When the USA first sent astronauts to the Moon on Apollo 11, they wanted to plant an American flag on the surface. The ...

China’s Chang’e 6 mission even carried a flag made of basalt ... which returned striking images of several astronauts saluting the stars and stripes on the lunar surface.

So the design included not just an upright pole but a perpendicular extension like a shower curtain rod, so the flag could hang fully unfurled, all its stars and stripes showing. Now China ...