The 1969 Apollo 11 Moon Landing: Why Do People Believe it was Faked?
- GroovyHayley
- Feb 13, 2022
- 5 min read
On May 25th, 1961, The United States President, John F. Kennedy, set a nationwide goal of having an American touch the Moon by the end of the decade, and gave Apollo 11 the primary objective of performing the crewed lunar landing and returning back to earth. On July 20th, 1969, an estimated 650 million people watched in awe as Apollo 11 landed on the Moon for the first time in history. It took 400,000 Nasa scientists, engineers, technologists, machinists, and electricians to make the Apollo 11 mission dream into a reality. The Apollo 11 crew consisted of 3 brave men, Neil Armstrong (Mission Commander), Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin (lunar module pilot), and Michael Collins (command module pilot). Neil Armstrong was the first American to touch the Moon, followed by Edwin Aldrin. During their ground exploration of the Moon, Michael Collins remained 69 miles above the surface, staying in orbit. On July 24th, 1969, the Apollo 11 crew returned safely back on Earth.
- Neil Armstrong
(10:56 p.m. ET on July 20th, 1969, after placing his left foot on the lunar surface).
A former U.S. Navy officer by the name of Bill Kaysing was not as impressed by the Apollo 11 mission as everyone else in America. Bill was a technical writer for one of the rocket manufacturers for NASA's Apollo moon missions, and claimed that the Apollo 11 Moon landing was a hoax. He stated that he held secret intel regarding a U.S. Government conspiracy to fake the Apollo 11 Moon landing, along with others around the same time period. His belief was that NASA did not have the technology and skills to land a man safely on the Moon, and instead, only orbited around the lunar surface. Bill Kaysing is known as the founder of the Apollo 11 Moon landing conspiracy theory, which is still believed by many to this day.
Photograph taken by Neil Armstrong of Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin carrying equipment during Apollo 11 mission (NASA) on July 20th, 1969.
The 1969 Moon landing conspiracy founder, Bill Kaysing, claimed that the footage of the 2 Astronauts on the Moon was produced on Earth inside an Area 51 studio. America was in a space race against the Soviet Union, and Bill believed the Apollo 11 Moon landing was faked in order to declare U.S. supremacy and prove to the Soviet Union that America had better technology than them. He self-published a book called "We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle" in 1976, discussing his beliefs surrounding the mission. His main argument was that the stars were not visible from the Moon landing photos and because of that, it had to be a hoax. Bill has since been discredited by many experts who explained that the film camera lens used did not have the capabilities to capture the stars and the lunar surface, due to the camera's fast shutter speed and small aperture. The brightness of the Moon made the background darker through the lens, dimming the stars to where they could not be seen in the photos, like the one shown above.
Photograph taken by Neil Armstrong during Apollo 11 mission (NASA), July 20th, 1969
With the rise of the Internet, users from around the globe have kept the Apollo 11 Moon landing conspiracy alive. One argument spread by conspiracy theorists is that the shadows in the Moon landing photos prove the images were faked. The shadows in the above photo are not parallel with each other, which many believe proves that there were multiple light sources behind the camera, inside a studio. Space expert, Professor Ojha, explained that this phenomenon was because of the camera perspective, and does not prove that the 1969 was a hoax.
Professor Ojha has also discredited a number of similar claims, such as the argument that Apollo astronauts could not have survived Earth's radiation field during the mission. Professor Ojha compared the travel through radiation to walking through fire and stated, "If you’ve ever done firewalking, you’ll know the one thing you don’t do is linger around in the middle of the firepit. You cross as quickly as you can. From a science point of view, as long as you walk across quite quickly, looking at the thermal conductivity of your feet, you are not going to have enough thermal energy going into the soles of your feet to burn you. You’re absolutely fine. Just don’t hang around in the middle!" He further explained that the same concept applies to traveling through radiation, such as the Van Allen radiation belt. Because the passage through the Van Allen radiation belt was so quick, the Astronauts were unharmed, only being exposed to a few chest x-rays worth of radiation.
Photograph taken by Neil Armstrong of Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin saluting the US flag during the Apollo 11 mission (NASA) July 20th, 1969
Another argument made by the Moon landing conspiracy theorists is that there is no wind on the Moon, and yet the U.S. flag was shown waving in photos from the Apollo 11 mission. This means the Apollo 11 mission was faked, right? Wrong. Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin explained that they rotated the flagpole back and forth in order to better penetrate the lunar soil, which caused the flag to wave. NASA stated that they also constructed the flag specially to keep it from falling limp in the airless atmosphere, explaining, "In addition to the vertical pole that supported the side of the flag, they included a horizontal arm along the top of the flag to hold it out." The claim made by Moon landing conspiracy theorists regarding the waving U.S. flag was discredited by many, including MythBusters, who conducted their own test at NASA. During their test, they found that while inside the simulated Moon vacuum, the momentum alone from moving the flagpole back and forth was enough to keep the flag moving. Myth = Busted.
People and companies have profited hard off of this conspiracy, including Bill Kaysing, Fox Broadcasting Company, Shane Dawson, and many more. Bill Kaysing had a net worth of 19 million dollars, self-publishing his book about the Moon landing conspiracy in 1976, as well as appearing in multiple T.V. shows throughout his life relating to the topic. In 2001, Fox aired a T.V. special called, "Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?", which they made millions on through advertisements. Aside from the Moon landing conspiracy theory profits made from books, T.V. shows, and documentaries, there are new ways that people have found to profit off of this conspiracy. Shane Dawson, a popular YouTuber, published a video in 2016, titled, "MOON LANDING CONSPIRACY THEORY". He has received 8 million views on his Moon landing conspiracy video, giving him an upwards of $28,000 in ad revenue alone. He is one of many that has profited off of YouTube videos discussing the theory that we never made it to the Moon.
Photograph of Earth-rise viewed from lunar orbit prior to landing (NASA) July 20th, 1969
Due to the massive flow of information circulating around the internet everyday, it doesn't surprise me that there are people around the world that still don't believe we landed on the Moon. The spread of misinformation is at an all time high, and will probably never go away. No matter what the experts say and the facts show, there will always be people in the world that can not accept the truth about the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing mission. In case you were still wondering...yes, we DID land on the Moon!
Sources
Comments