After the successful return of the first humans to set foot on the Moon, everyone may have thought their mission accomplished. But their mission wasn’t really over. While this may seem like a strange idea now given what we know about the lifelessness of the lunar surface, there were many unknowns back then. The Apollo 11 crew remained in quarantine for 21 days in case they carried dangerous microorganisms with them on their return.
In the 1960s, a new field of “exo-biology” was emerging, which, although largely ridiculed as a field of science, studies the potential for microbial life outside of our planet.
In a new paper, Georgetown University historian Dagomar Degroot wrote, “In response, exobiologists argued that only their own space could mitigate the greatest risks and exploit the greatest opportunities of the new Space Age,” he continued, “emphasizing that microbial life can be found everywhere throughout the solar system. Therefore, missions to other worlds had to be guarded against both forward contamination that could compromise detection of extraterrestrial life, and backcontamination that could threaten life on Earth, including human life.”
While most thought the surface of the Moon was lifeless, there were those who thought microbial life might still be alive just below the surface, including Carl Sagan. Partly to reassure the public, NASA designed a Lunar Return Laboratory (LRL) where Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins would stay from the Moon with potentially dangerous microorganisms that could destroy life on Earth. Sagan compared the likelihood of microbial life returning to Earth “with the severity of the venereal disease epidemics that ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages, or measles, which caused a significant number of deaths when it reached Polynesia.”
Michael Collins in his bedroom in the quarantine room.However, as you can imagine, all three astronauts were healthy and no alien life was released onto the planet that could endanger humanity. But even if microorganisms on the Moon actually existed, procedures that would prevent them from returning to Earth would likely fail completely, according to the new paper.
“In all probability, microorganisms that seem likely to evolve on the Moon would have infected astronauts, contaminated spacecraft, infected the Pacific Ocean, and circumvented the LRL limitation,” Degroot writes in his article. It looked like it was successful because it didn’t happen.”
There were many problems with the procedure, as outlined by Degroot. The capsule used to land the Apollo 11 crew in the Pacific Ocean activated the vent processes as it landed on our planet and has already released all potential microbes into the atmosphere. When it later landed in the ocean, the crew – and all the deadly microbes – could not be prevented from contaminating the ocean.
“If there were any reproductive Moon organisms in the Earth’s ocean, we would be doomed,” former NASA planetary security officer John Rummel told the New York Times.
Lunar Return Laboratory (LRL)Astronauts, on the other hand, could already be in danger on their way back from the Moon to their spacecraft. “Moon dust was everywhere,” Degroot said. Because it irritated the skin and lungs, both astronauts slept with their helmets and gloves on that night. It was clearly impossible to remove all the dust,” he writes. “If it had harbored a pathogen, it would have easily infected the astronauts.”
The film the astronauts used to take pictures of the Moon when they returned to Earth was quickly processed for display. While the films were sent to be disinfected with ethylene oxide gas, five technicians were found to have been exposed to moon dust.
Knowing that it is unlikely to be transmitted to humans from alien life forms, NASA probably also knew that there were many problems with quarantine procedures. By the time the quarantine procedures were completed, 24 people had been quarantined for potential contamination. Motivated by beating the Soviets in the Moon race, Degroot writes, NASA hasn’t taken the time to create adequate protection for astronauts or Earth.
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