# The Moon Landing and possible Moon Yetis **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542 "2006-04-20T23:29:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/1 "2006-04-20T23:29:52Z")
But seriously. Way back in the day when we actually landed on the moon and exited the vehicle to explore a bit, were there any weapons on the spacecraft? I ask because at lunch we were discussing how Earth would have reacted (at the time) to finding some sort of life on the Moon, and were there ANY concessions made for that .0005% chance? You’d think if they brought a golf club, they were prepared for anything. Now that I type this it sounds like the stupidest, most frivolous question ever, but given how LITTLE we knew, I wonder if it even crossed their minds. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/2 "2006-04-21T00:01:36Z")
I remember that this question was asked on television during the first moon walk. The answer is that Armstrong and Aldrin each did have a knife with them, although it was for scraping rocks and not for their protection. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/3 "2006-04-21T00:21:30Z")
IIRC, one of the first things done on landing was to make sure that they could take off again in a hurry if they had to. While this was meant as a contingency in case the ground started subsiding beneath them or a landing strut failed, I imagine that if moon-yetis had shown up they’d have gotten right out of there. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/4 "2006-04-21T00:52:14Z")
[QUOTE=tiny ham] I ask because at lunch we were discussing how Earth would have reacted (at the time) to finding some sort of life on the Moon, and were there ANY concessions made for that .0005% chance? You’d think if they brought a golf club, they were prepared for anything. [/QUOTE] You left out a few zeros there. In fact, a whole bunch of zeros. I remember at the time reading that NASA deliberately decided not to bring any sort of weapons on flights. I don’t think moon yetis would be of concern - more Russians or something - if one were paranoid enough. I believe Alan Drury’s _The Throne of Saturn_ had a scene with a shootout between American astronauts and Communists - either Russian or Chinese. I may be wrong - it’s been a long time, and I’ve tried to expunge that book from my mind - dreadful piece of trash. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/5 "2006-04-21T00:58:05Z")
Re: astronaut knives - a guide at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum told me that every astronaut had a survival knife (and they had at least a couple of examples there), but this was really just because you never know when you might need to cut something in an emergency, fashion things ala Apollo 13, or even use it should your craft return by some rare chance in a place where you might need it, like a wooded place. IIRC it was part of a general “survival kit” that was pretty similar to that used in fighters, sans any handguns/ammunition. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/6 "2006-04-21T01:00:19Z")
Here, in fact, is the [survival knife](http://www.nasm.si.edu/GALLERIES/ATTM/atmimages/99-15187-12.f.jpg) carried by the Apollo 11 astronauts. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/7 "2006-04-21T01:50:50Z")
By the time people walked on the moon we had many years of craft orbiting the moon, crash landing on the moon and soft landing on the moon and taking zillions of pictures. It was not “a given” that we knew little. We actually knew a tremendous amount. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/8 "2006-04-21T01:57:17Z")
Also, a mashey niblick would nicely perforate any moon yeti’s head. ---
**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:** [April 21, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/9 "2006-04-21T01:57:42Z")
[QUOTE=tiny ham] You’d think if they brought a golf club, they were prepared for anything. [/QUOTE] It wasn’t a _real_ golf club, just a handle. They were real golf balls, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/10 "2006-04-21T02:58:28Z")
[QUOTE=tiny ham] I ask because at lunch we were discussing how Earth would have reacted (at the time) to finding some sort of life on the Moon, and were there ANY concessions made for that .0005% chance? You’d think if they brought a golf club, they were prepared for anything. Now that I type this it sounds like the stupidest, most frivolous question ever, but given how LITTLE we knew, I wonder if it even crossed their minds. [/QUOTE] Not in the Moon, but precautions were taken back on Earth to put the guys into a 21 day quarantine lest they had some Moon Flu that could wipe the Earth´s population :rolleyes: By Apollo 14 they dropped the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/11 "2006-04-21T03:09:23Z")
[ > [@](#): > > …It wasn’t long before those stainless blades were literally “out of this world.” America entered the space program in a big way, desperate to eclipse Soviet efforts in this arena. When NASA selected the original seven astronauts, they turned to Randall for survival knives. Maj. Gordon Cooper worked with Bo to develop the Model 17, called the Astro. Adapted from the Model 15, it had distinct features that the Project Mercury and Gemini crews thought would assist them in exiting a space capsule that might well land in a remote area when it returned to Earth. NASA insisted on stainless blades and a full tang. The handle scales were tan Micarta, a substance that Randall had first seen being installed as kitchen counter tops in his new home. It has since become one of the most used handle materials in custom knives, particularly when the knife may see use under extreme conditions. For Randall, it replaced warp-prone Tenite as the new standard handle on Model 14 through Model 16 knives. Today, an old Randall with a Tenite handle is a valuable collectors’ prize. Maj. Cooper presented Randall with the Model 17 knife that he carried on his historical 23-orbit space mission. This was a more important flight than John Glenn’s celebrated trip, and Cooper’s knife became one of the most valuable of all time. The Randall family relished their association with the astronauts, and Bo donated their knives to NASA as a patriotic gesture. No doubt, he was aware how welcome a gift this was for men struggling to raise families on military incomes. NASA liked the knives so well that the agency ordered additional examples, and one was displayed in the Smithsonian Institution… ]([http://www.knifeworld.com/randallstory.html](http://www.knifeworld.com/randallstory.html)) CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/12 "2006-04-21T03:25:54Z")
From my memory of the event, and from subsequent reading tonnes about it, about the only thing they were unsure of for safety’s sake was the actual condition of the landing site. Tho there had been about a decade’s worth of flybys, orbits, crash landings, and soft landings which yielded much detailed info, there was still some small concern that the LM might find the landing site strewn with boulders or feet deep in fine dust. Even at that, though, they had a pretty good idea of general Moon characteristics. The surprises came later, in the details and in the labs. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/13 "2006-04-21T03:41:37Z")
[Model 17 “Astro”](http://www.randallknives.com/survival.asp) CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/14 "2006-04-21T03:43:42Z")
[QUOTE=NoClueBoy] From my memory of the event [/QUOTE] Not to hijack, but for those of us that do actually remember the event, wasn’t it about the coolest thing ever? Anywho, back to the Yetis. ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/15 "2006-04-21T11:40:24Z")
Original plans called for 1920s Style Death Rays, but NASA said no at the last minute… ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-moon-landing-and-possible-moon-yetis/353542/16 "2006-04-21T13:15:05Z")
The Russians have carried a firearm in their spacecraft’s survival kit since an incident in 1965 when a Soviet spacecraft landed in a forest area populated with hungry wolves. [http://www.usa4id.com/ciwc/SawedOff.htm](http://www.usa4id.com/ciwc/SawedOff.htm)