The idea of a body found on the moon sounds like the opening scene of a high-budget sci-fi thriller. You can almost see the grainy footage—a white suit slumped against a gray crater, frozen in time. People love this stuff. TikTok is full of "leaked" NASA footage claiming we left someone behind during the Apollo missions. But let’s get real for a second. There is no mystery astronaut rotting in the Sea of Tranquility.
Actually, that’s not entirely true.
There is human remains on the moon. Just not in the way the conspiracy theorists want. It isn’t a whole body in a suit; it’s a small, polycarbonate ampoule containing the ashes of Dr. Eugene Shoemaker. Honestly, it’s one of the most poetic things we’ve ever done in space exploration, even if it feels a little eerie when you think about it too hard.
Why We Think About a Body Found on the Moon
Human curiosity is a weird thing. We’ve been obsessed with lunar mysteries since the first grainy photos came back in the late 1960s. For decades, "Moon Hoax" believers have pivoted from "we never went" to "we went and found something terrifying." The search for a body found on the moon usually stems from a misunderstanding of how space travel works—and how brutal the lunar environment really is.
If a human body were actually left on the lunar surface, it wouldn't look like a mummy. Not exactly. Without an atmosphere, there’s no oxygen for aerobic bacteria to break down tissue. No vultures. No bugs. But you have extreme radiation and wild temperature swings. We’re talking 120°C (248°F) in the sun and -130°C (-202°F) in the shade.
Basically, the body would be "freeze-dried" by the vacuum. Over time, the intense solar radiation would bleach the spacesuit white and eventually begin to break down the organic fibers of the suit and the DNA in the body itself. It’s a grim thought. But again, it hasn't happened. All 12 men who walked on the moon came back to Earth.
The Only Person "Buried" on the Moon
If you’re looking for the closest thing to a body found on the moon, you have to look at the Lunar Prospector mission. In 1998, NASA launched a small craft to look for water ice at the lunar poles. Fastened to the inside of that spacecraft was a small brass foil wrapping. Inside was a memorial capsule for Eugene Shoemaker.
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Shoemaker was a legend. He basically invented the science of planetary geology. He trained the Apollo astronauts on what to look for in lunar rocks. He wanted to be an astronaut more than anything, but a medical condition (Addison’s disease) kept him grounded. When he died in a car accident in 1997, his colleague Carolyn Porco helped organize a way to get him to his destination.
On July 31, 1999, NASA intentionally crashed the Lunar Prospector into a crater near the lunar south pole.
The craft disintegrated. The ashes remained.
So, technically, if you go to the south pole of the moon and start digging through the debris of a crashed 90s-era probe, you will find the only "body" currently on the lunar surface. It’s just in dust form.
The Physics of a Corpse in a Vacuum
Let's get technical because the science is actually cooler than the rumors. If an astronaut were to die on the moon today—say, during the upcoming Artemis missions—and their crewmates couldn't retrieve the body, what happens?
First, the lack of atmospheric pressure. This is the big one.
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The water in the body’s soft tissues would turn into vapor. This would cause the body to bloat significantly. You wouldn't "explode" like in the movies, but you’d definitely expand. Then, the cold would set in. Since there is no air to whisk heat away through convection, you only lose heat through radiation. It’s a slow process, but eventually, you become a human popsicle.
The Preservation Myth
Some people think a body found on the moon would stay perfect forever. It won’t.
- Micrometeoroids: These are tiny dust particles moving at thousands of miles per hour. Over millions of years, they’d sandblast a body into nothing.
- Space Weathering: Protons from the sun would constantly bombard the remains.
- Internal Bacteria: For a short time, the anaerobic bacteria inside your gut would have a field day. They don't need oxygen. They would start breaking things down from the inside out until the body froze solid.
What NASA Actually Plans For
NASA doesn't like talking about death. It’s bad PR. But they do have protocols. For the International Space Station (ISS), the plan is usually to get the body back to Earth in a few hours. But the moon? The moon is three days away.
If a crew member dies on the lunar surface, the "body" becomes a logistical nightmare. You can't just leave it in the pressurized habitat; it’s a biological hazard. There have been proposals—like the "Body Back" project—which involves placing the body in a bag and using vibrations to shatter the frozen remains into tiny pieces, essentially creating a concentrated powder that is easier to store. It sounds heartless. It's actually just very efficient engineering.
Real Artifacts That Look Like Bodies
Part of the reason the body found on the moon myth persists is because of the "Fallen Astronaut" sculpture. During the Apollo 15 mission, Commander David Scott placed a small, 3.5-inch aluminum figure on the moon. It’s a tiny, faceless human shape lying in the dust next to a plaque listing the names of 14 astronauts and cosmonauts who died during the space race.
From a distance, or through a distorted lens, a photo of this could easily be misinterpreted. It’s a memorial, not a corpse.
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Then there are the "mannequins." We’ve sent plenty of those. Most recently, the Artemis I mission sent "Commander Moonikin Campos." It was a manikin equipped with sensors to measure radiation. If a future lunar rover camera catches a glimpse of a "body" in a suit, it’s almost certainly a test dummy left behind from a previous landing or a discarded suit from a future mission.
The Legal and Ethical Mess
Who owns a body found on the moon? This is where the lawyers get involved. According to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, no nation can claim "sovereignty" over the lunar surface. However, the country that launches a spacecraft retains jurisdiction over that craft and the personnel inside it.
If a private company—like SpaceX or Blue Origin—finds a body, things get murky. Is it a crime scene? Is it a historical site?
Ethically, we are entering a new era. With companies now offering "space burials" (sending a gram of your ashes into orbit or to the moon for a few thousand dollars), the lunar surface is about to get a lot more crowded with human DNA. We are basically turning the moon into a celestial graveyard.
The Future: Will We Ever Find One?
As we move toward permanent lunar bases, the statistical likelihood of someone dying there moves from "zero" to "inevitable." We will eventually have to deal with the reality of a body found on the moon that wasn't planned.
Future lunar colonists will need cemeteries. Or crematoriums. But because the moon has no atmosphere, smoke from a traditional cremation wouldn't rise—it would just fall as soot. Every part of living and dying on the moon requires us to rethink basic physics.
Practical Steps for Space Enthusiasts
If you're fascinated by the intersection of space and mortality, you don't have to rely on creepy Creepypasta stories. You can track the real "remains" we've sent up there.
- Research the Shoemaker Tribute: Look up the details of the Lunar Prospector mission. It’s a masterclass in how NASA handles "burials" without actually calling them that.
- Study the Outer Space Treaty: If you’re interested in the legal side, read Article VIII. It explains why a body on the moon still "belongs" to its home country.
- Monitor Artemis Mission Updates: NASA’s current Artemis program has public documents regarding health and safety. While they don't explicitly highlight "death protocols," their contingency planning for medical emergencies gives you a glimpse into the risks modern astronauts face.
- Check the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Images: You can actually browse high-res photos of landing sites. You won't find a body, but you’ll see the tracks and "trash" (including bags of human waste) left behind by Apollo astronauts. It’s a reminder that we leave a lot of ourselves behind when we travel.
The moon isn't a tomb yet. But it's also not the pristine, untouched rock we like to imagine. It’s a place where we’ve left our footprints, our trash, our memorials, and, in the case of Gene Shoemaker, a little bit of our dust.