Why NASA quarantined the Apollo 11 astronauts

On July 21, 1969, the Apollo 11 quarantine began.
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In this episode of History Club, Vox's Phil Edwards and Coleman Lowndes chat with Amy Shira Teitel of The Vintage Space about the Apollo 11 quarantine.
Thanks Amy - check out her channel here:
/ @amyshirateitel
In History Club, Vox's Phil Edwards and Coleman Lowndes share their discoveries about history both weird and wonderful. Check out the full playlist here.
• History Club - Vox
It was an unusual process for an unprecedented task: keeping potential moon germs from entering the Earth’s atmosphere (and affecting its population).
To try to isolate the Apollo astronauts from the Earth, NASA went to extraordinary lengths. They clothed them in “Biological Isolation Garments,” transported them on a converted Airstream trailer, and then quarantined them for weeks in a Lunar Receiving Lab specially built to analyze moon samples and, of course, the men who went there.
The quarantine was a strange capstone to the journey to the moon - but also a necessary one that’s surprisingly resonant today.
Further reading
NASA has an excellent flight journal chronicling the quarantine.
history.nasa.g...
The National Archives has a treasure trove of Apollo 11 footage. Searching it can be a bit clunky, but the results are astonishing and helped make this video. You can start a search for the Mobile Quarantine Facility (abbreviated as MQF) here.
catalog.archiv...
NASA also has multiple oral histories that relate to the quarantine. This one with John Hirasaki is a good starting point.
historycollect...
We were joined in this conversation by Amy Shira Teitel, whose KZbin channel The Vintage Space chronicles a range of topics related to space and the middle of the 20th century.
/ @amyshirateitel
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[@bryanh2618]

"Anticipating for the worst but hoping for the best" I think that's how we should prepare ourself in life

[@bootstrapfilm]

Space doesn't seem like a bad place to be right now.

[@CatholicWeeb]

@@JK_JK_JK_JK Come On, It was a cool joke.

[@Blueflag04]

Yes

[@eyedelyn]

yes it is.

[@osamabinladen824]

You will run out of food there. Trust me, I've been there.

[@michaelzhang8488]

doubtful

[@SuperLukenzi]

“This is how venom in spiderman got to eart *shows cartoon venom holding spiderman* .. so this is important stuff” hahah

[@yengsabio5315]

Watching & hearing that part, it sounded to me like it was stated like it is a fact.

[@jacobanteau6020]

I was just about to quote this in the comments but you beat me to it 😂

[@luckysfilms]

“Eart”

[@wilsonyang4505]

Battleworld yo

[@victorpalermo7528]

Wrong spelling

[@MrWide-ht9rp]

Armstrong doing it before it was cool.

[@siopao8137]

He ahead of his time doe

[@fishflake1209]

Going to space? Quarantining? Playing the ukulele? All apply.

[@razzwolf5907]

you made my day

[@tonycornwill9008]

what lying?

[@Vraptor1]

tony cornwill Funny joke

[@Dr.BitchCraftt]

I guess the Lunar Plague didn't turn them into... Lunatics...

[@p_rry]

ba dum tssss

[@Lucy-dk5cz]

Nice work Danny

[@pavanatanaya]

Well obviously you've never heard Pete Conrad speak

[@thegreatafrican3367]

You'll see yourself out

[@gnochhuos645]

Is that a 2hu reference?

[@uss_04]

Imagine surviving the Moon Landing and instead of being relieved when getting home, being shoved into a Trailer that looks like an oversized Chipotle Burrito

[@delasoul2875]

Good thing they knew beforehand. Would be disappointing.

[@ingenjelly5480]

It's a hobby

[@omarmsouri3735]

Maaaaan, your profile picture brings back some good memories.

[@handlemonium]

At least they lived in an era when America worked towards doing things the right way.......... I can imagine Trump giving the executive order to parade them round the world as soon as they landed.

[@tbhbananas9922]

you had me at chipotle burrito

[@EmazingGuitar]

This topic would’ve still been overlooked if corona wasn’t going around

[@neialisboafinch]

it is covid-19

[@ashtonsenko536]

It’s cover-19 not corona, Corona is a type of beer

[@samsunguser3148]

not cover

[@HS-hi6wc]

I agree, this wouldn't get as much exposure before.

[@shinichi6235]

@@neialisboafinch u mean the useless common flu COVID is the new name to make it sound scary

[@MatthewHodges]

Kid: *snorts line of powder Parent: What's that? Cocaine? Kid: It's moon dust

[@Jaker788]

And that is how the flood from Halo were born into the real world..

[@n1ck1930]

1203927 that’s called ketamine bro

[@micealcurphey753]

Moon dust is really damaging to the airwaves

[@sdfkjgh]

@@micealcurphey753: So, not at all like cocaine, then, right? /s

[@ghostlygamer5549]

sdfkjgh cocaine is damaging to the respiratory system

[@taufanadikurniawan7170]

Remember the chest burst in the Alien, that's because they're not running quarantine protocol 🤔

[@steveng6704]

Yeah, but In Spaceballs, at least the Alien busted out in song and dance

[@jacobhuff3748]

What about Species 2?

[@MosoKaiser]

But they were trying, it's only that Ash, working for Weyland, wanted the organism onboard.

[@TnT_F0X]

Spoiler Alert: The moon bug takes 50 years to effect Humans, Welcome to 2020

[@starsailor751]

Is there a life on moon?

[@taz12391]

*head explodes*

[@ariana9941]

@@starsailor751 is there life on mars?

[@starsailor751]

@@ariana9941 kinda they found water icy thing inside mars

[@ariana9941]

@@starsailor751 I was referencing a song

[@schillischote]

"that's how venom got to earth so this is important"... Wow xD

[@TheArtofKAS]

He's not wrong. 🤣

[@lukeswan7776]

Also the plot of Apollo 18

[@salokin3087]

I thought it was really neat in First Man that they show Armstrong seperated from his wife via the containment screen instead of the usual romantic hug and kiss

[@Lucy-dk5cz]

Salokin these were surely the best days of his life, no wife, best life

[@Adrischa]

@@Lucy-dk5cz why?

[@DavidPoddany]

First man was 👌

[@granthoover9045]

Padenoni I kind of hated it. I loved the cinematography and the tone. I love how serious it was and heady. But my god, not one person said “dad I’m so proud of you, you’re a hero”. He came back and walked into the separated room from his wife and she acted like he just killed a family of 4 drunk driving and was in jail. It’s the greatest thing humans have ever done and his kid is like “can I go play outside?”

[@anteres2123]

It’s weird for me to see how quarantine works in history and today, and how people used their free time back then and now. Edit:Forgot to put the “time”

[@StikyIckie]

"Free back?"

[@miguellopes2452]

@@StikyIckie free time probably

[@StikyIckie]

@@miguellopes2452 ah, thx. That makes sense

[@anteres2123]

It’s free time, forgot to put it.

[@LzysGraphics]

If this is cool to you and something you like learning, I'd recommend looking up how the Spanish Flu was slowed down through quarantining the sick and staying inside as much as possible. It's very similar to what we've done today done over 100 years ago

[@braynzzthere7923]

“This is the quarantine edition of history club” Nothing changed

[@stryde_]

chunky sarvida he tried making a joke but it was awkward

[@tkgsg]

Video lab's been practicing quarantine before all of this. It's the only show that still feels the way it was.

[@anmolgoyal4895]

Never been so early ever, look what quarantine can do to you

[@yitzhakmalul]

Same.

[@HS-rx9ho]

Ikr

[@funmaster3278]

Not same

[@kristinaryabinchak3472]

Lol

[@jack-o8781]

LOL

[@danewilliam2907]

You'd really have to like the guys you went to the moon with; 9 days in space and another 21 in quarantine, all in very confined quarters

[@26TptCoy]

and the box on the ship.

[@shockedcurve453]

One of the important aspects NASA has to plan for regarding a Mars mission is how a crew would react psychologically to being confined in a 6-month trip in space

[@magnetacyan5032]

@@shockedcurve453 they bettermake a faster rocket lol

[@ethanpearson7060]

They failed to mention that a NASA engineer was fired because he taped a sign on the MQF that said “don’t feed the animals”. 😂🤣😅

[@snowleopard9463]

Madlad

[@tushargupta1764]

Any links please? I googled it and no relevent article showed up. Is this a made up fact or is it real?

[@ethanpearson7060]

@@tushargupta1764 hey, it is real. You can’t post links in KZbin comments but I will make a video on my channel with a picture of it!

[@ethanpearson7060]

@@tushargupta1764 done! Look at my latest video

[@ryadav031]

"Moon Dust" definately sounds like the street name of a drug!

[@zivojinzuti]

google moon rocks

[@OkOk-fj5qb]

Rakesh Yadav Gotta stop the Drug addicts or the moon will disappear by 2100

[@ghostlygamer5549]

I bet you call everything that has a cool name a drug “rakesh definitely sounds like the street name of a drug!”

[@ryadav031]

@@ghostlygamer5549 lol I wish I really did that.

[@wizzotizzo]

If you didn't know, The Elder Scrolls series had a mineral called Moonstone, and if it was refined it would turn into moon sugar, which was the main ingredient in a drug called Skooma.

[@safwanandonly]

"You cannot be pregnant to work in there. Everything was super sterile" I laughed too hard at this!

[@illuminatedtiger]

What doesn't get mentioned a lot is that the suits they wore on the moon were powder magnets and they were completely caked in the stuff when they left. Even in the absence of viral or bacterial infections the medical observation still makes a lot of sense - they could get very sick if enough of it got lodged in the lungs.

[@onair141]

Imagine being a kid asking where your Dad is and you Mom points to the moon 🤯

[@bareeraejaz1884]

hahahahaha

[@user-xo5zh9xb5b]

I saw where they were in quarantine when I visited the USS Hornet. Really cool.

[@mandi.303]

"This is how Venom and Spiderman got to earth; this is, uh, important stuff..." 🤣

[@HarmenHoek]

They had mice with them from the start of quarantine as the main test. If the would survive till the end of quarantine, it was safe for them to come out. Mike Collins explains it in detail in his biography 'Carrying the Fire'.

[@Salightress]

Amy did a really great job, and in my opinion she slotted so naturally in to the conversation. A delight to watch, and super interesting too! I had no idea the Apollo crew were quarantined

[@nabilnasran8077]

Emil She made a video about it on her channel!

[@PrimMuso]

4:27 I thought this man was shrek working for NASA

[@crazyforcoffee5950]

Prim Muso he has layers like onions don’t forget

[@agrawalnaveen]

Dear Vox, It is such a pleasure to watch your video production. Your editing, scripting and content are always of top notch quality. Thank you so much again for this.

[@ashleygarcia6294]

I really hope they continue this. It’s really interesting and it actually made do a more in depth research of the topics that were discussed so far.

[@brandthemanlee]

This is a question I WANTED answered but didn't ask for😵

[@erinboes9139]

Aw, I know John Hirasaki and worked closely with his wife when I worked on the Shuttle Program! :) So fun to see him featured!

[@mk_annan22]

Two of my favourite subscribed KZbin channels in one place talking about my favourite topic-- Space.

[@swimfeared]

This seems like a good candidate for alternate history.

[@Danflave]

I was thinking the same thing - already brainstorming a story in which the Apollo 11 astronauts did bring back a "lunar bug"! :-D

[@ganiakara]

If my teacher teach me history similarly like this, my interest in history would probably be better

[@uss_04]

Moment I heard Amy from Vintage Space was involved I was hooked. I guess you can say her enthusiasm over the Apollo era was Infectious.

[@p_rry]

ba dum tssss

[@shh4662]

Why did that ukalale music give such spongebob vibes

[@MrAngeu]

cold fact that I will never needed in my life: They actually injected the grounded moon dust to a janpanese quail... For whatever reason... ++???++

[@joeyknight8272]

Link

[@MrAngeu]

@@joeyknight8272 dude watch the video.

[@IsThisRain]

It's not for no reason. They needed to know if any of the elements found on the moon surface can have adverse effects on living beings on Earth. NASA doesn't just jab rats with a syringe for no reason.

[@MrAranton]

Yeah. Why wouldn't they use good american quails for that purpose?

[@eddy-currents]

For SCIENCE

[@gravelsyrup]

This was very interesting and learnt a lot of new things that I didn't know before. Thank you for producing such great content.

[@amessiguess3773]

I love these kinds of episodes! Don't ever stop doing these!

[@Emrysanimation]

If there was a lunar bug, technically that would mean there is life on the moon. I guess people debate on whether a virus is really considered a "Lifeform" but that would still be very exciting! It might help us answer our age-old questions about alien life!

[@brandthemanlee]

Well if there are viruses than there should be bacteria so that would just be huggeee

[@catatoblob8598]

@@brandthemanlee ... explain?

[@brandthemanlee]

@@catatoblob8598 I was just saying hypothetically, if there was viruses on the moon there cant just be one celled organisms there has to be more in order to keep population up or else there's no other way to sustain themselves. But sadly tht can never happen, only possible with planets with similar environment to our own, the moon and Mars are too harsh of environments

[@brendanturner4787]

Emily Pearce well if there’s viruses then there’s other forms of cellular life on the surface since viruses need a host to replicate inside off. So if they wouldn’t have found a virus unless the picked up a bacterium, or micro organism with a virus inside off. Even if they did find any form of infection disease (whether that be bacteria, virus or some form of life, or semi life organism-if or if not it was carbon based-used had DNA, RNA, or another form of genetic information) it most likely wouldn’t be zoonotic (alienotic?) because of our completely different environments. But hey, NASA didn’t want to make chances at the time. If only the western countries had that mindset today, maybe we wouldn’t see tens of thousands of deaths from Covid-19

[@catatoblob8598]

@@brandthemanlee not necessarily. In that era, there was no research into whether viruses can remain intact and dormant in an vacuum, without a host. Some disease causing bacterial like anthrax can also produce spores that can stay alive in hard circumstances. There are theories that the first single cellular organisms on earth may have arrived via meteorite from another planet. Under that assumption, its theoretically possible for other life carrying meteorites to have collided with the moon. That being said, because organisms can't replicate in the conditions on the moon, the probability of picking one up and transporting it to earth without destroying it is minuscule. NASA probably took excessive precautions because they weren't initially confident about the nature of the environment on the moon.

[@uss_04]

11:30 “One of the experiments they did was they ground up some moon rocks, made a formula out of it, and injected it into a Japanese Quail” And that quail was named Cave Johnson.....

[@MW9891-q1f]

I’ve seen an interview where one of the astronauts (can’t remember who) said that they did all of this work to prevent the spread of a disease, but after being sprayed and scrubbed on the recovery boat one of the recovery team just threw the rags into the ocean.

[@CuddlePhantom]

6:06 I totally thought that one astronaut flicked off the other for a moment 😂🤦🏼‍♀️

[@CaptainSpock1701]

Having spent 20 years in the military, I find it extremely funny that the same people that will go to the shop and fit on clothes didn't think about "practicing" putting on the quarantine suit... In the military (as in life) the best chance you have to succeed is repeat until perfect. Then repeat some more. Yep. Now at least we have started to practice. Now repeat ....

[@EskimoPablo907]

"This is how venom on spiderman went to earth. This is important stuff." Lol

[@uss_04]

07:16 The Retro space asthetic was great. All that shiny metal and those curving hand drawn infographics.

[@ajisusetyo3613]

Just wait at least 20+ years, maybe there's Mars plague

[@edvfya9922]

AWESOME video! This is so fascinating! More please!

[@CuddlePhantom]

I knew some of this so I suspected what it was and was just like "oh yes, I'm ready."

[@uss_04]

The Apollo 11 Quarantine was interesting. I get the feeling that if we ever did a mission to the moon, there would be a high temptation to rush any procedures and get them on that would tour right away.

[@ariesfire13]

Trump just approved funds for mining on the moon. Js

[@FeliussRexx]

It takes a lot of people to get 1 astronaut to space and back. What an amazing amount of planning!

[@dwcobb43]

I'm a volunteer at the USS Hornet museum and we have the MQF from14. If you look at pictures of the astronauts from12 they exit the CM in their flight suits and respirators and by 14 that is the last time they use the MQF. So NASA leaned alot from each flight

[@Bnio]

Aww heck yeah! Nice to see Amy and Pete doing well.

[@burnoutjunkie42]

I remember seeing that in First Man, I’m glad Vox shed some light on it though.

[@TheFuturistTom]

Dear Vox! I am glad to have stumbled on this channel! You have inspired me to start my own channel and my third video of "Why Asteroid Mining Will Make the First Quadrillionaire"!

[@seanluzdeluna8153]

Love that music towards the end. There's something so uplifting and inspiring about it. I wonder what it is? 🤔

[@matthewholzner9526]

Amy's channel is outstanding! Thanks for having her on.

[@SamBaughTV]

The more I watched this the more mindblowing it got

[@AL_THOMAS]

The ad before this for Dr Steve Turley is hilarious!

[@harrisonlawson9913]

Did any other Canadians notice “The Bay” adds in a few of the papers?

[@analternatepast]

Harrisonus Laurentius Cicatrix yep :))

[@dmarshall5148]

Ok, how explain it to your neighbors to the south..... or I guess you should explain it to your neighbours to the south...…. lol

[@zhanaslav]

D Marshall The Hudson’s Bay Company. It’s really big here in Canada.

[@poundofwonder]

Wow they went through a lot of detail, good on them

[@Dimension2364]

This is so interesting! I often heard that South Korea does a lot of testing. But I didn‘t knew how exactly they did it.

[@SpaceFactsWax]

Thanks for sharing. I had the opportunity to see a rocket launch in 2018. Amazing experience. I shared a pretty fun video of the trip to my page.

[@HebaruSan]

Imagine if we already had a sizable Mars colony. We might not be able to have face to face contact with them ever again for fear of spreading SARS-CoV-2 to an isolated population.

[@IvoryMane]

You're presenting the real questions

[@mintjuulpod333]

I love Amy's channel! And her eyeliner game is on point.

[@huggekarlsson]

”That’s how venom and spider-man got to Earth - this is important stuff” ghaghagahaghahahah

[@suaptoest]

A small thing for an astronaut but a big operation for all of humanity.

[@scott0001]

Props to the guys who went with the astronauts for the whole quarantine period. Wheeww

[@26TptCoy]

that would be funny, also the sound guy, the director and the two cameramen

[@cameronsipka3352]

The Vintage Space! I love that show

[@gamin002]

I’ve never seen a KZbin vid after it was uploaded 2 min ago

[@waynevargo7981]

My score is 9 minute.

[@mazeenourek8580]

you have life then

[@sallystarz3409]

Well done! Thanks for telling the story of the LRL. Unfortunately, NASA has plans to tear it down. It's an important part of space history!

[@1castellp]

man: comes back to earth from the moon china: send him on a would tour

[@JabbaWokkey88]

Love the style of this video! Doesn't have the usual yt educational content vibe to it. Really cool topic too

[@jaiswalji1]

Finally something not related to the Coronavirus :)

[@fatfox5030]

Who knew quarantine could get you this early to a vox video

[@souvikdas1358]

just watched an flim called "Life(2017)_" ... believe me this is the most important thing to me after seeing this

[@gabriellindgren3447]

University lectures via Zoom is the best thing happened to me 2020

[@cyronenriquez1435]

Last time I was this early, Neil Armstrong was still in the moon

[@scaryman9000]

i love Vox thanks for keeping me company and teaching me so much

[@varuntulsyan2558]

I already knew most of the things mentioned(huge Apollo nerd, hello) but no one does it like Vox. Amazing video. Had me hooked the entire time. Sweet!

[@janbonne]

I'm still so impressed with your production quality

[@nikitagoel8558]

Cant Express how much I wanted to know this!

[@floridasavannah]

2:03 "this is how venom came to earth" Venom came from an asteroid. J. Jonah Jameson Jr. became a werewolf from bringing back a moon rock.

[@kenj0418]

The poor quail: "Turns out ground up moon rocks are pure poison. I am deathly ill."

[@MeloTheRogue]

YES YES YES. cave johnson quotes are very applicable here

[@DragonsRule02]

well when life gives ya lemons c;

[@kennyfordham6208]

Lunar Plague? Didn't the astronauts bring their toothbrushes? 🤔

[@26TptCoy]

Toothbrushes are only used in northern Alabama, everyone else uses a teethbrush.

[@johnthecoolguy123]

The pause at 0:58 is such a mood

[@spectacularspaghetti1849]

They are posting about quarantine in the past while we have quarantine right now! Kreativ

[@Pandamasque]

Really digging Amy's taste in decor and furniture!

[@leocastrillo759]

They have this quarantine container here at the USS hornet in Alameda CA. The astronauts signatures can be seen on the table.

[@ikantsee4293]

That "yay" tho...

[@zapfanzapfan]

Love Amy and Pete!

[@drrach1]

Thanks to the quarantine, I’m so early..

[@flygodchris]

This Pandemic: *happens* KZbin: Hey! Would you like to see the first men on the moon get quarantined like everyone else?

[@Gilamath.]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Venom actually came from an alien arcade machine-looking thing that Spiderman used during one of his outer space adventures. The image of the astronaut you used was of John Jameson, son of J. Jonah Jameson, who found a mysterious lunar rock that turned him into a man-wolf, which is a totally different Spiderman villain. This a disgrace to the distinguished field of lunar epidemiology!

[@srisrisc]

Spiderman fan?

[@JohnSmith-td7hd]

Could you please do a video on the habitat on the moon containing 20 or more dogs known only as the Puppy Dome?

[@LM-hc5vo]

0:52 Jim Parsons, making a cameo as his character from Hidden Figures

[@AngelMeiChan]

If you go to the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, CA you can see the Airstream quarantine unit. It's pretty neat to see.

[@AmericanIdiot7659]

I just woke up to 2 vox videos on different tabs so now I guess I am going to watch those now.

[@Rickape]

So he just quoted Spider-man and Venom. WOW.

[@113dmg9]

They had microwaves in '69? I didn't get my first one till '85.

[@kaitlyn__L]

they had microwaves as soon as they invented radar in ww2 - and noticed coffee and chocolate getting warm when left near it. it was commercialised almost immediately, but was really big (the size of a 3-stack regular oven) and heated the food slow by modern standards. looks like the one they had in moon quarantine was basically the same size as a modern day unit.

[@NileshKumar-nr2vj]

In India I don't have one even today 😭

[@113dmg9]

@@NileshKumar-nr2vj - Wow. However, I didn't miss it before I had one.

[@NileshKumar-nr2vj]

@@113dmg9 well it is affordable but it hasn't been necessary part of our traditional kitchen for a long long time. Now that the world has shrunk and internet happened oven and baking are increasingly becoming part of every Indian household gradually. When my father will have his own house I will buy one for sure. BTW we have invented our own traditional way of how to bake a pizza and things like that.. 🙂

[@HardPasta]

They had lives in ‘69? I didn’t get mine until 2000