I have been interested in Astronomy for most of my life and was thrilled watching the 1st Moon Landing, now 37 years later, after Capricorn One and recent documentaries, I am now beginning to wonder what the truth is. When Buzz Aldrin was talking about the Moon Landing, my wife says he was very uncomfortable with some of the questions he was being asked. Now we have had a documentary, after all this time stating that the Moon Landing crew were saved by Buzz Aldrins "Ball Point Pen", if this happened why has it taken so long to come out into the open. I may be an amateur astronomer, but I really don't know what to believe. Can anybody shed any light for me on this. Genuine replies only please.
2006-08-23 01:12:20 · 29 answers · asked by patch 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I asked the same question last night. 11 of the 12 answers I got were so adamant about it, saying I was believing in a conspiracy and that it is stupid for me not to believe. I attached the link to my question. I am simply wondering the same thing, but I am also amazed on the reactions to this question. Apparently with my question, there is no doubt we walked on the moon. It seems everyone is sold on the fact, but I am not so sure.
2006-08-23 02:41:46 · answer #1 · answered by Cassy 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I have answered this question ad nauseum. I cannot leave one alone. It's like a force drawing me in...
But I'll answer it again.
Simply put, I am an aerospace engineer. I have studied the history and science of spaceflight extensively. And I can absolutely, without a doubt in my mind say that we went to the Moon.
Conspiracy theories play to our imaginations, which is great. And I won't lie. I saw the "documentary" on FOX when I was in Middle/High School. First off, if you'll believe a documentary on the channel that brought us "Celebrity Boxing" then you'll believe about anything. Next, all of those "theories", if you could call them that, are easily debunked with simple science.
I will give a few here, and if you have any other questions, please feel free to email me and ask.
1. The Flag "waving"
In the video, when the flag is supposedly "waving", the astronatu obviously has his hand on it and is rotating it to push it into the ground. It is stretched out because of a telescoping pole at the top that the flag hangs from.
2. No stars in the sky
Simple photography tells us that if you take a picture in a brightly lit area, a quick exposure time is needed so that the film isnt overexposed. The reason you don't see the stars is because of this... and even more so BECAUSE the Moon has no atmosphere to diffuse the light a bit. The astronauts stayed on the Sun side of the Moon pretty much the whole time they were there, on all 6 landings. Therefore, extremely fast exposure times were necessary to take clear pictures on the Moon. Starlight is simply too dim compared to the brightness of the Sun.
3. No blast crater under the LEM/Dust did not spread
The LEM's landing engine had throttlable thrust. By the time they landed they had burned to slow themselves enough to use minimal thrust for a soft touchdown. Thus, the pressure below the craft was not great enough to actually create a depression. The dust did get blown by the engine, however, there is no air on the Moon so it did not get diffused into the air, it simply got blown away and dropped directly down.
4. Van Allen belts
These are belts of radiation around the Earth trapped by Earth's magnetic field. It is entirely possible to die in these belts if you sat unprotected for a day or two. The astronauts flew through it in a metal craft in less than an hour and suffered no adverse effects.
For now, that's all. But honestly, I challenge anyone reading this to email me at arwyayen23@yahoo.com and I will answer any other questions you have. Or debunk any "evidence". It is my goal to at least convince one non-believer that we did land on the Moon.
2006-08-23 03:03:08 · answer #2 · answered by AresIV 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, if we didn't land one day we will and if the Russians get their first or the Chinese then they'll have proof. I don't think that will happen.
As for Aldrin, it could be part of the classified nature of the flight. There certainly has to be some classified elements. Also, the Astronaughts are not geniuses. Only one or two actual "baby" scientists whent to the moon. Most of these people took Military studies in college. They are no smarter than the average PE teacher at a high school. Some people ask tough questions, like those here at Yahoo.
The Astronaughts couldn't program a computer on their own, couldn't easily navigate manually with a sextant, wouldn't know gold from fools gold, but they sure can fly a plane. That was their job to grab a stick and make a landing and take-off.
That's something most of us can't do!
2006-08-23 02:54:25 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
There was a very good documentary on TV a year or so ago which took each of the "conspiracy theories" about there NOT being a moon landing and refuted them. Yes, they came to the conclusion there WAS a moon landing! Personally, I am most convinced by Buzz Aldrin himself, who is heartily fed up with people saying there wasn't and even socked a man who said there wasn't.
2006-08-23 01:18:36 · answer #4 · answered by marzipanthecat 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Have you heard that "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof"? I see no convincing reason to doubt that men did indeed land upon the Moon 7/20/69. I've seen a TV show that refutes in detail the claims that the Moon landing was a hoax. If you are going to concern yourself with such stuff, do thourough research, rather than believing someone's wild claim. The motives of people who concoct conspiracy theories are not noble, to say the least. Don't be so gullible!
2006-08-23 02:36:58 · answer #5 · answered by miyuki & kyojin 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They put a mirror on the moon. As you are an amateur astronomer I'm amazed you haven't heard about it. Every night they bounce a laser off the mirror and measure the distance between Earth and the Moon.
As for the conspiracy theories, while I'm sceptical about some of the photos that doesnt mean that we didn't land on the moon. It just means that for the P.R. they needed photos.
2006-08-23 01:19:45 · answer #6 · answered by sarah c 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
we will never know for sure unless NASA admits they never went.
I saw the doc and a ot of thier theories are BS. The waving fla is the best example. The show argued that there is no wind on the moon so how could the flag be waving as they put it into the dirt. Logic says that a swinging object put into motion will stay in motion for a very long time. A swing set on the moon would swing without pushig for hours.
Some of the lighting questions are argueable, but I am of the strong opinion that NASA would have covered thier tracks and can explain every pixel of the footage
2006-08-23 01:19:30 · answer #7 · answered by billyandgaby 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I'm not usually one to believe in conspiracy theories but the whole thing with the moon landing seems like a load of codswallop from what I've been told and have read, like the pictures that show the flag waving, how could that happen if theres no atmosphere up there?! lol now that NASA have "lost" the original footage I'm even more sure the whole thing was a cover up.
2006-08-23 01:19:12 · answer #8 · answered by lizarddd 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Interesting that all those so-called 'documentaries' only addressed one of the six manned lunar missions. Furthermore, none of them talked about the more than 100 pounds of soil and rock returned to Earth that were analyzed and studied by laboratories and universities around the world. All of them...including those within the former Soviet Union...agreed that the material was non-terrestrial and matched very closely speculations about what lunar soil and rock would be like.
I'd highly recommend this website that scientifically blows out of the water all the "proofs" that the lunar landings were faked ==>http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html
2006-08-23 01:58:17 · answer #9 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i respect patrick moore more than any other scientific expert he believes they landed so i go with his judgment. there are lots of theories the camera was an ordinary stock camera, the dust geting kicked up the flags shadow. of all the publicity stunts to do during the vietnam war i can think of far more unlikely events for the states to do, but as for the moon landing to try that and fake it and expect to get away with it they couldnt have done it without actually doing it and going there:
the only thing to throw me, is the level off accuracy needed to land on the moon with no margin of error it could only be tried once, one simple mistake with a decimal point those pilots werent coming back. bit strange when the pocket calculator was'nt even invented back then
2006-08-23 01:21:11 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋