Why did the crew of the Apollo program were quarantined

[Pawelk198604]

I like to read about the Apollo Moon missions, I have always wondered why astronauts returned from the moon were quarantined, after all on moon has no living organisms.

[Maxilica]

Well, as far as I know, they were put in quarantine to be sure that they didn't get infected by a "lunar disease". They were in there for two weeks. This process stopped after Apollo 14, after NASA deemed it appropriate.

[Brotoro]

It was not known for sure at the time whether or not the moon had life. It was considered extremely unlikely, but I think NASA at least wanted to give the impression that they were trying to protect us from lunar germs... But it didn't really hold water, since they just vented the air from the Apollo capsules out over the oceans when the astronauts landed.

[Henri von Braun]

Yes, it was just an "in-case ". However, not sure anything could survive there.

[7499275]

If there was an organism that could survive without air or water and lived off the suns energy and feed off minerals in the soil (far fetched I know but plausible) this threat could have been a real danger.

[That guy who builds stuff]

Don't overlook the possibility of stuff kicked up by some asteroid impact on earth. Some microbes can lie dormant essentially forever

[GJames]

It was probably just to reassure the public more than anything else, you can imagine the uproar that would occur if they didn't take that precaution.

The theory of lunar life was very far-fetched, but then look at what the general public and the media can do to turn the perception of the LHC into a black hole-creating doomsday device... Same premise really.

[7499275]

It was probably just to reassure the public more than anything else, you can imagine the uproar that would occur if they didn't take that precaution.

The theory of lunar life was very far-fetched, but then look at what the general public and the media can do to turn the perception of the LHC into a black hole-creating doomsday device... Same premise really.

I'm sorry but what is LHC?

[Brotoro]

Large Hadron Collider.

[7499275]

Large Hadron Collider.

Ah! Thank you!

[Canopus]

I heard that it was to be sure that no stowaway desease would somehow "evolve" in free fall conditions

[John Nowak]

I heard that it was to be sure that no stowaway desease would somehow "evolve" in free fall conditions

That's not an unreasonable concern, but then you'd expect that long duration flights in the Gemini series would also have been quarantined.

I'll go along with the consensus here: it was a very, very low-risk but potentially high impact disaster, mitigating against it was trivial, and The Andromeda Strain was published in 1969.

[OtherDalfite]

Yep, they were quarantined because Scientists weren't sure if some sort of Human Civilization ending virus could live on the Moon. You would want to be safe from horrible viruses if you were going to a place never before explored by humans, right?

[Brotoro]

I, for one, welcome our new horrible lunar virus overlords.

[Budgie]

I, for one, welcome our new horrible lunar virus overlords.

This, friend, is sig-worthy

Anyway, we know they were quarantined. But what happened while they were in the quarantine chamber? Were they scrubbed down with an abrasive sponge, bathed in isopropyl alcohol, what? All the quarantine time in the world wont really stop a bug if all you do is let it sit there without trying to rid yourself of it.

[kahlzun]

Anyway, we know they were quarantined. But what happened while they were in the quarantine chamber?

It was Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. They sat there BEING AWESOME until any pathogens gave up trying.

[Drunkrobot]

The idea of extremeophiles surviving in the lunar environment isn't entirely crazy. Didn't Apollo 12 find terrestrial bacteria surviving in surveyors camera? Of course, life would still have to somehow appear, not too likely in what any ecologist would describe as a boiling, freezing, meteorite-blastered, irradiated hellhole. But there are lifeforms on earth that can take the conditions.

[Brotoro]

This, friend, is sig-worthy

Anyway, we know they were quarantined. But what happened while they were in the quarantine chamber? Were they scrubbed down with an abrasive sponge, bathed in isopropyl alcohol, what? All the quarantine time in the world wont really stop a bug if all you do is let it sit there without trying to rid yourself of it.

As I recall, after the frogmen put the floatation collar on the command module, they tossed some isolation suits into the CM hatch for the astronauts to put on. Then when they got out of the capsule, they washed the outside of the isolation suits down with some disinfectant. Once they got the astronauts to the carrier, they put them inside a small isolation habitat (trailer), which they rode inside until they got to the isolation facility.

The length of the period of isolation was chosen because most earthly diseases manifest themselves in that time period. They were just watching for symptoms.

[tavert]

It was Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. They sat there BEING AWESOME until any pathogens gave up trying.

As usual, Michael Collins gets no love?

[Kerbal01]

He never landed on the moon, thus no need for him to go to lunar germ quarantine.

[OtherDalfite]

He never landed on the moon, thus no need for him to go to lunar germ quarantine.

Michael Collins still had direct contact with the possibly infected astronauts. They still lived the CSM for about 2 days on the way back to Earth. Best to play it safe then risk killing us all.

[tavert]

Yeah, 3 guys in this trailer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_11_crew_in_quarantine.jpg

[Drunken Hobo]

Anyway, we know they were quarantined. But what happened while they were in the quarantine chamber?

[Dunbaratu]

It's not crazy to think there's a nonzero chance of some strange form of life independently existing on the moon that is so unlike Earth life that it can live without air and without water.

What's crazy is thinking that if such a thing existed it could possibly be a parasitic or virus for any Earth life. That's like thinking there could be a life form in the Sahara Desert that's a parasite that lives off of Giant Squid.

[rdfox]

To quote Mike Collins about the quarantine procedures on Apollo 11, "In my opinion, if you multiply a very, very small number (the chances of us coming back with some sort of lunar bug) by a very, very large number (the potential danger if we did come back with one), you end up with a result that's large enough to be worth worrying about."

In addition to the planned 93-day stay in quarantine, if any of the crew started showing symptoms of an illness that they couldn't identify as an earthly one, the crew would remain quarantined as long as necessary to make certain it didn't spread. Additionally, some of the lunar samples were taken not for science, but to be used to expose lab mice to them (rocks and dust) for the same quarantine duration; if the mice got sick, the quarantine would be extended. If the mice *died* and we couldn't confirm it was due to some earthly cause, the quarantine would likely become permanent (and yes, they had contingency plans for keeping the crews in quarantine for the remainder of their lives, if necessary).

As a side note, it wasn't just the crew that were in quarantine. Two other people (a doctor and a nurse, both volunteers) were quarantined with them--and, in fact, didn't get to leave on the same day as the crew, as the quarantine period starts at the moment of first possible exposure. (During Apollo 11's quarantine period, an additional person got put into quarantine, a scientist who accidentally got exposed to a lunar sample.)

The quarantine period and detail decreased with each mission. Apollo 12 was only in quarantine for 30 days, and Apollo 14 (which got the planned quarantine period for 13) was a 14-day quarantine with the crew only being required to wear what were essentially gas masks between the time they were recovered and the time they went into the Mobile Quarantine Facility, instead of the full biohazard suits that were used on 11 and 12. NASA has stated that while they will put the quarantine procedure into effect again for Mars landing crews, they expect it to be rather less of an issue, since even the shortest possible Mars mission would see the quarantine period expire before they get back to Earth.

As for what they did while in quarantine? Paperwork. According to Mike Collins, the quarantine period was pretty much the perfect amount of time for them to be isolated from the press so that they could get all their mission reports written and post-mission debriefings completed without being too distracted. (The LRL also had a well-stocked bar and a television, plus a decent library, a ping-pong table, and a few other recreation options to help pass the time once your eyes glazed over from doing too much paperwork for one day...)