapons? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086 "2004-02-08T04:47:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/81 "2010-09-04T00:56:52Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The whole thing may seem absurd, but remember that the astronauts were put in isolation after recovery in case they had picked up any moon germs. If they had carried any antibiotics on board, those could be considered weapons to be used against alien life forms. . . Fred Haise came back from Apollo 13 with a [urinary tract infection](http://www.space.com/peopleinterviews/fred_haise_chat.html). If they’d had antibiotics, I’m sure he would have used them. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/82 "2010-09-04T00:59:48Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > > [@TriPolar](#): > > > > The whole thing may seem absurd, but remember that the astronauts were put in isolation after recovery in case they had picked up any moon germs. If they had carried any antibiotics on board, those could be considered weapons to be used against alien life forms. . . > > Fred Haise came back from Apollo 13 with a [urinary tract infection](http://www.space.com/peopleinterviews/fred_haise_chat.html). If they’d had antibiotics, I’m sure he would have used them. And that’s why you don’t fuck Martians. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/83 "2010-09-04T01:57:35Z")
Lunatics, but either is a good rule of thumb. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/84 "2010-09-04T03:24:15Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I recall hearing about that too. IIRC quarantine was standard for the returning crews. [post=11357853]Not exactly, and not exactly for moon germs[/post] ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/85 "2010-09-04T03:41:18Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > … Also, what kind of problems would have to be overcome for a space station to fire an onboard cannon? “Oh, man, it is so boring up here…” “Wanna go for a spin?” ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/86 "2010-09-04T04:19:30Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > It’s not a maser, it’s a MASER - Microwaves Amplified by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. MASERS were the forerunners of LASERs. Huh. So it really is a thing. Now I feel sort of dumb. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/87 "2010-09-04T05:14:04Z")
“You know, just once I’d like to meet an alien menace that wasn’t immune to bullets.” – The Brigadier from Dr Who ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/88 "2010-09-04T05:22:49Z")
They are astronaughts, they are pretty smart. They have enough crap onboard I am sure one could juryrig somethign together. a simple taser or flamethrower maybe. oxygen tanks + tube + spark = friendly fire but still a weapon ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/89 "2010-09-04T05:38:57Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > > [@aceplace57](#): > > > > I recall hearing about that too. IIRC quarantine was standard for the returning crews. > > [post=11357853]Not exactly, and not exactly for moon germs[/post] I’m never surprised when a news story from the time turns out to be fiction. Do you know if this was a NASA supplied story, or something one of the talking heads made up or misunderstood? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/90 "2010-09-04T05:41:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The whole thing may seem absurd, but remember that the astronauts were put in isolation after recovery in case they had picked up any moon germs. If they had carried any antibiotics on board, those could be considered weapons to be used against alien life forms. As for more conventional weapons like guns, I doubt it. Why not? I mean, your average microbe doesn’t stand a chance against a slug from a .38. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/91 "2010-09-04T06:45:23Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > [@TriPolar](#): > > > > The whole thing may seem absurd, but remember that the astronauts were put in isolation after recovery in case they had picked up any moon germs. If they had carried any antibiotics on board, those could be considered weapons to be used against alien life forms. As for more conventional weapons like guns, I doubt it. > > Why not? I mean, your average microbe doesn’t stand a chance against a slug from a .38. But they would be alien microbes. And aliens are immune to bullets (see prior posts for cites). ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/92 "2010-09-04T10:15:19Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > They are astronaughts, they are pretty smart. They have enough crap onboard I am sure one could juryrig somethign together. a simple taser or flamethrower maybe. oxygen tanks + tube + spark = friendly fire but still a weapon Without fuel, oxygen will not burn. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/93 "2010-09-04T11:48:49Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > > [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > > > They are astronaughts, they are pretty smart. They have enough crap onboard I am sure one could juryrig somethign together. a simple taser or flamethrower maybe. oxygen tanks + tube + spark = friendly fire but still a weapon > > Without fuel, oxygen will not burn. If you have a supply of pure oxygen, particularly liquid or pressurized oxygen, most things will burn, often quite violently. The metals, the plastics, the clothing, even the food. You could probably make a kick ass flame thrower with some tubing, jars/bottles, pressurized oxygen, and TANG (seriously). ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/94 "2010-09-04T13:01:44Z")
> [@](#): > > If you have a supply of pure oxygen, particularly liquid or pressurised oxygen, most things will burn, Witness the failure of the liquid oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13. The heater wiring was insulated with Teflon. It burned. No matter how you cut it, that is impressive. I have seen LOX fires burn through sheet metal without even noticing. (Also worth noting how an oxycutter works. Once cutting, the fuel for the cutter is the steel.) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/95 "2010-09-04T14:07:26Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > > [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > > > [post=11357853]Not exactly, and not exactly for moon germs[/post] > > I’m never surprised when a news story from the time turns out to be fiction. Do you know if this was a NASA supplied story, or something one of the talking heads made up or misunderstood? I’m afraid the sign in that museum exhibit was the one and only place I’ve seen a reference to the potential human immunosuppresive effects of titanate lunar soils (a great title for a scientific paper, but a lousy band name). Someone with access to NASA papers from the time will have to troll through the archives to find out how much of the quarantine was to monitor the astronauts’ immune response, and how much was to prevent the spread of “moon germs” :rolleyes: My guess is the moon germs stories were a giant misunderstanding, spread from one reporter to another. It would be very hard to counter this simple explanation with the subtler, but more correct one. A similar story: Everyone knows that retuning space capsules heat up because of friction with the atmosphere, right? Wrong - according to one of my physics professors. Friction accounts for less than half of the heating. Most of the heating is caused by the capsule compressing the air underneath it as it enters the earth’s atmosphere at super sonic speeds. The capsule would have to create a big shock wave as it entered the atmosphere, and all that heat and pressure have to go somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![mathews78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@mathews78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mathews78)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/96 "2010-09-04T14:27:28Z")
Only phasers, no particle pulse cannons. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/97 "2010-09-04T16:26:17Z")
> [@](#): > > A similar story: Everyone knows that retuning space capsules heat up because of friction with the atmosphere, right? Wrong - according to one of my physics professors. Friction accounts for less than half of the heating. Most of the heating is caused by the capsule compressing the air underneath it as it enters the earth’s atmosphere at super sonic speeds. The capsule would have to create a big shock wave as it entered the atmosphere, and all that heat and pressure have to go somewhere. I think there, the problem isn’t one of understanding the physical processes involved, but just of the definition of “friction”. When you say that the heating isn’t due to friction, you’re presumably considering friction to be a purely shear force. But one could also refer to any dissipative force which opposes motion to be “friction”, in which case the ram-pressure heating can fairly be described as frictional. You have to be careful here, lest, in correcting a relatively small misconception, you replace it with a much bigger misconception. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/98 "2010-09-04T16:40:54Z")
Does anyone else think that **epl442** ’s post was meant to be a joke? I mean, it’s on par with an article I wrote in high school for our ‘underground’ newspaper where I claimed our cylindrical gym was actually a missile silo and the Guidance Center was actually a guidance center! The post that resurrected this thread is just too outrageous to be serious. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/99 "2010-09-04T17:05:48Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Does anyone else think that **epl442** ’s post was meant to be a joke? > > I mean, it’s on par with an article I wrote in high school for our ‘underground’ newspaper where I claimed our cylindrical gym was actually a missile silo and the Guidance Center was actually a guidance center! The post that resurrected this thread is just too outrageous to be serious. Or is it too serious to be outrageous? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086/100 "2010-09-04T17:13:00Z")
> [@mathews78](#): > > Only phasers, no particle pulse cannons. And set them on Stun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-apollo-11-astronauts-carry-weapons/228086.md?page=6)