Badge On The Moon

[DeltAlum]

Betarulz,

Thanks for the update. My comment about the badge surviving a reentry was in pure jest -- just as the rest of that post was. Which is probably why it ticked off some of the folks who believe the "badge on the moon" legend.

Glad to hear the Carpenter stuff. Memory fails after this long. I do personally know some of Carpenters Delt brothers from his time on the CU campus, and they say he was, well, let's leave it as a "free spirit." I had started to question my memory about which flight he was on, so thanks again for clearing that up. I still like my story, because it led up to the Rolling Rock punchline.

Now, I received an e-mailed picture from Phi526 purporting to be a badge that Neil Armstrong took to the moon. The picture is very dark, so I ran it through Microsoft PictureIt and lightened it up and increased the contrast somewhat and enlarged it, which got it to the point that I could read most of it.

If the picture is legitmate -- and I have no reason to believe it isn't -- there is a Phi Delt Badge, complete with the sword guard mounted under a letter which was supposedly signed by Neil Armstrong. It appears to me that the letter says that this badge "traveled to the lunar surface" in "The Eagle" which was the name of Armstrong's lunar module -- the part of the spacecraft that made the moon landing and then, leaving it's base behind, rejoined the command module orbiting the moon. Nowhere does it say that the badge actually left the module, was attached to a flag, or was actually taken out of the capsule.

So, again assuming the legitimacy of the photo, it appears to me that Armstrong probably took the badge on the trip to the moon and back.

I suppose it's possible that the exhibit is a sham which has been pulled on the fraternity, but I don't know why anyone would do that.

I have said before on this thread, that I have no trouble at all believing that a number of Greeks who have served as Astronauts decided to take their badges along with them. It's just this "badge attached to the flag on the moon" garbage that makes me rile a bit.

For what it's worth.