Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

666
Project Apollo: Americans to the Moon
Document II-56
Document Title: Letter to Senator Clinton Anderson, Chairman, Committee on
Aeronautical and Space Sciences, from Homer Newell, Acting Administrator,
NASA, 4 June 1969.
Source: Folder #18675, NASA Historical Reference Collection, History Division,
NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.
During the early years of the Apollo program NASA recognized that planetary protection,
particularly protection against back contamination of Earth by hypothetical lunar organisms,
was a critical issue that had to be addressed before lunar landing missions could go forward. In
1966, the Interagency Committee on Back Contamination (ICBC) was established to determine
what measures were needed to preserve public health and protect agricultural and other resources
against the possibility of contamination by lunar organisms conveyed in returned sample material
or other material exposed to the lunar surface (including astronauts), and to preserve the biological
and chemical integrity of lunar samples and scientific experiments with minimal compromise to
the operating aspects of the program. This report summarizes the conclusions of the ICBC with
respect to quarantine requirements for both returning astronauts and lunar samples.
The contamination of the lunar surface during visits by Apollo astronauts was also of
concern, and NASA in September 1967 adopted a policy in this regard.
As the first lunar landing attempt grew closer, concerns were raised about both the readiness of
the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) at the Manned Spacecraft Center to receive the Apollo
astronauts and the material they would return from the Moon and the adequacy of the measures
being taken to ensure that the astronauts and their spacecraft would not carry back alien
organisms to Earth. In particular, NASA a few months before the Apollo 11 mission decided
that the astronauts would leave the command module shortly after it landed in the ocean, rather
than stay aboard the capsule until it was placed in quarantine aboard the recovery aircraft
carrier. Concerns that this approach would undercut other quarantine measures were brought to
the attention of Congress in May 1969. NASA was able to convince most members of Congress
and scientists that the protections it had put in place were adequate, but even up to a few days
before the mission was launched on 16 July 1969 there were a few individuals seeking to delay the
launch until more stringent protections were put in place.
Document II-52
QUARANTINE SCHEMES
FOR
MANNED LUNAR MISSIONS