Did the Americans ever really land on the moon?

Question

I'm not sure...there are arguements on both sides. However I find it strange that the Russians were first into space in Oct '57 and in just 12 years the Americans supposedly flew to the moon and back. An incedible achievement if its true.

There was a huge political gain at the time to be made upon being the first there, so even if they didn't its probably the most incredible piece to Western propergana ever to have been staged. Again an incedible achievment

I'm just not sure either way....

....Just to say...Boris will really need to impress me to get my vote...at least we know Ken is corrupt!!!! I think it will be very intersting

I have seens lots of programmes saying it was a hoak and was fairly convinced until recently when they had some bloke giving very plausible answers to all the doubts about the flag & shadows etc. I tried to watch with an open mind, so I'm now not so sure!

We will probably never know for sure!

Thanks Steve H, I will have a look.

They may have really achieved this, but if it was a hoak, only the crew and comms people feeding the info back would have needed to know. They could have orbited the earth...who was able to actually check they were actually on the moon?

Ron...Its an amazing achievment either way...as I mentioned above.....and until recently they ruled space, but with the Chinese(who have proved the can knosk out sats) and Japanese now both with commercial space flights its getting a bit busy up there!

Greyure...thank you for your comment...a lot of what you makes very good sense(not sure about last para though!) and is food for thought. I will also have a look at the website...

...lets be honest, we all love a good conspiracy...and this is the ultimate!

laurahal...dont get your knickers(or whatever) in a twist. Thats the whole point of why I asked the question. There is lot about the hoaxes and very little (it seems) to counter it. I hope, perhaps that this question opens the debate...perhaps you should make it your quest to make everyone realise it is not a hoak...you could stand on the street corner shouting at people!

Tripcyclone....Thanks for your detailed reply. I posted the question as I wanted to get a more balanced view, and you have made, what seem to be to be, very valid points. I will check out all the links and see where it takes me.
I'm pleased to have opened the debate a bit as I for one am now begining to think that it was the most incedible human achievement..
I appreciate the time you put into your answer....in fact thanks to all who have taken the time to answer...

Goldenhinds...is there anything in what I have said(and I have made a lot of comments!) that indicates an anti-Americian stance? No! I am asking a serious question and have received some very intersting comments. I like a balanced viewpoint thats all. I have no problem with American success. The US has made huge advances in all areas of science over the year which should be applauded...if I have a whinge about US achievements...its the view that they single handedly won WW2. However thats not the issue here

Michael...whats your god got to do with this question? I am asking an open question. Religion has nothing to do with it...what is your view?

Answer 1

I'll add a few points to this one. Part of the problem with those who try to prove that it is a hoax is that most of them are unable to back up their claims with solid science. And many are repeatedly proven wrong, yet that doesn't seem to phase them. Many practice responding to particular questions so that they seem like experts when asked. But here is some extra info. I'll also provide a link to a guy who has spent a lot of time providing the information and science to disprove many parts of the moon hoax idea.

First, we'll take the flag. Pick a day when it isn't that windy, no wind is best. Now, go outside with a flag and a pole attached to it. Now try to stick it about a foot into the ground without shaking it at all. Hard to do isn't it. Now, imagine you are in a large cumbersome spacesuit much like the astronauts wore. Think you could stick it into very well packed soil and rock without shaking it? The reason the flag has ripples is because they had to force it into the ground. NASA controllers actually asked them to straighten it out, but the astronauts refused because they liked how it looked with the ripples. There was also a small wire along the top of the flag so that it would stick out. That's why it doesn't hang straight down. It isn't because of wind, but because they had to struggle to put it in.

Now about the photos. Why no stars? Well, as you can see, there was quite a bit of light. Sunlight happens to reflect quite well on the moon, which is why astronauts had an additional polarized visor that they could bring down over their clear visor to protect their eyes. Okay. Now step outside at night, and with the flash turned off, take a photo aimed across the street. Make sure that you include the sky. See any stars in the photo? You don't because you need long exposures to do that. It's possible to get bright stars with 10 second exposures. Now get a camera and try taking a 10 second exposure, but stand in a parking lot at your local Wal-mart, or even better...a car dealership lot, where the ground is well lit due to all the lights. About as lit up as the pictures of the moon. Now take that 10 second exposure...you might get a few really bright stars if aimed right, but now the cars are hard to see because the light has oversaturated the image. To allow themselves to get good photos of the moon and the work they were doing, they had to shoot with short exposures...eliminating any chance of seeing stars.

Van Allen belts are an easy one. Yes, they are dangerous...if you spend a lot of time in them while in an unshielded craft. But if you spend lots of money to properly shield the spacecrafts to reduce as much radiation as possible, then you zip through them as fast as possible, aiming for areas of lower radiation (knowing that this has been mapped out by unmanned satellites years earlier), then you dramatically decrease the amount of radiation you are exposed too. Apollo 14 actually had the most exposure, but it was still within acceptable human limits.

Shadows on the moon. Go stand out in a parking lot that has several light fixtures. Count how many shadows you see. Answer solved. There are three light sources while on the moon. One is obviously the sun. The second (and this is a big source) is all the sunlight reflected off the moon's surface. The third is the minor amount of light reflected off the Earth. Yes, the Earth reflected light too. You can even test this out by going outside during a full moon. You can see your own shadow from the light reflected off the moon.

Also, people point out that we can't see the flag with telescopes. That's because the flag (and a few other pieces left behind) are so small in comparison to the size of the moon that we can't see them. Especially when you also consider the huge amount of sunlight that the moon reflects. Example, find a telescope. Go to an astronomy club, or find someone you know with a telescope if you don't have one. Look at the moon with no lunar filter. You'll soon pull your eyes away because it is so bright. That contributes to why we can't see the flag or anything else left behind, even with large telescopes.

These are just a handful of arguements. I've included a link that you should read for even more detailed examples...and a long list of so-called evidence that has been used as proof we didn't land on the moon. It actually deals with the Fox special about the hoax. Also, check out the second link and scroll down to the "Bad Moon Rising" section. He has an extensive list of various sites and resources that goes along with this.

I'll add one more thing. Part of the reason why we got ahead in the space race against the Soviet Union....FUNDING. The Soviets ran into funding problems, slowing down their efforts. With Kennedy's goal set, the United States didn't want to lose, so lots of funding was put forth to help get it done. Oh, and why didn't we go back...funding. The government began to say "Congrats. You did it, now let's divert the funding to somewhere else." Funding was reduced. That's why you see a huge increase in unmanned projects in the seventies and early eighties, at least until NASA began proposing a new mission directive involving a type of craft that could be used over and over, reducing the need to build a new craft (and spend huge sums of money) every time we went into space. And NASA rejoined the manned space program once again.

Answer 2

Yes they did. At the time, no-one questioned it and it was a time when people were questioning everything, far more than they do today.

Going to the Moon is a journey equivalent to only ten times round Earth. The further you get from the Earth, the weaker its gravity is, so it isn't that difficult. If they'd wanted to fake something impressive, they would've pretended to land on Mars, and if they had faked the Moon landings, they would have gone on to fake landings on Mars maybe ten years or so later anyway.

I don't get why people keep thinking it was faked. I saw the TV pictures and there's a whole load of science based on the landings. There are laser reflectors put there by the astronauts which are regularly used in astronomical experiments. If they weren't there, members of the astronomical community would also have to be involved in the conspiracy. The live broadcasts, as opposed to the recordings which had the pauses edited out, had pauses appropriate to the distance involved - i specifically remember this.

Concerning the photos, if you took a normal, daylight exposure photo of the night sky, there wouldn't be any stars in it. The shadows were inconsistent because of the Earthlight and uneven ground. The backgrounds were the same because they were on the horizon, which was miles away.

On the matter of radiation, they only spent half an hour in the Van Allen belts and a lot of them actually developed cataracts later because of it. The film didn't overheat because the lunar atmosphere is almost non-existent.

My father had a number of reel-to-reel tapes containing a lot of the telemetry and the like, which i think is pretty good evidence as well. I have seen and heard these tapes.

They really did happen. I think people doubt them nowadays because lots of people have turned inward on themselves, as has society, and it's a symptom of that.

All of that is hearsay though. These are some important issues that you can think through for yourself:

If they were faked, why did they not go on to fake Mars landings? Or fake those instead?
At a time when people were questioning everything about their lives, why did they not question them?
Is it really that hard to believe that people travelled the equivalent of just twenty times around the world to land there and come back after a couple of days? It doesn't sound that far fetched to me.
Where do the real data from the laser reflectors on the Moon come from if they didn't go there?

Answer 3

At the risk of repeating myself-

I was there for the launch of Apollo 17. I was three miles away near the VAB. The ground shook. The VAB shook. The air shook. The equivalent of a 35 story building got up and flew away. They could have made a show with an Atlas or a Titan lllC. This was a moon launch by the only rocket that could get there and back with such a valuable payload. I watched all of the missions with intense interest. There was absolutely no possibility of any of them being faked. Noone that was REALLY THERE is making these silly claims; it's always someone with an agenda or an axe to grind. Please - check out the websites on both sides. You will quickly reach the conclusion that this is yet another conspiracy theory. There are about 20 of them at this site alone. I don't mean to sound bitter or cynical... but ignorance does tend to proliferate, and I do not like ignorance.

Answer 4

There is not more about the hoaxes than there is countering them. Every piece of info, every document counters the hoax arguments. It's just that people don't specifically answer hoax theories because it's a waste of time.

The reason that people get their "knickers in a twist" is in frustration at the stupidity they see. Some of the reasons given in support of the hoax theory are pigheaded in their brainlessness. By that, I mean that several seconds' thought could negate them. But people are either too lazy to do the several seconds' thought, or deliberately ignore common sense because it makes them feel better to believe what they want. I know that's a human trait, but this is the wrong event to do it with. There is no serious debate anywhere about whether the moon landings took place. Six times.

It isn't actually necessary to debunk the reasons one at a time because, again, a few seconds' thought reveals that it is IMPOSSIBLE to keep a secret that big a secret. Either hundreds of thousands of people knew, and many took it to their deathbeds, or only a few "at the top" knew, but the big aerospace companies still built equipment capable of going to the moon because they thought it was happening. In which case it would have been easier to go!

If you're truly open-minded and wondering, then read this. It concisely deals with anything you could think of.

http://www.braeunig.us/space/hoax.htm

Later, look at this one. It's even more comprehensive.

http://www.clavius.org/

Answer 5

Yes they did. They originally planned to fake it at Area 51, but the aliens from Roswell were studied there, making the fakery impossible. As Truman said "Move all this alien stuff to Area 51." "But Sir! That's where we're faking the moon landings!" Then we'll really have to land a man on the moon godammit!"

Answer 6

I am pretty sure the "Mona Lisa" was painted by a ferret named Pretty Paws 10 years before Da Vinci was born. You can't deny the 'ferret paw prints' that are easily visible all around the edge of the painting (where the diminuative PP had to 'hang on'), nor the slightly ferretish half-smile that "Mona Lisa" is wearing.

There should be an investigation!

Answer 7

We did indeed land on the moon several times. It was a great engineering achievement.

The folks that usually answer this question are probably tiring of having to do it so often. One of them gave a link the other day to a very good site dedicated to countering arguments like the one you noted about the flag --

http://www.clavius.org

Answer 8

Of course.It was Elvis flying a B52 with Lord Lucan as navigator and Shergar as tail-end charlie.

Answer 9

I know that there are some who say they didn't, including the Russians perhaps, but they would wouldn't they.

With all the worlds telescopes and radar installations watching them, and the world's radios listening, they could not have conceivably faked it.

As for the American flag, any schoolboy would have thought of that if he was in charge of a faked landing. It was wired for god's sake.

Give it to them, they did it and it was a fantastic achievement.

Answer 10

Ask yourself this. Would the USA be flying a few hundred miles above the earth in a TIN CAN,(space station) or would they have moon bases set up by now, Man of course they never went to the moon