11. “Man on the Moon” remains iconic image despite conspiracy theories.
A sizable percentage of Americans (some polls have suggested as many as 20%) believe that the Apollo moon landings were faked. These conspiracy theorists suggest that the moon landings were staged in order to save face following President John F. Kennedy’s vow to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. They cite a number of factors for their beliefs, from lethal radiation exposure that the astronauts would have been exposed to in the Van Allen Belt as well as supposed irregularities in the photos taken by the astronauts on the surface of the moon.
One of these images that were questioned, is the photo of Buzz Aldrin standing beside the American flag, which appears to be flapping in the breeze. Conspiracy theorists say this could not happen because there is no air in the moon’s atmosphere. The simple explanation for this is that because the Apollo crew did not want the flag to just hang down, they inserted a stiff wire into the fabric and pulling the edges taut, which caused the flag to stretch out so that it was fully visible to the camera.