“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” said Neil Armstrong. There is still uncertainty prevailing around the ‘supposed’ moon landing in 1969. The moon landing took place when Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins made history as the first humans to land on another celestial body on July 20, 1969. It marks a substantial leap in the technological advancement of humanity. Yet according to some conspiracy theorists, the moon landing never took place and it was all an endeavor of the United States to affirm the ‘space race’ between Russia and the United States. I wonder how can fellow folk of people think such a huge American boosting event, Apollo 11, to be a fake one? In this essay, I will show the falsified cases of the hoax believers along with the scientific facts and argumentations.
Many citizens have started to become agnostic and atheist of the moon landing because according to them there was no visible flame from the landing module. There were many observations as to why the moon landing isn’t a hoax and that it indeed takes place. To support the beliefs of the moon landing, there are abounding scientific facts and reasons provided by NASA and many other organizations that worked with this event during that time. There is no possible contingent of lying about Apollo 11 as it was internationally televised around the globe. Also, back then the technology did exist but limited only up to some extent, it wasn’t strong enough to be faked. Mark Strassmann, national correspondent for CBS News, interviews the real testimonies of Apollo 11. Firstly, on interviewing one of the crew members of Apollo 11, Michael Collins, says, “[T]hey felt the weight of the world on their shoulders as the whole world was watching them.” This statement made by the crew member cannot just be called a fake one. It honestly implies that the moon landing isn’t a hoax or conspiracy. The President, John F Kennedy, who had declared to land the man on the moon in a decade announces, “Before the decade is out, I am landing a man on the moon and returning him safely.” This is the strongest claim that I found in my paper as no one can fake upon this announcement so far. Secondly, we could see how arduous it was for Neil Armstrong, Gene Kranz and Charlie Duke trying to adjudge for the safe landing, despite them being legendary flight directors at NASA, also adds up to one of the reasons why the moon landing isn’t a hoax.
ABC News reports, July 16, 1969, 9:32 AM GMT-4 was a moment the world was enthralled. The landing was actually what they were most worried about because of the unknown rampant but eventually, they were lucrative as everything went according to the plan. The moon landing could not have been faked as millions of people crowded around the television collectively holding their breaths to watch first the man-land on the moon. It was the most ambitious goal that was accomplished in lesser than eight years. The spacesuit was also one of the proofs as ILC Dover from Playtex had won their contract for what the 21 layered spacesuits could eventually do. The words of the crew members out there on the moon also notifies us that moon landing can never be faked. While on the moon, Aldrin said, “Beautiful view” while Armstrong’s words were, “It has a stark beauty all its own. It’s like much of the high deserts of the United States. It’s different, but it’s very pretty out here.” According to Collins, “he couldn’t sense any smell on the moon, but it got dirty with the moon dust.” When the legitimate heads are talking about their own experience, it would be a very futile idea of faking around.
“Homes and wives are personal and moon landing does not change that. One rose does not make a summer. This is just another mission which lands on the moon first but definitely will not go anywhere on schedule if we cannot keep the crew members working instead of entertaining the press” (Slayton, p.327). This clearly implies that before the mission the crew members were kept farther away from the press and media and were supposed to concentrate only on the mission of the moon landing. It took complete twelve minutes to set the Eagle down on the lunar surface. Even on the surface of some celestial body other than earth, the thoughts of these three astronauts remained to be motivational for landing the spacecraft in the area of some scientific interest (p.343). Being more specific about the scientific facts it took explicitly four days, six hours, forty-five minutes and fifty-seven seconds for Eagle to get to the moon (Eagle, p.344). Eighteen minutes and twelve seconds after the first man, Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon was accompanied by his companion Buzz Aldrin (p. 346). In my speculations, I assume nobody can deny such authentic timing recorded. (Brooks, Grimwood & Swenson, 1979).
Taking automation into deliberation, the technology we have today is just a click away. The technology was not that precocious as of the present day. Moreover, the technology to falsify the moon landing did not exist in 1969 but, it did exist to get to the moon (Campbell, 2019). Many of the hoax believers claims that the stars were not seen in the photographs taken on the moon. In my opinion, this is abominable. But the real reason is due to the high contrast stars weren’t palpable. Furthermore, this fact is advocated by taking two live illustrations into cogitation. Firstly, if it is a bright day and [w]e stand outside the house and look in through the doors [w]e cannot see any details because it is too bright where you are, (Schubin). Besides, the astronaut and the and the lunar landscape were luminously lit by the sun. secondly, being more practical if any living soul was to photograph a brightly lit scene, his or her camera’s speed needs to be utterly fast and the aperture incredibly small-scaled. Also, thinking more logically, the size of the stars is way colossal than we actually think it to be and are very distant too. Henceforth, it is awful thinking of stars not coming into the pictures. It is all about practicality. As a result, this theory of absence of stars in the photographs of moon landing by NASA got demystified.
‘Van Allen’ are the radiation belts of charged particles in the vicinity of the Earth. “These are regions surrounding the Earth in our magnetic field where high energy trapped particles from the Sun tend to get confined so, if [w]e go into these regions, extremely high radiations are concerned,” says Professor Ojha. Due to this fact abounding hoax believers got chance to assert that the moon landing was a hoax. But this assumption is solely deceitful. Prof Ojha rebuts this fact by providing an alluring example of ‘fire walking.’ In his justification he mentions that while walking on the fire no one lingers in the middle of the fire pit; they try to cross it as quickly as possible. From science’s point of view thermal conductivity is relatable in this situation, we do not have enough thermal energy to amble around in the middle of the fire pits. Thence, for Apollo 11 the transit time through the Van Allen belt was peculiarly short. Therefore, travelling briskly through these belts for reaching the moon was not dubious. Hence, the conspiracy theories about the fake moon landing was debunked.
One of the utmost hoodwink bluff about the moon landing was the flag related concerns. This was the most frequent hypothesis used against the moon landing. According to the hoax believers if there was no atmosphere that means there is no wind on the surface of the moon then how did the flag wave? In accordance with this theory, Prof Ojha explains that taking a closer look at the flag on the moon a telescopic pole would be found which is protracted along the elite in order to make the flag wave haughtily. NASA did not leave a thing out pointing out any blunder and took care of everything. Furthermore, Ojha clarifies that as it had been set like this it appears to be waving and is wrinkled as it had been screwed up for four days on the moon. This vindication becomes strong enough to shut the mouths of the hoax canonists.
One of the most meticulous attestation is it was tracked by the other countries. The chamber of deputies acquired Avant-grade tracking capabilities on their own. Their inability to detect to the conspiracy of this nature seems unlikely. Additionally, they would have had every incentive to expose this in order to score a leading propaganda triumph, says Antoine Bousquet. This is one of the dominant proofs that proves the moon landing to a real one. Also, we have the rocks collected from the moon as a shred of evidence which is seems exclusive from the rocks found on the Earth. Those rocks are still being studied by disparate astronauts and scientist at NASA and still some of them are yet sealed and have never been touched as the scientists of 70s and 80s anticipated that the technology would improve with the time and that they would be adept to more advanced scientific discoveries in the upcoming years. Also, they left the reflectors on the lunar surface which resembled that of a cat’s eyes, where the scientist and astronauts could fire the laser from earth to the moon for understanding the changing behaviors between the moon and its orbit (Jackson). NASA had very well prepared this journey to the moon with well plan for its use in the 21st century. For Armstrong it was burdensome than expected, he had to wander for about a hundred meters for collecting rock samples and taking the pictures. Moreover, it took him more effort to close the sample box due to the conditions that prevailed on the surface of the moon (Brooks, Grimwood & Swenson, 1979).
Some hoaxes say that the moon landing was all mocked up in a studio with legion light sources forming different patterns of shadows. This idea rises due to the shadow of Armstrong not being parallel if the sun was only the source of light. Prof Ojha explains that this effect can be created on the Earth surface too supporting the claim made by the hoax believers. He further expounds that because of the perspective the parallel lines do not seem to be parallel to each other. There is nothing new about this effect as artists have been using this for centuries. Hence, moon landing conspiracy theories uncloaked again.
To wrap it all up, ‘Did the man go to the moon?’ this isn’t at all a controversial issue. Despite the loads of shreds of evidences available, that proves the moon landing was real, there are still doubts about the whole event. Through the comprehensive research and source appraisal it is credible that the moon landing is a fact and it did happen. After delving into the altercation and limitations of sources articulating that the moon landing did not occur because of the U.S flag waved, shadows were erroneous, radiations would be alarming, etc. it is clear that these sources are not credible and display bogus information. Moreover, the argumentations supporting the mon landing, retrieving space rocks and the soviet acknowledgment are much more reliable and worthy sources.