What Countries Have Flags on the Moon?
While other countries have landed unmanned craft on the moon, only the United States has placed actual fabric flags affixed to poles on the moon with human hands. Of the six U.S. flags placed on the moon, five remain standing.
In addition to the manned U.S. moon landings, there have been unmanned landings by the former Soviet Union, China, Japan, India, and the European Space Agency. These craft all carried emblems of their countries of origin. For example, the Indian craft was painted with the Indian flag and was intentionally crashed into the lunar surface at the conclusion of its mission, in essence putting India’s flag on the moon.
As for the American cloth flags, Buzz Aldrin witnessed the first flag planted being knocked over by the rocket blast carrying him and Neil Armstrong off the lunar surface. Space Industry News confirms the five remaining flags are still standing. In the years since they were planted on the moon, the flags have been bleached white by the extreme temperature variations and exposure to vacuum and solar radiation. They are flags from America that were planted by Americans, but they no longer have the appearance of American flags.