Moon Conspiracy

Carley Bartrum

English 101

Sarah Angleton

15 October 2017 A Walk on the Moon Imagine a life with scarce technology and little advancements around you, when all of a sudden, the United States government decides to send a shuttle to space and land on the moon. Would you believe it happened or would you think it was a hoax? This happened on 20 July 1969, when color television just became something new, wall phones were still a thing, and typewriters were used to write essays. Most people had never even flown on an airplane, let alone a rocket that blasted off into space. The moon was a wonder in the night sky over 238,000 miles away and many disbelieved that any earthly object could reach it. While most Americans were thrilled

People from all over the world watched the Apollo spacecraft go to and from the moon with telescopes. However, conspiracy theorists believe that you should be able to see the items, such as several parts of the Eagle, the U.S. flag, and other mementos left on the moon by Aldrin and Armstrong with telescopes (National Geographic). Although the telescopes could be used to view the spacecraft’s travels, they could not see what was happening on the moon. Calculations disprove the conspiracy theory, as they claim not even the Hubble Space Telescope could see such items on the moon. According to Plait, "even with the biggest telescope on Earth, the smallest thing you can see on the surface of moon is something bigger than a house." Thus, you would not be able to see the items left on the moon like the theorists

They point out that the flag appears to be waving , but how could this be since there is no air on the moon? The astronauts explained that they had just planted the flag so it was still in motion when the picture was taken. The astronauts also bent the horizontal rods which created a rippled effect (National Geographic). Then the conspiracists argue the photo is fake because there are no stars seen in the background. Once again, the astronauts explain that the exposure setting on their camera would not film the stars and the sunlight reflected on the moon’s surface had made the stars hard to see (National Geographic). The conspiracists argue about the lighting and shadows in the pictures indicating that studio lighting was being used but the astronauts explain that various sources of light such as the sun, the Earth’s reflected light and light reflected off the lunar module and spacesuits created the effect. One picture shows what appears to be studio lights but scientists explain that these images were simply made by the camera lens reflections. Another issue the conspiracists raise is that there is no crater pictured from the spaceship landing. They argue that a hole should have been created under spacecraft , However, NASA explains that the spacecraft made a soft landing and that the moon’s surface is so tough that