 Every ounce counts. And so they were really looking to make this both as small and as light as possible for flight. And the piece that they really needed was the moon man itself. The figure is what makes the statue and what makes it recognizable. And then the flag actually is a separate piece that slides into a little gap in the astronaut's little fist and holds onto it. Although it doesn't work well without a base because there's a little divot in the base where the flag