Moon Landing Conspiracy: Separating Fact from Fiction

 Introduction

In 1969, the first human ever set foot on the moon, or did they? In this blog we will address the modern theory that the moon landing was a hoax.

On 20th July 1969, the world witnessed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon, something never done by mankind before. Michael Collins orbited the moon aboard the command module.

This blog will look at the origins of the moon landing, the claims behind it and explain why people still believe the theory.

 

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Origins of the moon landing conspiracy 

The moon landing conspiracy theory came from Bill Kaysing. Bill was a former US Navy officer who claimed to have inside knowledge of the moon landing. His 1976 book “We Never Went to the Moon”, gives us the insight that the moon landing was staged in order to beat the Soviet Union in the infamous Space Race in The Cold War. 

 

Politically, The Cold War was at its peak in 1969 mainly between the USA and the Soviet Union, therefore winning the space race could have proven vital to the USA gaining an upper hand in the war.

 

Common conspiracy claims and their refutations 

Claim one: the American flag appears to wave in the wind

-              Many people think that the flag that the astronauts planted on the moon on Apollo 11 was waving in the wind.

-              Except one thing, there is no atmosphere on the moon, so it would not be possible to wave in the wind as there wouldn’t be any wind.

-              However, this claim has been debunked as you can see from the famous photo of Buzz Aldrin the way that the flag is designed is so that it has a horizontal rod across the top. This means that the crinkles on the flag are not done by the wind! They were made by the astronauts themselves. 

Claim two: No stars visible in the moon landing photos:

-              Conspiracy theorists believe that the pictures of the moon landing would show the stars in the space if the landing were real. 

-              However, this has also been debunked as there would only be stars if the landing occurred at lunar night (when the surface of the moon is not exposed to the sun). Many landings on the moon, including the first moon landing, occurred in the lunar day, therefore no stars were present. 

Claim three: The shadows in the photo don’t match

-              In many images from the moon landing shadows are present by the astronauts and objects on the lunar surface appear to diverge or appear to not be completely correct, so some people have theorised that this was done on a set.

-              The fact that the moon is on an uneven terrain, means that the shadows will behave in a different way to that of the shadows being cast on Earth. 

 

Why do people believe these theories?

People are naturally going to be sceptical when it comes to such achievements such as the moon landing. In addition to this, theorists always desire to question authorities and hidden truths. Where we are in the world regarding the internet now. People can spread their views and theories freely. It is human nature to believe something if you see a group of other people agreeing with it. Creating a loop of misinformation being reinforced by others.

 

The evidence for the moon landing

Now we will move onto the evidence showing that the moon landing did occur in order to provide a balanced argument from claims defending the moon landing. 

-              About 380 kilos of lunar rocks were bought back from the moon and have been analysed by scientists worldwide, confirming their extraterrestrial origin. 

-              There were multiple third parties tracking the momentous occasion including many outside of the US.

 

In conclusion, I think that the claims surrounding this theory are hard to support when paired with the facts that support the opposing side. The theory itself has been spurred on by the political context of the Space Race, so I can understand peoples scepticism towards this event. 

 

I hope you enjoyed this read, next week we will be looking at another conspiracy theory, supported by evidence and discussed by The Conspirologist. 

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