Moon Landing Hoax/Conspiracy: Did Apollo 11 Land on The Moon?

On July 16, 1969 three men, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, after a year of training for this moment, waited anxiously 363 feet above the ground inside the top of the towering Saturn V rocket, to begin mankind’s most historic journey to landing on the moon. Or did they?

The 2 month-long celebrations and parades when they returned back to Earth and the 3 week quarantine that the astronauts underwent certainly suggest that the Apollo 11 moon landing mission was a success and an epoch making milestone. Yet for many years now, skeptics speculate what really happened in the Apollo 11 mission during its 4 day voyage and whether the 21 hours and 37 minutes that were spent on the moon, really happened on its surface.

This article examines both sides of the Apollo 11 Moon landing hoax and presents evidence to support each side of the moon landing conspiracy

YES The most prominent evidence that any amateur conspirator can point out about the moon landing, is the waving of the United States flag on the surface of the moon. How could a flag “wave” in the wind if the surface of the moon is airless? It can’t.

NO According to the astronaut, he had just placed the flag there and the inertia from releasing the flag, kept it waving, says spaceflight historian Roger Launius. The flag was also made of an “aluminum foil” substance, and if it had been a hoax, there wouldn’t be huge fans causing gusts of wind in the studio, an armature mistake.

YES Another plain evidence photograph of the moon landing hoax is one of a headshot of Buzz Aldrin. Neil Armstrong is reflected in the background in Aldrin’s visor. Yet he is too far away to be taking a photograph and doesn’t appear to be holding anything. Since only 2 astronauts walked the moon, Neil and Buzz, who took the picture?

NO According to Phil Plait, president of the James Randi Educational Foundation, the astronauts had cameras mounted to their chests, and that is what Neil Armstrong took the picture of Buzz Aldrin with. Since the visor was curved severely, distance can not be properly judged and Neil was actually much closer to Buzz than what is seen in the photograph.

YES Another common argument that comes up is the lack of stars in the photos taken by the astronauts while they were on the moon. We expect to see stars when we look up at the vastness of space and especially when we are on the moon where there is no atmosphere and stars should be very easy to see. None of the pictures taken by the astronauts had stars in the background, so what kind of moon landing has no stars?

NO One attempt to explain this argument is that the moon reflects sunlight and the glare makes it hard to see the stars. The astronauts were also were also using exposure settings which limited incoming background light. When pictures are taken very fast, the dim stars just don’t have time to be registered on the film. If NASA really wanted to fake some moon landing photographs, they would have been smart enough to add some stars. But then, of course, the latter argument could be used against them, that the stars SHOULD NOT have shown up due to camera settings and moon light reflectivity.

YES Concerns about the astronaut’s footprint marks on the moon, have also surfaced. Skeptics say that since the moon’s surface is so dry, when the astronauts stepped in it, they should not have left such precise and clear marks, and that the consistency that we see on film is that of fine, wet, sand, not dry dust particles.

NO Phil Plait explains, “…that’s nonsense. Moondust, or regolith, is like a finely ground powder. When you look at it under a microscope, it almost looks like volcanic ash. So when you step on it, it can compress very easily into the shape of a boot." And because of the vacuum of space, those footprints can remain on the surface of the moon like that for a very long time.

YES Perhaps one of the most known and logical arguments about the moon landing that can be made to this day, is why are none of the things that were left behind on the moon (such as the United States flag, and part of the Eagle), visible when we have all these powerful telescopes on Earth AND in space?

NO Even the most powerful telescopes on Earth and in space (See a picture here) do not have the resolving power, which is the telescope’s ability to make us see really small details and see sharp images, to make us notice things that small. The smallest object that can be seen on the moon, with a telescope, is something about the size of a house.

YES Aside from a footprint and a flag Neil Armstrong also left behind a "lunar laser ranging retroreflector array" (NASA). When laser pulses sent from a telescope on Earth hit the surface of the reflector, they bounce back. These can be used to measure the distance of the moon from the Earth very precisely. The reflector also proves someone was on the moon to place it there.

NO Conspirators will argue that the moon dust can be reflective from Earth and the effect would be the same as having a mirror reflect the light back. Weak, but their better argument is that a a vase of flowers, a book, a block of cheese, and even a "lunar laser ranging retroreflector array" can all be placed on the moon using "unmanned missiles". And they can.

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