For the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who watched Apollo 11 land on the moon in 1969, there are few moments more iconic than the vision of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planting the American flag into the lunar surface.

While the first steps by man on an extraterrestrial surface were a magnificent accomplishment for the human race – indeed a ‘giant leap for mankind’ – it was the planting of the flag which proved a powerful symbol of the West’s technological superiority over the Communist powers in the East.