On July 16, 1969, America held its breath as three brave astronauts launched from Earth’s atmosphere onto a 238,900-mile mission to the moon. Millions watched their televisions as the first men that would set foot on the moon touched down and Neil Armstrong spoke the unforgettable words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” This was a monumental mark on history, however, roughly twenty to thirty percent of Americans to this day believe that NASA and the government staged the entire mission to the moon. Could it be true? Has NASA managed to pull off the greatest hoax in human history?
I am convinced that on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong left the very first footprints on the surface of the moon and the American flag still stands motionless at the Apollo 11 landing sight in the Sea of Tranquility.
According to a peer-reviewed book, Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia, the mainstream version of this elaborate bluff is built around three main ideas. First, NASA was never quite capable of actually sending people to the moon, and therefore never allowed the astronauts to leave Earth’s orbit. Second, official photos from the NASA missions show significant proof that the photos were created in a sound stage here on Earth. Finally, NASA and their fellow co-conspirators have been able to keep those with knowledge about the conspiracy quiet for nearly five decades.
Conspiracy theorists believe that because NASA’s early space flight attempts in the 1950’s and 60’s were “spectacular failures,” that it is far more plausible that they staged the entire mission to make the world think we had won the race to space. In the years leading up to the few successful moon landings there were far more failures than successes in their attempts to get to the moon. Therefore, the odds that NASA would be capable of sending people into outer space and to the moon were astronomically low. Theorists argue that the chances of a real, successful moon landing are far less plausible than creating a set to stage a fake moon landing.
First, we did go to the moon because during the Apollo missions the United States was locked into a bitter rivalry with the Soviet Union, which gave birth to the race to space. After America had beaten Russia to creating both the A-bomb and the H-bomb, Russia was beating America to space by sending up the first satellite “Sputnik.” America thrives on competition and without the pressure and from Russia it is unlikely that we would have ever had the drive to get to the moon. America was able to create the atomic bomb in just a few short years, we could have managed to develop the technology to get us all the way to the moon.
The majority of the evidence theorists use to back up their claims are the anomalies that are present in the photos released by NASA from the moon landing. Many of these theories about the photos are convincing, they even had be questioning the integrity of our government for a little while.
One theory is the ‘waving flag’ theory. The photo receives scrutiny because it appears that the flag is waving in the wind. However, since there is no atmosphere on the moon there is no wind to cause the flag to ripple the way the flag is shown. The theorists use this as evidence to prove that the moon landing was filmed in a movie studio on Earth; they theorize that the flag is waving from a draft in the studio. The flag does appear to be rippling or waving as if there was a breeze on the moon, which is impossible. NASA suspended the flag using two rods, one vertical pole, and one horizontal to keep the flag always out stretched and visible since it would not be getting any breeze time out on the moon. However, this theory has been tested, the tests showed that the flag would still have enough energy to wave for a long period of time after being twisted into the ground, because there is no atmospheric particles to slow the movements of the flag. MythBusters conducted an experiment in attempt to debunk or prove this theory. They used a vacuum chamber to conduct the experiments. First, the myth busters tested twisting the flag with Earths atmospheric pressure, and the flag waved for a little while and gradually came to a stop. Next, the myth busters tested twisting the flag in full vacuum, the same conditions that would be present on the moon, and found that the flag waved much more vigorously and for a longer period of time after having the same amount of force applied to shaking the flag. The photo shown above was taken not long after the astronauts had planted the flag into the ground, and would still have enough kinetic energy to appear as if it was waving, when it was actually still shaking from the force exerted on it from twisting it into the ground.
Another theory that has arisen from photographs is the ‘multiple light sources’ theory. Many photographs taken on the moon show what appear to be shadows that are not parallel with one another, which indicate that there must be more than one light source while taking the photos; however, there should only be one light source on the moon, the sun. MythBusters also debunked an example of this. The photo to the left shows two unparalleled shadows. How could this be possible? MythBusters set up a miniature set of the moon that matched the topographical features shown in the photo. First, they tested the anomaly with a flat topography as it appears in the photos, with one large light source that represented the sun, but their results concluded that the shadows under those conditions would have still ended up to be parallel to each other. Next, they retested the anomaly and changed the topography to have more of an uneven surface, they placed the rocks onto of a hill. Placing the rocks shown in the photo resulted in giving the shadows an unparalleled appearance. This test concluded that the topography of the moon had an uneven and hill filled topography that is easily discernible in the photo.
Another example of the multiple light sources theory is the very famous photo of Buzz Aldrin stepping of the lunar module onto the moon. The photo to the right shows Buzz clearly visible and brilliantly lit up in the dark shadow of the landing module. Buzz should not have been so visible while standing in the shadow of a very large object according to theorists. These theories prove to many skeptics that the photos had to have been taken on a movie set with multiple light sources, not the moon. Once again there is a scientific explanation for this phenomena. The moon’s surface is a very reflective substance, similar to snow. Scientists have said that Buzz is light up because the light on the nearby surface is reflecting upwards to light him up. In my opinion, if there were multiple light sources, the shadow of the lunar module would not be so dark and there would be another shadow facing another direction as well. Another reason, if you look at the photo closely you can see that Buzz is lit from beneath him. If you look closely at his space suit, Buzz has shadows on his shoulders, top of his helmet and the pack on his back, and is completely light on the bottom of his suit indicating that he is being lit from below. You can also notice that he is only lit on his bright white suit, and his black boots remain dark black because they are not as reflective as the white suit.
A third theory that has been developed is the ‘lack of stars’ theory. All the photos brought back from the moon have one thing in common, a serious lack of stars in the background. Theorists believe that since there is no atmosphere to obscure the visibility of the stars, they should be significantly brighter than what we see here on Earth. My explanation for this is that since the foreground (the moon) is so reflective and was so brilliantly lit by the sun, it obscured any light coming from the stars from the camera.
Another theory that has emerged from the photographs is the “C” rock theory. One of the most famous photos that were released by NASA had a rock in the center of the photo that had a clear “C” engraved in to the top of the rock. The letter is perfectly symmetrical indicating it is unlikely to be a natural occurrence. The rock is thought to be a prop that was marked with the letter to help the film crew in placing the rock. Theorists have pointed out that many staged props are marked with a letter to indicate the center of the stage. However convincing the “C” on the rock is, why would NASA take a photo of something that would clearly expose their lie? NASA has spoken out about this anomaly saying that it was a developing error, and could be a stray hair that got caught in the developing process. They have also said that the “C” is only on a single copy of the photo, and does not appear on the negative.
One last theory is the clear footprint left by Commander Armstrong in the moon dust. People argue that a footprint so distinct in shape could only be left in sand with moisture, and since there is no moister on the moon, creating a perfect footprint such as this is impossible anywhere but Earth. MythBusters also contributed to this theory. They tested with a substance similar to moon sand. MythBusters stated that the sand on Earth is very fine and weathered from the conditions here on Earth, however, that the sand on the moon is very course and sharp; this means that the sand would more easily stay together in situations where Earth sand would simply fall past one another. They tested this theory in a vacuum chamber as well, they put a space boot on the chamber with a mechanism that would cause it to step in the sample of sand. First they tested with Earth sand, and as expected, there was no foot print left behind, because Earth sand grains easily fall past on another. However, when they tested it with the moon sand, their results were a clear foot print left behind, without any moisture, because the grains of sand are much more sharp they cling onto one another maintaining the shape that was imprinted into them. In this case, the footprint was left behind.
Theorists also find proof that the entire moon landing was a hoax in post landing events. Such as actions of the astronauts that landed on the moon, and deaths of many people associated with the moon landings. No one associated with NASA has spoken out about the subject in the forty-six years since the first moon landing, which is suspicious. According to a peer-reviewed paper, (In)visible evidence, Neil Armstrong refuses to give interviews on the subject of the moon and has been quoted in saying, “Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies.” Buzz Aldrin has also reportedly threatened to sue if his interviews were ever shown to anyone. Other theories include the fact that the numerous accidental casualties in the years surrounding the moon landings were actually murder victims killed by NASA and the government to keep quiet. All of this is unexplainable in my opinion, except that something happened on the moon that the government wants to keep quiet, but I digress.
Faking something as huge and historically important as the moon landing is very risky. It is virtually impossible for anyone to pull off a hoax or a lie that large and complex without it blowing up in their face shortly after. It has been 46 years since we first walked on the moon and there has been ample enough time for someone to come out and prove that the whole operation was a huge bluff. People always get tangled up in their lies, and even a multimillion dollar organization could not have pulled off faking the moon landing for this long. America not only aired a live video stream from the moon, but they also aired it to the entire world. Lying to the entire world would be a big risk, especially if they were to get caught. America would be put to shame, we would not put our international reputation to the chance of someone calling our bluff. Not only did they videotape the entirety of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin exploring the surface of the moon for two and a half hours, but there are also hundreds of photographs that they took of their trip, as well as moon rock samples they have brought back. But how did they air a live stream of video all the way from the moon, if we have a few second lag when calling cross-country you may ask. Well, there was a lag, the video stream had to be streamed to NASA then sent through the television wavelengths. There was a lag of about an hour or two.
Finally, the last reason I believe America did go to the moon is that we have telescopes that can see other planets, solar systems, and galaxies, therefore we have the power to see the surface of the moon if we wanted to. In fact, people have used these telescopes to look at the moons surface and have been able to spot the landing sights of all the Apollo landings in high definition. The telescope images show the artifacts the astronauts left behind like the modules and lunar vehicle and the tire treads left behind by the vehicles still imbedded in the moons surface.
Despite that fact that the first moon landing took place nearly five decades ago, anywhere from twenty to thirty percent of Americans completely believe that the moon landings were faked. This conspiracy theory has yet to be proven to be a definitive fact or fiction. There are plenty of anomalies that show evidence that the moon landings could have indeed been a large hoax put on by NASA and the government. However, that’s what they are, anomalies that have scientific evidence debunking the theories that grew from them.
If the moon landing was one big charade, they have been pulling off the biggest lie in American history. However, America has always been the country with the most ingenuity, creating things like airplanes, the light bulb, and even Google. With such fantastic feats why would we need to fake something that we were fully capable of accomplishing. America has always held true about its accomplishments, and has created a reputation for being the most revolutionary. America would not fake something so profound with risk of losing their international reputation if they were to ever be caught. No lie or cover up has ever held ground this long, especially something so controversial.
I am convinced that on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong left the very first footprints on the surface of the moon and the American flag still stands motionless at the Apollo 11 landing sight in the Sea of Tranquility.
According to a peer-reviewed book, Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia, the mainstream version of this elaborate bluff is built around three main ideas. First, NASA was never quite capable of actually sending people to the moon, and therefore never allowed the astronauts to leave Earth’s orbit. Second, official photos from the NASA missions show significant proof that the photos were created in a sound stage here on Earth. Finally, NASA and their fellow co-conspirators have been able to keep those with knowledge about the conspiracy quiet for nearly five decades.
Conspiracy theorists believe that because NASA’s early space flight attempts in the 1950’s and 60’s were “spectacular failures,” that it is far more plausible that they staged the entire mission to make the world think we had won the race to space. In the years leading up to the few successful moon landings there were far more failures than successes in their attempts to get to the moon. Therefore, the odds that NASA would be capable of sending people into outer space and to the moon were astronomically low. Theorists argue that the chances of a real, successful moon landing are far less plausible than creating a set to stage a fake moon landing.
First, we did go to the moon because during the Apollo missions the United States was locked into a bitter rivalry with the Soviet Union, which gave birth to the race to space. After America had beaten Russia to creating both the A-bomb and the H-bomb, Russia was beating America to space by sending up the first satellite “Sputnik.” America thrives on competition and without the pressure and from Russia it is unlikely that we would have ever had the drive to get to the moon. America was able to create the atomic bomb in just a few short years, we could have managed to develop the technology to get us all the way to the moon.
The majority of the evidence theorists use to back up their claims are the anomalies that are present in the photos released by NASA from the moon landing. Many of these theories about the photos are convincing, they even had be questioning the integrity of our government for a little while.
One theory is the ‘waving flag’ theory. The photo receives scrutiny because it appears that the flag is waving in the wind. However, since there is no atmosphere on the moon there is no wind to cause the flag to ripple the way the flag is shown. The theorists use this as evidence to prove that the moon landing was filmed in a movie studio on Earth; they theorize that the flag is waving from a draft in the studio. The flag does appear to be rippling or waving as if there was a breeze on the moon, which is impossible. NASA suspended the flag using two rods, one vertical pole, and one horizontal to keep the flag always out stretched and visible since it would not be getting any breeze time out on the moon. However, this theory has been tested, the tests showed that the flag would still have enough energy to wave for a long period of time after being twisted into the ground, because there is no atmospheric particles to slow the movements of the flag. MythBusters conducted an experiment in attempt to debunk or prove this theory. They used a vacuum chamber to conduct the experiments. First, the myth busters tested twisting the flag with Earths atmospheric pressure, and the flag waved for a little while and gradually came to a stop. Next, the myth busters tested twisting the flag in full vacuum, the same conditions that would be present on the moon, and found that the flag waved much more vigorously and for a longer period of time after having the same amount of force applied to shaking the flag. The photo shown above was taken not long after the astronauts had planted the flag into the ground, and would still have enough kinetic energy to appear as if it was waving, when it was actually still shaking from the force exerted on it from twisting it into the ground.
Another theory that has arisen from photographs is the ‘multiple light sources’ theory. Many photographs taken on the moon show what appear to be shadows that are not parallel with one another, which indicate that there must be more than one light source while taking the photos; however, there should only be one light source on the moon, the sun. MythBusters also debunked an example of this. The photo to the left shows two unparalleled shadows. How could this be possible? MythBusters set up a miniature set of the moon that matched the topographical features shown in the photo. First, they tested the anomaly with a flat topography as it appears in the photos, with one large light source that represented the sun, but their results concluded that the shadows under those conditions would have still ended up to be parallel to each other. Next, they retested the anomaly and changed the topography to have more of an uneven surface, they placed the rocks onto of a hill. Placing the rocks shown in the photo resulted in giving the shadows an unparalleled appearance. This test concluded that the topography of the moon had an uneven and hill filled topography that is easily discernible in the photo.
Another example of the multiple light sources theory is the very famous photo of Buzz Aldrin stepping of the lunar module onto the moon. The photo to the right shows Buzz clearly visible and brilliantly lit up in the dark shadow of the landing module. Buzz should not have been so visible while standing in the shadow of a very large object according to theorists. These theories prove to many skeptics that the photos had to have been taken on a movie set with multiple light sources, not the moon. Once again there is a scientific explanation for this phenomena. The moon’s surface is a very reflective substance, similar to snow. Scientists have said that Buzz is light up because the light on the nearby surface is reflecting upwards to light him up. In my opinion, if there were multiple light sources, the shadow of the lunar module would not be so dark and there would be another shadow facing another direction as well. Another reason, if you look at the photo closely you can see that Buzz is lit from beneath him. If you look closely at his space suit, Buzz has shadows on his shoulders, top of his helmet and the pack on his back, and is completely light on the bottom of his suit indicating that he is being lit from below. You can also notice that he is only lit on his bright white suit, and his black boots remain dark black because they are not as reflective as the white suit.
A third theory that has been developed is the ‘lack of stars’ theory. All the photos brought back from the moon have one thing in common, a serious lack of stars in the background. Theorists believe that since there is no atmosphere to obscure the visibility of the stars, they should be significantly brighter than what we see here on Earth. My explanation for this is that since the foreground (the moon) is so reflective and was so brilliantly lit by the sun, it obscured any light coming from the stars from the camera.
Another theory that has emerged from the photographs is the “C” rock theory. One of the most famous photos that were released by NASA had a rock in the center of the photo that had a clear “C” engraved in to the top of the rock. The letter is perfectly symmetrical indicating it is unlikely to be a natural occurrence. The rock is thought to be a prop that was marked with the letter to help the film crew in placing the rock. Theorists have pointed out that many staged props are marked with a letter to indicate the center of the stage. However convincing the “C” on the rock is, why would NASA take a photo of something that would clearly expose their lie? NASA has spoken out about this anomaly saying that it was a developing error, and could be a stray hair that got caught in the developing process. They have also said that the “C” is only on a single copy of the photo, and does not appear on the negative.
One last theory is the clear footprint left by Commander Armstrong in the moon dust. People argue that a footprint so distinct in shape could only be left in sand with moisture, and since there is no moister on the moon, creating a perfect footprint such as this is impossible anywhere but Earth. MythBusters also contributed to this theory. They tested with a substance similar to moon sand. MythBusters stated that the sand on Earth is very fine and weathered from the conditions here on Earth, however, that the sand on the moon is very course and sharp; this means that the sand would more easily stay together in situations where Earth sand would simply fall past one another. They tested this theory in a vacuum chamber as well, they put a space boot on the chamber with a mechanism that would cause it to step in the sample of sand. First they tested with Earth sand, and as expected, there was no foot print left behind, because Earth sand grains easily fall past on another. However, when they tested it with the moon sand, their results were a clear foot print left behind, without any moisture, because the grains of sand are much more sharp they cling onto one another maintaining the shape that was imprinted into them. In this case, the footprint was left behind.
Theorists also find proof that the entire moon landing was a hoax in post landing events. Such as actions of the astronauts that landed on the moon, and deaths of many people associated with the moon landings. No one associated with NASA has spoken out about the subject in the forty-six years since the first moon landing, which is suspicious. According to a peer-reviewed paper, (In)visible evidence, Neil Armstrong refuses to give interviews on the subject of the moon and has been quoted in saying, “Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies.” Buzz Aldrin has also reportedly threatened to sue if his interviews were ever shown to anyone. Other theories include the fact that the numerous accidental casualties in the years surrounding the moon landings were actually murder victims killed by NASA and the government to keep quiet. All of this is unexplainable in my opinion, except that something happened on the moon that the government wants to keep quiet, but I digress.
Faking something as huge and historically important as the moon landing is very risky. It is virtually impossible for anyone to pull off a hoax or a lie that large and complex without it blowing up in their face shortly after. It has been 46 years since we first walked on the moon and there has been ample enough time for someone to come out and prove that the whole operation was a huge bluff. People always get tangled up in their lies, and even a multimillion dollar organization could not have pulled off faking the moon landing for this long. America not only aired a live video stream from the moon, but they also aired it to the entire world. Lying to the entire world would be a big risk, especially if they were to get caught. America would be put to shame, we would not put our international reputation to the chance of someone calling our bluff. Not only did they videotape the entirety of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin exploring the surface of the moon for two and a half hours, but there are also hundreds of photographs that they took of their trip, as well as moon rock samples they have brought back. But how did they air a live stream of video all the way from the moon, if we have a few second lag when calling cross-country you may ask. Well, there was a lag, the video stream had to be streamed to NASA then sent through the television wavelengths. There was a lag of about an hour or two.
Finally, the last reason I believe America did go to the moon is that we have telescopes that can see other planets, solar systems, and galaxies, therefore we have the power to see the surface of the moon if we wanted to. In fact, people have used these telescopes to look at the moons surface and have been able to spot the landing sights of all the Apollo landings in high definition. The telescope images show the artifacts the astronauts left behind like the modules and lunar vehicle and the tire treads left behind by the vehicles still imbedded in the moons surface.
Despite that fact that the first moon landing took place nearly five decades ago, anywhere from twenty to thirty percent of Americans completely believe that the moon landings were faked. This conspiracy theory has yet to be proven to be a definitive fact or fiction. There are plenty of anomalies that show evidence that the moon landings could have indeed been a large hoax put on by NASA and the government. However, that’s what they are, anomalies that have scientific evidence debunking the theories that grew from them.
If the moon landing was one big charade, they have been pulling off the biggest lie in American history. However, America has always been the country with the most ingenuity, creating things like airplanes, the light bulb, and even Google. With such fantastic feats why would we need to fake something that we were fully capable of accomplishing. America has always held true about its accomplishments, and has created a reputation for being the most revolutionary. America would not fake something so profound with risk of losing their international reputation if they were to ever be caught. No lie or cover up has ever held ground this long, especially something so controversial.