Apollo 11 Moon Landing Conspiracy

“That’s one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind.” An estimated 530,000,000 people watched Neil Armstrong live on television say those exact words in July of 1969. The Apollo-11 moon landing was one of America’s greatest achievements. Or was it? Five percent of the population of the United States does not believe the astronauts actually made it to the Moon, instead they believe that it was all filmed like a movie. Many conspiracy theorists have come up with numerous explanations as to why America did not make it to the moon. For example, some of the photos that were taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin looked suspicious or out of place. Other conspiracy questions asked are how come the astronauts did not come back from space with

immense health problems? How come you cannot see any stars in the photos taken of Earth from the Moon? However, when examined closely, simple scientific explanation can prove that mankind has been to the Moon and Americans should still believe in one of their greatest achievements.

In support of these questions, many photographs released from the historic 1969 mission seem to be unreliable. There seems to be a stage light seen in the reflection of the astronaut's helmet, possible duplicate backdrops, layered cross-hairs, and the most mind boggling is the American flag “waving in the wind”. There were three astronauts on the space shuttle when it left Earth: Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Neil Armstrong had previously been on a space mission before. He piloted the first ever two spaceships to be docked in space, Gemini 8. Buzz Aldrin piloted Gemini 12 and while on the mission he took a two hour and twenty minute walk in space to prove that astronauts, outside of the spacecraft, could work efficiently. Michael Collins, the least popular of the three, piloted Gemini 10 and was the first person to ever meet another spacecraft in orbit. While Collins stayed in the Command Module Columbia, Armstrong and Buzz walked out of the Eagle onto the Moon. Since Armstrong was the commander of Apollo 11, he carried a 70 millimeter lunar surface camera and took most of the

pictures. Buzz Aldrin is a credible source and since retiring from NASA, he has continued to promote space exploration. Buzz recalls what happened as him and Neil Armstrong tried putting up the flag, “As hard as we tried, the telescope wouldn’t fully extend. Thus the flag which should have been flat had its own permanent wave”(Treadgold). The flag that was taken to the Moon was connected to a folding rod that would be the pole. As they were unfolding it, putting the pieces together, and trying to make it stand in the Moon’s surface, inertia took its course and made the flag wave. Lee Krystek, author of The Great Moon Landing Hoax, exclaims that the flag waved as the astronauts were wiggling the flagpole over and over again attempting to get it to stick in the lunar dirt (Krystek). Just like Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of physics states, an object put into motion will stay in motion until stopped (Michaux). The astronauts liked how it looked so they kept it, even though it did not matter because it blew over while taking off.
Next, people claim that because none of the photographs have stars in it is because the filmmakers forgot to add them in.

For the surface shots a special camera was designed for the astronauts, the Hasselblad 500 El Data. Based on earlier photographs from the previous Apollo missions, exposure settings for the different lighting conditions were worked out in advance. F/11 was the f-stop recommendation for in the sun shots. Mike Carlowicz of NASA states, “The exposure time for the image wasn’t long enough for any stars to be seen.” The objects being photographed were so much brighter than the stars that the exposure setting on the camera was not long enough to capture the stars. If the astronauts did want to capture the stars, they would have had to set the camera on a tripod and set a long time exposure. When exposing for the stars, it would totally overexpose the foreground landscape, preventing the Moon’s surface from being seen in the photo at all. The Moon has no atmosphere, like clouds, air, or water vapor to scatter the sunlight like Earth does, making the lunar surface astonishingly bright. “The Earth and Moon were bright enough that a short-duration exposure was all that was needed”(Carlowicz). The Moon goes through lunar phases such as waxing gibbous, full, and first quarter phase as it orbits around the Earth. When the astronauts walked onto the Moon, the Moon was in the waxing crescent phase. Meaning, as seen from Earth, the Moon is more than one-half but not

fully illuminated by sunlight. Since the Moon was brighter than the stars, they were unable to be captured on camera, just like you can’t see the stars during daylight on Earth. The camera settings were not adjusted to capture the stars, it was adjusted to capture planet Earth.
Lastly, space is a dangerous and unfriendly place. Radiation exposure required daily exercise to keep astronauts brittle bones from deteriorating, the astronauts were also confined to a small space with three other co-workers, and many more risks. While the three astronauts were traveling through space, they had to overcome some obstacles before they reached their destination, the Moon. The first obstacle was the Van Allen radiation belt. These are two circular shaped belts surrounding Earth that are surging with charged particles held in place by Earth’s magnetic field. While traveling through them, the crew only received an average radiation dose of .18 rads. “This was significantly lower than the yearly average of five rem set by the US Atomic Energy Commision workers,” says Amy Teitel of Popular Science. The astronaut’s bodies felt like they were afflicted with the flu- nausea, headaches, fatigue, etc. The chance of the astronauts being impaired or having medical related problems was inconsequential. Another obstacle is gravity fields. While traveling to the Moon, the Apollo astronauts experienced three days of no gravity, seventy-five hours on the Moon, which the gravity difference of the Earth and the Moon is about 1.625 m/s2, and finally back to the normal gravity of about 9.807 m/s² on Earth. “NASA has learned that without gravity working on your body, your bones lose minerals, with density dropping at over 1% per month”(Gushanas). To prevent their bones from deteriorating, the astronauts had to exercise daily and eat properly. Most foods brought along were freeze-dried foods prepared before the mission. Some of the Apollo foods were cereal and brownie cubes, turkey and gravy, and applesauce in tubes. The risks taken did not stop Apollo-11 from getting the job done. When they had finally landed in the Pacific Ocean and gone through customs and quarantine, they were greeted with many parades and a ceremony at Pearl Harbor, along with the inevitable world tour. A wave of relief had washed over society worldwide when the crew of Apollo-11 safely reached Earth once again with no harmful injuries.
In conclusion, Moon Hoaxers have tried proving that man had never traveled to the Moon. They believed that because most of the photos looked unbelievable and because they couldn’t understand how the space shuttle and crew survived space with no health related issues. With a simple scientific explanation from experts they can prove mankind has been to the Moon and one of America’s greatest achievements should still be thought true and not as a hoax.