Moon Landing
A sizeable percentage of Americans (some polls have suggested as many as 20%) believe that the Apollo moon landings were faked. They suggest that the moon landings were staged in order to save face and make good on President John F. Kennedy’s vow to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Here are some of the main arguments put forward by the doubters, and the counter-arguments to them:
Conspiracy Theory: In one of the images taken by the crew of the Apollo mission, the American flag appears to be flapping in the wind. But this couldn’t happen, as there is no air in the moon’s atmosphere.
The explanation: The crew did not want the flag to just hang down, instead they wanted to stretch it out so that it would be fully visible to the camera. This was done by inserting a stiff wire into the fabric and pulling the edges taut. The flutter effect happened as a result of the astronauts adjusting the wire while they were erecting the flag.
Conspiracy theory: The astronauts would have been killed by exposure to lethal levels of radiation after leaving the safety of the Van Allen Radiation Belt.
Explanation: The Van Allen Belt consists of zones of highly charged energetic particles trapped at high altitudes in Earth’s magnetic field, which protect the planet from dangerous solar radiation. However, the astronauts spent less than four hours total passing through the Van Allen Radiation Belt, which was not long enough exposure to cause it to be harmful, let alone fatal.
Conspiracy theory: Multiple-angle shadows suggest that there was another light source apart from the sun, like a large studio light.
Explanation: The astronauts were taking photos while the sun was close to the horizon. The hilly area where the photos were being taken and the contours of the ground resulted in shadows of different lengths.
Conspiracy theory: The moon’s temperature reaches 280 degrees Fahrenheit. The camera’s film would have melted and the astronauts wouldn’t have been able to bear that heat.
Explanation: The Apollo missions landed at either lunar dawn or dusk so the temperatures were much lower. And secondly, all materials were enclosed in protective canisters.
Conspiracy Theory: When the Lunar Excursion Module landed, why wasn’t there a crater left in the dusty surface underneath?
Explanation: While the moon surface may be dusty, the moon is made up of densely-packed rock which easily refutes this particular conspiracy theory.