Considering that the moon is quite inhospitable to microbes, and in fact no evidence of life has been confirmed outside of Earth, why did they bother disinfecting the Astronauts, and even worse, quarantining them?
I thought it was a rule of nature that, despite the ‘war of the worlds’ story, viruses and bacteria evolved to take advantage of the host population. Even if there was a virus on the moon, there would be nothing for it to leach off of, and it wouldn’t have anything to do with humans.
So why the hostility to presumably non existent moon diseases?
It boils down to “Why take chances?”. Sure, there’s a 1 in a gazillion chance that there’d be Evil Space Microbes. But if there were Evil Space Microbes and they wiped out life on Earth, would NASA’s face be red or what?
Also, tiny but statistically significant possibility that Earth microbes could mutate due to increased solar radiation or zero-gravity environment or whatever and KILL US ALL!, Andromeda Strain-style.
I got this from a sign at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL (the place where they have Spacecamp). The museum had the Apollo 11 isolation trailer on display. The sign in front of the trailer said the astronauts were isolated because earlier (unmanned) lunar missions had discovered that the rocks and dust on the lunar surface contained a lot of titanium. Exposure to titanium is known to suppress the human immune system.
Therefore the Apollo 11 astronauts were isolated for a time to make sure their possibly suppressed immune systems had time to recover before they were exposed to crowds. Experience showed that if the astronauts had immune system suppression, it was not a risk to them. So after several missions NASA stopped isolating the astronauts.
Oh, and there was the zillion-to-one chance of moon germs. But if that were a real problem then dropping the astronauts in the tropical Pacific Ocean was not a great idea … Well, NASA had decontamination procedures in place.
This explanation makes a lot more sense to me than the moon germs, but how does one explain that to the general public?
I found a PDF from the US Space and Rocket Center that does confirm that they had the Apollo 11 isolation trailer, but it was moved to the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy center. However, someone found the Apollo 12 isolation trailer, and the USSRC is going to exhibit it. The PDF just has the “moon germs” story. The PDF also says that isolation facilities were used in Apollo 11, 12, and 14, but not 15 - 17. Apollo 13 never landed on the moon, so they were no potential issues with “moon germs” :rolleyes: or regolith suppressed immune systems. I can see NASA waiting until late 1971 to change their quarantine procedures.
I seem to recall reading that microbes were able to continue to live, and in fact thrive, on a camera that had been left behind on one lunar mission, and then retrieved on a subsequent mission.
The idea of Earth-life being mutated and surviving in space, to be returned, I feel, had (and imo still has) some validity.
Although this wasn’t the genesis of the idea, it also gave the astronauts a break. Space travel – esp. in the spartan confines of the Apollo capsule and even moreso just walking around on the moon – was very hard on the body. IIRC, the astros typically lost a surprising amount of weight on the mission. It’s been some years since I read it, but in Andrew Chaikin’s A Man on the Moon, he says the 15 crew had some problems with exhaustion in the week or so after their mission, culminating in LMP Jim Irwin having a heart attack a few months later. (Although the lack of quarantine probably isn’t to be blamed – Irwin spent much of one EVA without water when his hose kinked, and he had a serious arrhythmia shortly after the lander redocked with their command module.)
It was the camera from Surveyor 3, an unmanned lunar probe, which Pete Conrad and Al Bean recovered on Apollo 12. But apparently, there’s now some question as to whether the bacteria found on the camera came from the moon or were introduced later.
It is possible for there to be microbes on the moon that came from Earth. A large meteor impact or volcanic eruption can throw rocks out of orbit, and those could conceivably carry microbes that could survive the journey. (In fact, my money says that we will find evidence of life on Mars and that the evidence will show it came from Earth).
Even if a microbe weren’t able to infect humans, there are a lot of worst-case scenarios. For example, imagine if bacteria A went extinct millions of years ago because bacteria B ate them all. Bacteria B then went extinct itself. Bacteria A is surviving in a dormant state in moonrocks or on Mars. After a space mission, we reintroduce bacteria A into the wild and, without its ancient nemesis, it grows three inches thick across the entire Earth.
The PDF also says that isolation facilities were used in Apollo 11, 12, and 14, but not 15 - 17. Apollo 13 never landed on the moon, so they were no potential issues with “moon germs” :rolleyes: or regolith suppressed immune systems. I can see NASA waiting until late 1971 to change their quarantine procedures.