Reports of Streptococcus mitis on the Moon

As part of the Apollo 12 mission in November 1969, the camera from the Surveyor 3 probe was brought back from the Moon to Earth. On analyzing the camera, it was found that the common bacterium Streptococcus mitis was alive on the camera. NASA reasoned that the camera was not sterilized on Earth before the space probe's launch in April 1967, two and a half years earlier. However, later study showed that the scientists analysing the camera on return to Earth used procedures that were inadequate to prevent recontamination after return to Earth, for instance with their arms exposed, not covering their entire bodies as modern scientists would do. There may also have been possibilities for contamination during the return mission as the camera was returned in a porous bag rather than the airtight containers used for lunar sample return. As a result, the source of the contamination remains controversial. History Since the Apollo Program, there has been at...