For this week’s blog, I am analyzing the conspiracy theory that the Moon landing was faked.
For background, the Moon landing was a national goal set on May 25, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. President John F. Kennedy specifically wanted to perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.
The mission, entitled Apollo 11, was launched a full 8 years later, with a Saturn V rocket carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins. Other objectives of Apollo 11 included deployment of a television camera to transmit signals to Earth, scientific exploration of the Moon, and the deployment of a solar wind composition experiment. Over a million spectators came to watch the rocket take off from Cape Kennedy, and an estimated 650 million people were watching as the astronauts stepped onto the Moon on July 20, 1969. One of the most famous quotes came from Neil Armstrong as he was seen taking his first step onto the moon, as he said “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. Prior to this, there had also been two other television transmissions from Apollo 11, occurring on July 17th and July 18th . After roughly two and a half hours on the moon, the crew made their way back home to Earth, and landed in Hawaii on July 24, 1969.
The moon landing has received a growing amount of skepticism over time due to several reasons. One of those reasons is in part due to the amount of time that has passed since the moon landing. A youth movement that doesn’t remember the events of the Apollo era and has a lack of trust for the Government has aided the growing doubt, and as the events of the original mission have gotten further away, the amount of questioning has grown higher. There are numerous Moon hoax websites, and over time, major TV show programs have started to proliferate the conspiracy theory. Despite there being many other successful moon landings since the Apollo 11 landing, there has still been a decent amount of people who believe that we have not yet landed on the Moon.
Royal Museums Greenwich debunked many pieces of evidence that the moon landing was faked. One of the theories was that in an image, the shadows were not parallel as they “should be” unless they were created with several light sources, however Prof Ojha explained that we can recreate the shadows not being parallel despite having the same light source.
Photograph taken by Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 Moon landing (NASA) source
Another reason that was debunked was in an image, there were no stars seen in the sky despite them being on the Moon and it looking like nighttime. Because of this, conspiracy theorists believe that the landing was faked. However, the Moon is brightly lit by the Moon, and despite it looking like night, it is essentially daytime on the Moon. The article states that the camera’s shutter speed would have to be fast and you would need a small aperture to take a photo of a bright scene, therefore small and faint objects like stars would not show up in photos.
(NASA) source
One of the reasons I have seen the most of why people believe the landing was fake is because the US flag was waving in the wind in images on the moon, but there is no wind on the Moon. This reason is debunked because in the image, you can see a telescopic pole that has been extended across the top of the flag to hold it up, and the flag is wrinkled, causing it to look like it’s waving.
(NASA) source
Lastly, one of the conspiracies states that if we went to the moon, why haven’t we gone back since 1972. The reason for this is because other political factors caused us to change priorities.
The theory was perpetuated by many different persuasion tactics. One persuasion tactics used was simple solution. An example of this is the evidence used to say that the Moon landing was faked. People saw shadows that were not parallel so the simple solution is to say that the landing was fake. Cherry-picking, or using only those facts and details that support their argument, is also used to support the conspiracy theory. An example of this is images that don’t have visible stars being used to suggest studio lighting instead of the environment of the Moon. The conspiracy theory was also advanced by false “experts” who have claimed that the Moon landings were faked or looked fake. Bill Kaysing, who worked for a company that helped design the Saturn V rocket engines, published a pamphlet that featured “grainy photocopies and ludicrous theories”. Bart Sibrel, an independent filmmaker, produced a film that promoted the idea that the moon landing was staged, and after badgering Apollo astronauts multiple times ended up getting punched by Buzz Aldrin in 2002 after accusing him of not walking on the Moon. Celebrities have also advanced the conspiracy theory. Popular podcaster and former television host Joe Rogan is considered a “doubter”, along with YouTuber Shane Dawson who made a YouTube video perpetuating the theory that received over seven million views.
According to Statista, in 2019 61% of people strongly disbelieved the conspiracy theory while 11% either somewhat or strongly believe the theory. Comparing that to 7% of people saying that it was faked in 2013, we can see that the conspiracy has somewhat grown. Because of this, I don’t think that the issue is fully resolved, however there is a lot of evidence out there to prove the conspiracy false if people search for it. While it may not be a major issue currently, as most people do not believe the conspirachy, I think that the issue could be better resolved by ensuring that no popular figures, whether online influencers or politicians, endorse the theory and that we keep teaching the facts about the Moon landing.
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