Have Apollo 11 really landed on the moon? Why NASA doesnt have the technology to land in the moon again?

Question

Why NASA doesnt have the technology to land in the moon again? Lost tech or dont really have one? Lost tech or doesnt really have it?

Answer 1

Yes, Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 landed on the moon. America does have the technology to go back any time we want. What we didn't have until very recently was a funded program to produce spacecraft capable of interplanetary travel.

Why? Because President Richard Nixon hated the space program. He killed the funding for all Apollo missions after Apollo 17. Without any funding, the assembly lines for the Saturn launch vehicles, the Apollo capsule and command modules, and the LM were all shut down. Worse, the engineers who designed them moved on to other jobs and the workers at the lauch facilities were let go. Finally, when NASA converted to electronic document storage back in the 80s, they lost the all the engineering documents for the Apollo program. If they wanted to build another one, they would have to disassemble the ones in a museum to figure out how.

President Nixon's misdeeds in the Watergate scandal are not the only horrible legacy he left the behind. The destruction of NASA is another failure on his part. (Still, you have to give him some credit for putting an end to the war in Vietnam.)

1) Twelve 12 American astronauts have walked on the moon.

Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin
Apollo 12: Pete Conrad & Alan Bean
Apollo 13: << failed to land on the moon >>
Apollo 14: Alan Shepard & Edgar (Ed) Mitchell
Apollo 15: David Scott & James Irwin
Apollo 16: John Young & Charles Duke
Apollo 17: Eugene (Gene) Cernan & Harrison Schmidt


2) Why haven't we been back?

a) American astronauts visited the moon on six occasions.

b) The "moon race" was an extension of the cold war. It was mostly about national prestige. We got there first and achieved our primary objective. There was some good science: surveys, measurements, sample collection. But it was mostly about being there first. Once we achieved our primary objective, there was no political will to go back. There still isn't. Perhaps, if we discover He3 or something else valuable, there will be.

c) I used to travel to Crested Butte, Colorado every year to ski. Because I don't go anymore, does it mean that I never went?


3) What about the Van Allen radiation belts? Wouldn't it have killed the astronauts?

The existence of the Van Allen radiation belts postulated in the 1940s by Nicholas Christofilos. Their existence was confirmed in *1958* by the Explorer I satellite launched by the USA.

The radiation in the Van Allen radiation belts is not particularly strong. You would have to hang out there for a week or so in order to get radiation sickness. And, because the radiation is not particularly strong, a few millimeters of metal is all that is required for protection. "An object satellite shielded by 3 mm of aluminum will receive about 2500 rem (25 Sv) per *year*."

"In practice, Apollo astronauts who travelled to the moon spent very little time in the belts and received a harmless dose. [6]. Nevertheless NASA deliberately timed Apollo launches, and used lunar transfer orbits that only skirted the edge of the belt over the equator to minimise the radiation." When the astronauts returned to Earth, their dosimeters showed that they had received about as much radiation as a couple of medical X-rays.


4) The U.S. government scammed everyone?

In 1972, there was a politically motivated burglary of a hotel room in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. There were only about six or eight people who knew about it. However, those people, including Richard M. Nixon, the President of the United States, failed to keep that burglary a secret. It exploded into a scandal that drove the President and a number of others from office.

If six or eight people couldn't keep a hotel room burglary a secret, then how could literally thousands of people could have kept their mouths shut about six faked moon landings? Not just one moon landing, but six of them!


5) What about the USSR?

Even if NASA and other government agencies could have faked the six moon landings well enough to fool the general public, they could NOT have fooled the space agency or military intelligence types in the USSR. The Soviets were just dying to beat us. If the landings were faked, the Soviets would have re-engineered their N-1 booster and landed on the moon just to prove what liars Americans are. Why didn't they? Because the landings were real and the Soviets knew it.


6) Why does the flag shake? Where are the stars? Who took the video of Neil Armstrong?

On the subject of stars, take a look at the first link. Sorry, but there *are* stars in that photo. For the rest, visit "badastronomy" and "clavius". They deal well with all of the technical questions.


7) Finally, please tell us what you would accept as definitive evidence that the six moon landings were real. Is there anything?

Answer 2

Yes, Apollo 11 (and 5 later missions) did go to the moon.

NASA has the technology to rreturn to the moon. What they don't have is the money.

A (brief) history: following the Apollo programa decision was made to develop an advanced launch spacraft--the Shuttle. The idea was to have a cost-effective and reliable spacecraft, develop and build a permanent space station. With that, safer and cheaper trips to the moon would be possible--eventulally a lunar base and trips to Mars.

Congress would not fund the design recommended by NASA--instead funding a "el cheapo" R&D program. And got what they paid for.

Since the "Republican revolution"--1994-2006--the GOP has repeatedly gutted NASA budgets, has canceled every advanced spacecraft project NASA had or has tried to start. At the present time, Bush's "return to the moon program" is pure propaganda--there is as yet no funding for an actual program.

The Chinese, on the other hand, do have a well-funded lunar program that is making good headway on developing a lunar-capable spacecraft. Isn't outsourcing wonderful?

Answer 3

I think the question has been well answered already.

Perhaps though it would help to ask why they went to the moon in the first place. The political will to go to the moon began with fear that the USSR was getting ahead in the space race and that they could now drop Inter Continental Ballistic Missile's (ICBMs ) on the continental United states. The US president created NASA to promote development and propel the US into the space development. It was felt that national security was at risk.

Eventually priorities in the US changed. Low earth orbit, spy satellites and satellites for the global positioning system (GPS) became the priority. The space shuttle program was probably involved in a lot of covert activity that is still classified. Going to the moon was no longer important to the people who control the purse stings.

Was it ever actually necessary to put men on the moon? It did capture the imagination of Americans for a time and focus attention on an area that seemed to be important but going to the moon also meant there was no money for many other lower cost unmanned missions.

Answer 4

Because the program was cancelled, so they threw it all away and built the Shuttle, just like Congress told them too. That is why there are Saturn V rockets sitting outside NASA Houston and NASA Cape Kennedy... they weren't used and NASA needed to park them somewhere, so they went on display for the tourists.

Most of the hardware was scrapped, sold as government surplus, thrown away, or sent to museums.

All the engineers who worked on Apollo are gone now. Dude, it was almost 40 years ago. Most of them are dead, the rest are retired.

The software is all obsolite. In fact old data is a real problem at NASA. They have data from the early and mid 1970s, (Things like the Pioneer 10 probe to Jupiter) and they don't have the machines to read the data anymore, or anyone who knows how to work a computer in those old languages. You know anyone who can still program in COBOL?

Shuttle does not have the capability of going to the Moon. Shuttle can't even make high orbit, much less break orbit and head to the Moon. The engines aren't powerful enough.

Answer 5

they have the technology, but they don't have the MONEY and public support that they had in the 1960's

the shuttle program has pretty much been a disaster for NASA. 2 of the ships blew up killing all on board, 1 is operational the other 2 are not.

It is also because that hasn't been their focus. If they wanted to maybe they would.
It'll be more like a privately funded effort next time.

NASA is less and less a leader in space exploration. Now it is the Chinese and Russians and private individuals and companies. NASA is too busy wiping all the egg off their face. They have lost their credibility.

Answer 6

Apollo 11 and 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. We had the technology then. We certainly have it now. But NASA's priorities have changed. Manned missions are very expensive and risky. There just doesn't seem to be enough benefit to justify going back.

Answer 7

Yes, Apollo 11 *really* landed on the moon, along with five other manned landings in the next couple of years.

We haven't gone back for two reasons :: (1) lack of public interest and support; (2) we no longer have boosters powerful enough, like the Saturn rockets that were used for Apollo.

NASA is currently laying the groundwork for new manned missions to the moon, but so far they haven't gotten the necessary government support. Then there's Mars, which seems to me should be our next target for manned missions.

Answer 8

we do. some of the main reasons why we didn't go back, but will in the mere future, is because we were in the cold war with the soviet union and the "space race" was happening. we wanted to come on top of the soviet union, so we had to go to the moon sooner or later. now that we have gone 6 times, we already have a lot of data and information about the moon, and it is too risky and expensive to go back for no apparent reason. but when we go to mars in 20 years, we will have to use the moon as a stepping stone to get there.

Answer 9

We have the technology but it costs sooo much to do. The emphasis has not been on landing on the moon for many years now. There was not the technology to fake it when it happened- they didnt even have computers yet. They did not have the ability to fake this event well enough to fool everyone!!

Answer 10

No all they need is the money I know I was there.