January 27, 2022

The LM Eagle may still be in orbit around the Moon

In 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon, they used the Lunar Module, Eagle, to land on and return from the lunar surface. When the LM’s ascent stage docked with the command /service modules Columbia, and the astronauts transferred to the mother ship, they left Eagle in orbit. Subsequent Apollo missions, (except for Apollo 13, of course), purposefully crashed their ascent stages in order to measure the Moon’s seismology.

This video by YouTuber Scott Manley, makes a strong case that Eagle may still be in orbit around the Moon.

It’s highly unlikely to ever happen, but it would be an amazing historical artifact if the Eagle could be recovered and placed alongside the Wright Brothers’ first airplane.

Humans have left a lot of junk in space as we’ve explored the last frontier.