This article will take a look at one of the most well-known conspiracy theories circulating the planet, that men never landed on the moon. According to several groups and individuals from all over the world, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were not the first men to set foot on our celestial neighbour, and were in fact acting in a large studio. Some moon hoax theorists believe that the first landing by Armstrong and Aldrin was faked, and subsequent missions stand a good chance of being genuine. Others believe that all the missions were a hoax, it depends on who you speak to!
So why would anyone suggest that the moon landings were faked? What would NASA and the United States government attempt to gain by pretending that they had landed on the moon? The main reason that many conspiracy theorists believe that the first, or indeed all the moon landings were faked, was due to the international situation in the 1960's and 1970's. The cold war had led the United States and Russia to begin a space race. This involved getting the first artificial satellite into space, as well as the first human being. Both these challenges were officially won by Russia, and the pressure was immense for the United States to make it to the moon first. Added pressure had also been placed on the American space programme after President Kennedy's speech on May the 25th 1961 to U.S. Congress in which he stated,
"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space, and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."
This speech, and the pressure to beat the Russians to the moon, would be - in the theorists opinion - every motivation to fake it if it was not physically possible, or if it were too expensive to achieve. There is no creditable evidence however that this was the case.
The codename for the lunar missions was Apollo, and in total there were nine missions that actually made their way to the moon. However, Apollo 8 and 10 did not descend to the surface, but simply orbited to gain information and data for the landings that would follow. Apollo 13 (of which a hollywood film was made), was due to descend to the surface, but was involved in an emergency that threatened the crew. This resulted in an aborting of the moon landing as the astronauts were dramatically guided back to earth, teetering on the brink of death.
Missions that were successful in landing on the moon were Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17. Apollo 11 was the first landing by men on the moon, and was the mission in which Neil Armstrong uttered his famous words, "that's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." The aim of this article is to outline exactly why the arguments used by moon hoax conspiracy theorists to discredit the moon landings are poorly thought out, scientifically wrong and misguided. Let's start with some of the most common issues that have been put forward as 'proof' that the moon landings never took place.
No blast crater under the LEM - One of the most common areas of the moon landings that the theorists have a problem with is the lack of a blast crater beneath the lunar lander spacecraft, officially named the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). This is apparently difficult for them to quantify as the giant rocket nozzle that pointed down at the surface was capable of producing 10,000lb of thrust. Statements by various hoax theorists have been made that 10,000lb of thrust would have not only disturbed copious quantities of dust, but would have blasted a crater in the surface of the moon. However, in NASA photographs and film there is no evidence of any crater beneath the LEM on the surface of the moon leading hoax theorists to speculate that the lander was simply on a 'movie set'.
Whilst I would agree that 10,000lb of thrust would disturb dust and possibly create a crater, one very important fact is overlooked by the hoax theorists - the spacecraft throttle!
Imagine you owned a Ferrari capable of travelling at 200mph. If your car is capable of travelling at that speed would you then leave your driveway at 200mph? Of course not, as the speed is not required. This was the same as the LEM. All that was needed during the descent in a low-gravity environment, was around 3000lb of thrust, which in fact simply disturbed a small quantity of dust that can be seen from the video inside the spacecraft from Apollo 11 (the first moon landing). No crater was created as there was not the power to do it as the LEM touched down, this is why you see no blast crater on any Apollo mission.
Despite the sky being black there were no stars in the sky on any Apollo mission photographs - Any hoax theorist using this claim to propose that the lunar landings were faked clearly has very little understanding of photography, or the very different environment that is experienced on the moon. When you look at the lunar photographs what do you see? A terrain lit up by the brilliant light of the sun. The astronauts are also wearing bright white spacesuits that reflect the sunlight. As a result of this when a photograph is taken as little light as possible needs to be drawn into the camera. To take a picture in these conditions requires a fast shutter speed as well as reducing the aperture size (letting in as little light in a possible). Because of the camera letting in less light to compensate for the brilliantly lit terrain and astronaut, the stars do not show up in the sky because of their faintness. This is the reason they cannot be witnessed on the Apollo lunar photographs.
Despite the lack of stars in the NASA photographs there was one occasion in which they were photographed on the moon. The crew of Apollo 16 took a special ultra violet camera with them to take pictures of stars and galaxies without the atmosphere of the earth to obscure the view. As a result we can prove that photographing stars was possible by the astronauts, but they had to take special equipment with them in order to do it.
When placing the flag on the surface of the moon it can be seen waving as if in the wind - This, frankly, is one of the most ridiculous claims I think has been made by the moon hoax theorists. Take a close look at the astronaut placing the flag on the surface. He has to twist it hard left and right to work it into the surface. Whilst doing this the flag (that was fastened to the pole vertically downwards as well as secured across the top to ensure it displayed properly due to no wind on the moons surface) 'waved' as the cloth moved. This was the result of force being placed on it as it was worked into the surface.
Hold a piece of tissue paper by one corner in a room completely still and free from wind. Move your hand backwards and forwards, what happens? The tissue paper waves as if it were in the wind, this is exactly what was happening to the flag as it was placed in position. It is amusing that no claims have been made about the flag moving when an astronaut was not touching it. Does this mean that breeze only occurred as the flag was placed in the ground and was being touched? This is a poorly thought out argument that the moon landings were faked.
Part one of my look into the moon hoax conspiracy theory has debunked three of the most popular pieces of 'evidence' that men never went to the moon. There are many other claims from hoax theorists that will be put into perspective in part two of this article. I will also take a look at other accusations to do with the moon landings, involving the murder of astronauts and the faking of emergencies to gain television coverage, all of which will be thoroughly investigated and debunked.
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