It’s been 46 years since the Apollo 11 landed on the moon and yet this continues to be one of the most controversial moments in history, which is why we’re going to take a look at 10 reasons why people think the moon landing was fake.
The Moon is the closest space object to the Earth, it is our natural satellite, and we as humans have spent countless moments gazing up into the sky trying to figure out the hills and valleys peppering the surface. When it wasn’t poetry directed towards the Moon, science took over and astronomers looked on trying to figure out its secrets.
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Along with technology, however, there came another dream: reaching the Moon and walking on its surface. It took a while to get things going, but it finally happened on July 20, 1969. Or did it? Conspiracy theory fans suggest that there are too many issues with the event for it to have been real. While NASA has argued against everything these people have come up with, exposing plausible reasons why things happened as they did, there are still non-believers nearly 50 years later.
We’re going to make a wild guess here and say that these are some of the same people that have come up with 14 celebrities and famous people who are rumored to be Illuminati members.
The televised transmission, paired with the photos released by NASA at a later time have given birth to countless conspiracy theories. These are some of the most popular 10 reasons why people think the moon landing was fake.
10. The C Rock
There’s this famous photo that NASA released from the moon landing, showing a rock in the foreground. What appears to be the letter “C” seems to be engraved into it. Given the symmetry of it all, conspiracy theories indicate that this was not a natural occurrence, but rather a man-made foam rock used during the filming of the landing inside the studio.
What does NASA say? Well, they say it might be a practical joke played by the photo developer or just a stray hair that somehow got in the developing process. Since the digital world was still so far away, such occurrences weren’t exactly rare back in the day, but it’s still a thin excuse.
9. Layered crosshairs
Crosshairs are the fine wires or threads placed in the focus of the eyepiece of an optical instrument. These help photographers mark the instrumental axis and take straight pictures. Now, the issue with the moon landing seems to be the fact that some of the crosshairs in the photos seem to be imprinted behind the objects in the scene, which leads to the idea that the photos were somehow doctored.
8. Slow motion walking
Since these people believe the landing to have been fake, it wasn’t a surprise to hear that the entire slow motion walking the astronauts had to do on the Moon’s surface was fake. In fact, people believe that if you’d just speed up the footage from the landing, you’d see the astronauts walking like they would on Earth.
There’s also that jump that took place and that would be impossible in Earth’s gravity field. Conspiracy theories say that everything was done with the help of hidden cables and they’re even trying to indicate where they would be in those grainy pictures.
7. Reflected object in astronaut’s helmet
A while after the landing took place, NASA released photos from the historic event. Conspiracy theory fans were quick to point out there was something odd in the photo of one of the astronauts. In the reflection of an astronaut’s helmet appears to be a mysterious object that seems to be hanging from a rope or a wire. All in all, it really shouldn’t be there, they say, so it must be something like a spotlight from a film studio.
What it is or isn’t was never mentioned by NASA, so it remains unexplained. We’re likely never going to find out what it is exactly, so there’s that. If it were a hanging spotlight, however, you’d at least think people at NASA were going to make sure nothing of the like made it into the released photos. It looks more like a dirt spot, however, so that’s as plausible explanation as any of them.
6. The Van Allen Radiation belt
The Van Allen radiation belt is a layer of energetic charged particles that surrounds the Earth with the help of the planet’s magnetic field. There are multiple belts around Earth and their discovery has been credited to James Van Allen. The radiation in these belts is deadly to human beings, which is why many consider that going to the Moon or even leaving the Earth towards an outer planet is impossible.
NASA has said time and time again that the shuttles were treated specially to protect those inside. According to data provided following the flight, Armstrong, Aldrin and Colins received only about 0.1% of the deadly radiation dose, which means NASA did its job quite well in insulating the shuttle.
5. Multiple light sources
Photos released following the lunar landing were scrutinized by everyone in the world, including conspiracy theory fans. The latter were sure to point out that there were multiple light sources, which must certainly mean that the shoot took place in a movie studio of some kind.
That’s because on the moon there’s only one light source that’s bright enough to make any kind of shadow – the Sun – which obviously only comes from one direction. Therefore, the fact that the astronaut in the picture threw a shadow to the right and the rocks closer to the camera threw a shadow downward was an obvious problem.
NASA tried explaining that the landscape of the Moon isn’t flat. The uneven surface, the bumps, the hills and valleys, however small, would cast different shadows. There’s also the fact that the lunar module was standing on flat ground at a lower altitude than the area where the shadows were thrown, further altering the view.
However, this is one of the most popular 10 reasons why people think the moon landing was fake.
4. The waving flag
Perhaps the most popular of them all, the waving flag theory is one of the most used conspiracy theory for the lunar landing. People keep saying that the American flag seemed to wave as Armstrong planted it to the ground, which is impossible since there’s no atmosphere on the moon and no wind.
NASA has explained time and time again that the flag flutters just a little as it unravels from the case before standing still. The flag is made from a plastic material similar to the one used for making tents so it could better resist the conditions on the moon and it was originally folded.
3. Lack of impact crater
Another issue conspiracy theory fans have with the lunar landing is the lack of a crater where the module landed. Photo evidence indicates that there is no trace of such a crater, which irked people the wrong way, especially since the fine lunar dust should still be holding evidence of the landing this many years later.
NASA’s official stance says that the module didn’t really need that much thrust to take off as it would on the Earth, as the gravity is very low. Since the Moon is made out of solid rock, the chances for a blast crater would be even smaller.
2. Lack of stars
One big issue people had with the lunar landing photos was the distinct lack of photos. After all, without the miles and miles of atmosphere to keep out the light, the dust, the pollution and so on, it should be possible to see a gazillion million stars, right?
Well, sort of. While the moon has no atmosphere and the stars are normally always visible, you’d have to be there to see them. Back in the 60s cameras weren’t exactly what they are today so that explains why the exposure didn’t help capture any stars. There’s also the issue of the light from the module that obscured the smaller lights from the stars above.
1. Duplicate backdrop
The theory to rule them all implicates the so-called “duplicate backdrop”. Two photos from the Apollo 15 mission seem eerily familiar, having what looks to be as the same identical backdrop. The area in front of the camera, however, looks completely different.
NASA says the photos were taken miles apart, but conspiracy theory fans are having none of what they’re serving. The space agency says that since the moon is much smaller than Earth, with which we are so familiar, horizons can appear a lot closer to the eye, which means that the rugged terrain seen in one of the pictures is not in the same area as the second picture.
The two hills in the photograph, however, are identical as proven by several overlaid pictures, which made a lot of people believe that NASA just forgot to change the backdrop during the shoot. This is one of the 10 reasons why people think the moon landing was fake.
