RAF Gifted Apollo Mission Space Flag

A flag that was carried to the moon on an Apollo mission has been gifted to the Royal Air Force.

The US flag made the journey during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971 - the fourth in the programme to land on the Moon.

One of the astronauts who was on the mission, Colonel Al Worden, presented the flag to the RAF at Farnborough International Airshow as a celebration of 100 years of cooperation between Britain and the United States.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier received the flag on behalf of the service and said: "This partnership will continue to grow and strengthen even further as our air forces plan and develop together the future of our air and space enterprises."

"The Royal Air Force has collaborated with the United States on space since the 1960s.

"We will showcase this extraordinary gift to help connect the past with the future and inspire the young men and women of today to become to the airmen and airwomen, and perhaps even the astronauts, to take us forward into our next century."

The flag will be put on display at the RAF Museum in London later this year as part of a new exhibition.

In May, the Defence Secretary launched the UK's first Defence Space Strategy, while last month US President Donald Trump ordered the creation of a US Space Force, which he said would be the sixth branch of the armed forces.