So what's with the whole fake moon landing thing?

Question

It's a pretty old question, and it would seem hard to pull off, but as pointed out before, why is the flag flapping in the wind when there's no air in space?

http://www.thespacereview.com/archive/184a.jpg

I wanted to be informed about it since I don't know about the subject, addressing me in a derogatory manner surely makes you a winner

Answer 1

Take a look at the following video. It is a speeded up video of one of the moon landings. The flag appears to be waving while the astronauts are planting it, but there is absolutely NO movement in the flag while the astronauts are off doing other stuff.

You can find other videos of other moon landings, and they all have the same result -- no flag movement while the astronauts are away from the flag. I consider this solid proof that the flag waving claim is absurd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulfZUOqDSgU

Answer 2

Oh for the love of...

The flag is being held up by a wire. It's wrinkled because the wire was too short.

It is neither waving nor flapping. Compare any two photos, or watch the video clip. The shape of the flag does not change.

Think about it. If it were "waving in the wind", it would have to have been some kind of gale force wind to make the flag fly out that straight. If that were the case, why is that wind not stirring up dust or blowing the astronauts over. Most flags fall at an angle as they wave. Don't take my word for it, look at a flag next time you see one.

EDIT:
I'm sorry if we sound demeaning or derogatory. It's just that these moon landing conspiracy questions get asked about 20 times per day. No matter how many times each piece of "evidence" is debunked, the same questions are asked over and over (and over) again, with the "why is the flag waving in the breeze?" question topping the list. It's irritating.

Answer 3

The flag is not flapping. Look at the MOVIES taken of this same scene, and you will see that this is the case. The flag does not move at all except during the times when the astronauts are physically manipulating it.

The effect in the photo is just that the cloth is not hanging straight.

[Editorial coment (NOT necessarily directed at Shane S)]: I was 15 when this event took place, and nobody ever questioned that it was true. (And keep in mind that this was at a time when there was DEEP mistrust of the government.) At that time, everybody was pretty interested in the moon landing, watched all the videos and photos over and over, studied all the little details, etc., just because they thought it was a cool thing. And, because the public were SO aware of the details, it would have been preposterous to suggest that the thing was a hoax.

Now, fast forward 30 years. By this time, most people don't know one tenth of what the average person in 1969 knew about the details of the moon landings. So now it seems to be fairly easy for one ignorant person to convince another ignorant person that the thing was faked. All they have to do is make something up that sounds half-plausible to somebody who doesn't know any better, and count on the fact that the listener will swallow it without taking the time to actually research it.

This is a constant source of frustration for us who actually "were there" and actually learned some facts about it. We're frustrated that people seem to have forgotten how to tell the difference between what makes sense and what doesn't; and we're frustrated that a feat that rightly deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest achievements of mankind, is not only NOT remembered as such, but is actually DOUBTED. All one can do is shake one's head in disbelief.

Answer 4

Well, there are two popular theories about this.

Theory one: the whole thing was a big hoax and the government spent billions of dollars on fake Saturn V rockets and highly sophisticated photographic effects, while unfortunately forgetting that they had very strong fans blowing across their set, making the flag wave. (One would have to wonder why they would have fans blowing across their supposedly airless set.)

2) The moon landings were real and the flag is never seen "waving" except when it is being handled. Ninety percent of the people who claim this or ask about it have never seen the videos. After the flag is left alone, it is rock solid. Several still photos taken at different times show the same wrinkles in the fabric. The flag looks extended because it is hanging from a stiff horizontal wire.

Answer 5

It constantly amazes me how people can look at a STILL picture and say they see the flag flappING. It may look like a still picture that caught a flapping flag in mid flap, but if you look an one of the many videos of the flag you will see that it hangs in that position without moving in the slightest, except when the astronauts shake the pole. It is standing out like that because it has a horizontal pole supporting its top edge.

Answer 6

Its not flapping (jeez, why can't people do even just a tiny bit of research on their own?)
A wire ran along the top of the flag to hold it straight - it was waving because they twisted the flagpole to better seat it in the soil so it wouldn't fall over. Now you twist a pole that has a horizontal wire coming out the top, and see if it waves or not.