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Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories

Updated: Oct 23, 2023

Written by Michael K. (KIS'19)

Edited by Jaemin Y. (KIS'19)

━━ February 27, 2018 ━━


“Thirty seconds and counting.”

“Astronauts report it feels good.”

“T-25 seconds.”

“Twenty seconds and counting.”

“T-15 seconds, guidance is internal.”

“12, 11,10,9 … ignition sequence start … 6,5,4,3,2,1,0 … All engines running. Liftoff! We have a liftoff… 32 minutes past the hour, lift on Apollo 11. Tower clear.”


This is the commentary of the Apollo 11’s launch to the Moon on July 16th, 1969. Most people find the landing of Apollo 11 interesting because it was the first human spaceflight that landed on the Moon; however, did Neil Armstrong actually ever set his feet on the Moon?


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The Moon Conspiracy

Skeptics say that the U.S. government and NASA purposely faked the landing because they wanted to prove to the world that they had beaten Russia in the space race which was a competition between Russia and the United States trying to prove who can be dominant with spaceflights. They also thought that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were moved into a separate film set in Hollywood or Area 51. With NASA fabricating the moon landing, they also wanted to fulfill former President John F.Kennedy’s goal he delivered in his speech in which he promised his people that he will put a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s.


There are many conspiracy theories that possibly prove the moon landing was faked. Not only did NASA lack the technology in 1969, but the astronauts also did not have any protection to go through the Van Allen radiation belt located outside Earth that is full of charged particles with high radiation. Due to the high radiation, the astronauts would’ve died while they were leaving Earth even though the spaceship itself had layers of aluminum blocking the radiation.


The second theory is that even though the moon has only one light source, the Sun, the moon landing video showed the shadows falling in different directions. Usually, the shadows should be parallel to each other since it doesn’t have any other light source besides the Sun. This proves that there are multiple light sources which gives another possible assumption that the video was taken on a film set with different lightings.


Next, with the moon landing video broadcasted live on television, the viewers were able to observe the American flag waving as Armstrong and Aldrin planted it on the lunar surface. Even in the photo, the American flag is crumpled and shows the folds of the flag. This is also abnormal because there is no air in the moon’s atmosphere which means there shouldn’t be any wind to blow the flag.


The fourth theory is that with the photos that were taken in the Moon, such as the rock on

the photo shown below, had the letter “C” carved into it. As it shows in the photo below, the letter “C” is carved perfectly symmetrical which means that it is most likely not a natural phenomenon. This gave the conspiracy theorists an assumption that the rock was used as a prop in a film set. One of the film crew probably wrote down “C” in the rock and they misplaced the rock when filming which accidentally showed the marking in the camera.


Another theory is about the backdrop. It is shown that the backgrounds from other photos match exactly. The other photos were from the Apollo 15 mission, but the fact that the backgrounds match together gave a big shock to the people. This was a proof that NASA used a film set to film all the moon landing videos and had the same backdrop every time.


Furthermore, the photos of the moon landing didn’t even have any stars in it. Because there aren’t any clouds on the moon unlike the Earth, the stars should be able to be seen much brighter than we see the stars on Earth. NASA has been arguing for years that the photographs were low-quality and the stars weren’t shown. However, this was wrong because even the photographs with higher quality didn’t show a single star. Considering that we can take photos of stars from Earth, it clearly does not make any sense that the stars didn’t show in the photos NASA released.


The last theory is that there weren’t any impact craters shown when the lunar module landed. Without any craters, people started to believe that the lunar module was placed there by someone else in a film set. Every other spaceship had a crater marked whenever they landed. NASA has argued that the surface of the moon is a solid rock and with low-gravity in space, that the module didn’t have any marking when it landed. However, it still did not disprove the theory because whenever the astronauts walked around, it still left a footprint.


As NASA stated countless explanations regarding the moon landing hoax, many people still believe that those explanations cannot disprove this phenomenon. The U.S. government has made a film set for these astronauts. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were brought brainwashed to avoid any disaster. Okay, let’s say these astronauts actually went to the Moon in 1969. Why did we not attempt to go to the Moon in modern days? We probably do not attempt to go back to the Moon because we can’t fake the moon landing anymore since we have cameras with high resolution and telescopes with high power. It would not be possible to fake the audience anymore.


The first few words Neil Armstrong spoke as he stepped his foot on the Moon was

“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”.

But, was it actually a giant leap for mankind? After the moon landing hoax and the doubts that they all filmed the moon landing in Area 51, it is no longer a giant leap for mankind but a giant leap to deceive the world.


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Bibliography:

- Dunbar, Brian. “Sounds from Apollo 11.” NASA, NASA, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11_audio.html.

- “10 Reasons the Moon Landings Could Be a Hoax.” Listverse, 7 July 2014, listverse.com/2012/12/28/10-reasons-the-moon-landings-could-be-a-hoax/.

- “Conspiracy Theories.” Time, Time Inc., 20 Nov. 2008, content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1860871_1860876_1860992,00.html.


Pictures:


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