Broadcast across the entire country on July 20th, 1969, the American moon landing was questionably our proudest moment in history. We had done it! We’d landed on the moon after centuries of people dreaming of doing so, on many telling us we’d never get there. Or had we? It’s been almost forty years since the supposed moon landing and conspiracy theories still run high. For many, it just doesn’t add up. When looking at the facts, it’s almost immediately evident that something’s not right. That we never actually landed on the moon.
One question many have is why. Why fake the landing? What did we have to gain from it? The answer is simple: Power.
The “space race,” as it was called, between Russia and the United States was happening in the middle of the Cold War, as the two countries were fighting to see which was more powerful. And naturally, the only way to prove this was by embarking on a mission that was nearly impossible. So the United States chose to go to the moon because, as then President John F. Kennedy said, “it was hard.” But he knew we could do it. And so the Apollo missions commenced, some successful, some not so successful. However, in 1972, when the Soviet Union finally had the technology to get to space, the United States all of a sudden cancelled the remaining three Apollo missions, with no explanation given.
Funding was also a major contributor to the faked missions. By the time the government had realized the missions were bound to fail, we had already put more than $30 billion into the space programs. Without the landings, we not only wasted a huge amount of money, but humiliation of giving up would be too much to handle. Not to mention how degrading it would be to send our men into space, only to have them crash to their deaths before even reaching the surface. And then, of course, came Kennedy’s promise. In 1961, the President made a promise to his people to carry out a successful landing “before this decade was out.” With less than five months before the end of said decade, what else were we supposed to do?
The final reason for faking the landing was the Vietnam War. A hugely unpopular war in America, Nixon was hoping such an accomplishment would provide a well needed distraction from the war and would maybe even increase support for it. Ironically, the same time the United State’s involvement in the war ended, the manned landings did too. Weird.
So now that we know why the landings would have been faked, it’s time to look at the evidence.
In 1969, professionals claim, the chances of a successful moon landing were less than .017%. Not only did we not have the technology available, but there were also some physical issues that we had not accounted for. The major problem was something known as the Van Allen Radiation Belts. The Belts are basically two layers of plasma surrounding the Earth that can cause intense radiation to anyone/anything that passes through it, unless protected all the way around with at least eight feet of lead shielding; Apollo had about one-eighth of an inch of aluminum as protection. In addition, going so deep into space, there are going to be incredible amounts of solar flares, solar wind, coronal mass ejections, and cosmic rays, all of which can harm both the space craft and the people in it.
There are, however, many people who are going to claim the landing were real. And they do have some valid points. According to them, the conspiracy theories that people have come up with are impossible due to their complexity. The theories claim that more than 400,000 people would have been involved with the planning of the landing, including the twelve men on the moon, the six people pilots, and the six who were orbiting the moon. Within the ten years of planning, they claim, someone would have let something slip.
Perhaps the greatest evidence of the staged landings comes from the photographs that were, supposedly, taken on the moon. Almost every photograph has some type of oddity in it that, conspiratists claim, proves the landings were faked. The most obvious source of these abnormalities comes from the crosshairs. Crosshairs are defined as a system of dots, rings, or cross wires in the finder scope or eyepiece focus to help in centering. In English, they’re basically some type of symbol, a cross in this case, on the lens of a camera. Theoretically, the crosshairs should be in front of the picture; in front of everything in the picture. But when examining the photographs from the moon, we find that some of the crosshairs are behind some objects. This leads many to believe that the pictures were either faked in general or doctored in some way, with some objects either added or taken out of them. Not only that, but some of the crosshairs are either in the wrong place or rotated incorrectly.
In addition to the crosshairs, experts claim the quality of the photographs is much too high, given the limited technology of the late 60’s. The cameras for use on Earth were still being perfected; cameras to use over 200,000 miles away would have been very low quality. When asked to respond to this claim, NASA said the astronauts took many pictures, they just chose to publish the best ones.
The lack of stars has also been a topic of discussion for many years. As is evident from even a simple glimpse at the pictures, there are no stars in any of the pictures. The astronauts claim they don’t remember seeing any stars on the “moon” (and why would they, they filmed it in broad daylight in Area 51). To this, NASA said the landing took place during the day so there wouldn’t be any stars to being with, and even if there were, they would have been out shown by the sun.
Another major point of the conspiracy comes from the shadows. In many of the photographs, the angle and color of the shadows are inconsistent, sometimes pointing in the complete opposite direction. The only explanation that can be made from this irregularity is that some sort of artificial light was used: a spotlight, according to many. While it may have been difficult to come up with an explanation to this, NASA found a lie to tell us. They claim that shadows on the moon are complicated by the sun’s reflected light, uneven grounds and lunar dust so the light would be scattered into many different directions. Mix all of that with a wide-angle lens distortion, and the inconsistent shadows make complete sense… right?.
Going along with the artificial light theory, there are some “hot spots,” points of relatively intense heat or radiation. The only way this could have been caused, some say, is by the use to a large spotlight. NASA, of course, refutes this, saying that the pits on the moon focus and reflect the light coming from the sun, making it simply look like there’s a spotlight.
Many of the photos also have backgrounds that are identical to one another. Now this wouldn’t be a problem if the pictures weren’t supposedly taken miles apart, on opposite sides of the moon. NASA claims that the backgrounds aren’t identical, they’re just very similar. According to them, since the moon has no atmosphere, far away objects are not obscured. What looks like nearby hills are actually mountains that are miles away. And of course, since no one else has claimed to have been on the moon, there’s no way to prove or disprove the theory.
Perhaps the most pressing question surrounding the moon landing is: Who filmed the Armstrong landing? There’s times when the astronauts are all in the film, leaving no one to do the actually filming. Well, according to NASA, the Lunar Module did. Apparently, while Neil Armstrong was still on the steps of Apollo, he deployed what was known as the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly, which was basically a high tech camera that would film the landing so more than 600 million people back on Earth could watch the landing. Whether or not that’s true, we’ll never know.
In addition to the photographic inconsistencies, there are many environmental problems that are not accounted for. As mentioned before, one of these problems was the Van Allen Radiation Belt. Not only would the astronauts been infected with radiation, but the film in the cameras would have been ruined also. According to NASA, this is an absolutely ridiculous claim, since 33 of the 36 men involved in the Apollo missions have developed cataracts, a condition that has been linked to radiation. And as for the film, the cameras were apparently stored in a metal box which clearly has provided enough protection. However, even if the radiation belt didn’t fog or destroy the tape, the tapes would have been melted due to the extreme temperatures the moon’s surface reaches during the daytime. NASA also refutes this claim, saying that since there’s no atmosphere on the moon, there is no way to heat items that don’t come in direct contact with the surface.
The American flag that was so famously placed on the moon is also a huge source of controversy. There are instances in the film where it would appear the flag is waving, a motion that should be impossible given the fact that there is no atmosphere or wind on the moon to cause the movement. To this, NASA says that the flag was fastened to a rod that was shaped like an upside down “L” in order to assure the flag would not simply hang there. It only waved when the astronauts were moving the flag into position. Or at least that’s what they claim.
Most of the conspiracy theories have one thing in common: the location. While it is clear to many that we did not land on the moon, then next question will naturally be where it was filmed. According to the theories, they filmed it on a sound stage in Area 51, a military base in southern Nevada that is off limits to unauthorized personnel. Since normal citizens have not seen inside the Area, it’s assumed that it would be a perfect place to shoot something like that. Once in Area 51, conspiratists claim that a combination of slow motion photography and harnessing was used in order to make it seem like the astronauts were moving with low gravity. If you speed the moon landing video up to twice its actual speed, it appears that the astronauts are simply running and the video was slowed down. To this, NASA points to the part in the video where one of the astronauts, David Scott dropped a hammer and a feather at the same time and they both hit the ground together, thus proving the lack of gravity.
Many of the other sources of inconsistencies come from mechanical issues. For example, no blast crater or dust scatter is observed from the moon landers. The object hardly left a dent on the moon’s surface, even though it weighed more than 17 tons (NASA claims that on the moon it would have weighed a mere 3 tons), while the astronauts footprints could be clearly seen. As for the blast crater, NASA claims that none should have been expected, given the fact that the throttle was very low at the time of the landing.
The air conditioning units that were built into the astronaut’s space suits also hold an obvious problem: they should not have worked in an environment with no atmosphere. However, according to NASA, the only way the suits could work was in a vacuum. Water provided in a tank flowed out pores in a metal plate where it then evaporated into space. So, they say, the air conditioning was a special invention built just for the moon landings.
Another point in interest is the fact that all of the landings took place under then President Richard Nixon. No other president, no other state, no country, no continent has even attempted a moon landing in the more than forty years since the last Apollo mission. According to professionals, however, if we had the technology to successfully make it to the moon more than forty years ago, with the increase of technology nowadays, intergalactic travel should be no problem. However, those not in favor of the conspiracy theories claim there is no longer a reason to go to the moon, that other countries were no interested in being the second person to land on the moon and the United States does not want to waste the money. In addition, the fact that the Soviet Union never claimed it as a hoax, it must mean the landing happened.
While most people simply write conspiracy theories off as a joke, once you start looking at the facts, it’s easy to see why they came about in the first place. People don’t simply make up conspiracy theories as an after school hobby, there is actually some truth to them. The moon landings have been an unsolved case for more than forty years now and will probably remain so for many years to come. The facts are there and if people chose to be open minded enough to actually listen to them, maybe one day they’ll being to accept the truth: Our “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” was all a big fat lie.
One question many have is why. Why fake the landing? What did we have to gain from it? The answer is simple: Power.
The “space race,” as it was called, between Russia and the United States was happening in the middle of the Cold War, as the two countries were fighting to see which was more powerful. And naturally, the only way to prove this was by embarking on a mission that was nearly impossible. So the United States chose to go to the moon because, as then President John F. Kennedy said, “it was hard.” But he knew we could do it. And so the Apollo missions commenced, some successful, some not so successful. However, in 1972, when the Soviet Union finally had the technology to get to space, the United States all of a sudden cancelled the remaining three Apollo missions, with no explanation given.
Funding was also a major contributor to the faked missions. By the time the government had realized the missions were bound to fail, we had already put more than $30 billion into the space programs. Without the landings, we not only wasted a huge amount of money, but humiliation of giving up would be too much to handle. Not to mention how degrading it would be to send our men into space, only to have them crash to their deaths before even reaching the surface. And then, of course, came Kennedy’s promise. In 1961, the President made a promise to his people to carry out a successful landing “before this decade was out.” With less than five months before the end of said decade, what else were we supposed to do?
The final reason for faking the landing was the Vietnam War. A hugely unpopular war in America, Nixon was hoping such an accomplishment would provide a well needed distraction from the war and would maybe even increase support for it. Ironically, the same time the United State’s involvement in the war ended, the manned landings did too. Weird.
So now that we know why the landings would have been faked, it’s time to look at the evidence.
In 1969, professionals claim, the chances of a successful moon landing were less than .017%. Not only did we not have the technology available, but there were also some physical issues that we had not accounted for. The major problem was something known as the Van Allen Radiation Belts. The Belts are basically two layers of plasma surrounding the Earth that can cause intense radiation to anyone/anything that passes through it, unless protected all the way around with at least eight feet of lead shielding; Apollo had about one-eighth of an inch of aluminum as protection. In addition, going so deep into space, there are going to be incredible amounts of solar flares, solar wind, coronal mass ejections, and cosmic rays, all of which can harm both the space craft and the people in it.
There are, however, many people who are going to claim the landing were real. And they do have some valid points. According to them, the conspiracy theories that people have come up with are impossible due to their complexity. The theories claim that more than 400,000 people would have been involved with the planning of the landing, including the twelve men on the moon, the six people pilots, and the six who were orbiting the moon. Within the ten years of planning, they claim, someone would have let something slip.
Perhaps the greatest evidence of the staged landings comes from the photographs that were, supposedly, taken on the moon. Almost every photograph has some type of oddity in it that, conspiratists claim, proves the landings were faked. The most obvious source of these abnormalities comes from the crosshairs. Crosshairs are defined as a system of dots, rings, or cross wires in the finder scope or eyepiece focus to help in centering. In English, they’re basically some type of symbol, a cross in this case, on the lens of a camera. Theoretically, the crosshairs should be in front of the picture; in front of everything in the picture. But when examining the photographs from the moon, we find that some of the crosshairs are behind some objects. This leads many to believe that the pictures were either faked in general or doctored in some way, with some objects either added or taken out of them. Not only that, but some of the crosshairs are either in the wrong place or rotated incorrectly.
In addition to the crosshairs, experts claim the quality of the photographs is much too high, given the limited technology of the late 60’s. The cameras for use on Earth were still being perfected; cameras to use over 200,000 miles away would have been very low quality. When asked to respond to this claim, NASA said the astronauts took many pictures, they just chose to publish the best ones.
The lack of stars has also been a topic of discussion for many years. As is evident from even a simple glimpse at the pictures, there are no stars in any of the pictures. The astronauts claim they don’t remember seeing any stars on the “moon” (and why would they, they filmed it in broad daylight in Area 51). To this, NASA said the landing took place during the day so there wouldn’t be any stars to being with, and even if there were, they would have been out shown by the sun.
Another major point of the conspiracy comes from the shadows. In many of the photographs, the angle and color of the shadows are inconsistent, sometimes pointing in the complete opposite direction. The only explanation that can be made from this irregularity is that some sort of artificial light was used: a spotlight, according to many. While it may have been difficult to come up with an explanation to this, NASA found a lie to tell us. They claim that shadows on the moon are complicated by the sun’s reflected light, uneven grounds and lunar dust so the light would be scattered into many different directions. Mix all of that with a wide-angle lens distortion, and the inconsistent shadows make complete sense… right?.
Going along with the artificial light theory, there are some “hot spots,” points of relatively intense heat or radiation. The only way this could have been caused, some say, is by the use to a large spotlight. NASA, of course, refutes this, saying that the pits on the moon focus and reflect the light coming from the sun, making it simply look like there’s a spotlight.
Many of the photos also have backgrounds that are identical to one another. Now this wouldn’t be a problem if the pictures weren’t supposedly taken miles apart, on opposite sides of the moon. NASA claims that the backgrounds aren’t identical, they’re just very similar. According to them, since the moon has no atmosphere, far away objects are not obscured. What looks like nearby hills are actually mountains that are miles away. And of course, since no one else has claimed to have been on the moon, there’s no way to prove or disprove the theory.
Perhaps the most pressing question surrounding the moon landing is: Who filmed the Armstrong landing? There’s times when the astronauts are all in the film, leaving no one to do the actually filming. Well, according to NASA, the Lunar Module did. Apparently, while Neil Armstrong was still on the steps of Apollo, he deployed what was known as the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly, which was basically a high tech camera that would film the landing so more than 600 million people back on Earth could watch the landing. Whether or not that’s true, we’ll never know.
In addition to the photographic inconsistencies, there are many environmental problems that are not accounted for. As mentioned before, one of these problems was the Van Allen Radiation Belt. Not only would the astronauts been infected with radiation, but the film in the cameras would have been ruined also. According to NASA, this is an absolutely ridiculous claim, since 33 of the 36 men involved in the Apollo missions have developed cataracts, a condition that has been linked to radiation. And as for the film, the cameras were apparently stored in a metal box which clearly has provided enough protection. However, even if the radiation belt didn’t fog or destroy the tape, the tapes would have been melted due to the extreme temperatures the moon’s surface reaches during the daytime. NASA also refutes this claim, saying that since there’s no atmosphere on the moon, there is no way to heat items that don’t come in direct contact with the surface.
The American flag that was so famously placed on the moon is also a huge source of controversy. There are instances in the film where it would appear the flag is waving, a motion that should be impossible given the fact that there is no atmosphere or wind on the moon to cause the movement. To this, NASA says that the flag was fastened to a rod that was shaped like an upside down “L” in order to assure the flag would not simply hang there. It only waved when the astronauts were moving the flag into position. Or at least that’s what they claim.
Most of the conspiracy theories have one thing in common: the location. While it is clear to many that we did not land on the moon, then next question will naturally be where it was filmed. According to the theories, they filmed it on a sound stage in Area 51, a military base in southern Nevada that is off limits to unauthorized personnel. Since normal citizens have not seen inside the Area, it’s assumed that it would be a perfect place to shoot something like that. Once in Area 51, conspiratists claim that a combination of slow motion photography and harnessing was used in order to make it seem like the astronauts were moving with low gravity. If you speed the moon landing video up to twice its actual speed, it appears that the astronauts are simply running and the video was slowed down. To this, NASA points to the part in the video where one of the astronauts, David Scott dropped a hammer and a feather at the same time and they both hit the ground together, thus proving the lack of gravity.
Many of the other sources of inconsistencies come from mechanical issues. For example, no blast crater or dust scatter is observed from the moon landers. The object hardly left a dent on the moon’s surface, even though it weighed more than 17 tons (NASA claims that on the moon it would have weighed a mere 3 tons), while the astronauts footprints could be clearly seen. As for the blast crater, NASA claims that none should have been expected, given the fact that the throttle was very low at the time of the landing.
The air conditioning units that were built into the astronaut’s space suits also hold an obvious problem: they should not have worked in an environment with no atmosphere. However, according to NASA, the only way the suits could work was in a vacuum. Water provided in a tank flowed out pores in a metal plate where it then evaporated into space. So, they say, the air conditioning was a special invention built just for the moon landings.
Another point in interest is the fact that all of the landings took place under then President Richard Nixon. No other president, no other state, no country, no continent has even attempted a moon landing in the more than forty years since the last Apollo mission. According to professionals, however, if we had the technology to successfully make it to the moon more than forty years ago, with the increase of technology nowadays, intergalactic travel should be no problem. However, those not in favor of the conspiracy theories claim there is no longer a reason to go to the moon, that other countries were no interested in being the second person to land on the moon and the United States does not want to waste the money. In addition, the fact that the Soviet Union never claimed it as a hoax, it must mean the landing happened.
While most people simply write conspiracy theories off as a joke, once you start looking at the facts, it’s easy to see why they came about in the first place. People don’t simply make up conspiracy theories as an after school hobby, there is actually some truth to them. The moon landings have been an unsolved case for more than forty years now and will probably remain so for many years to come. The facts are there and if people chose to be open minded enough to actually listen to them, maybe one day they’ll being to accept the truth: Our “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” was all a big fat lie.
Crosshairs:
No Stars:
Shadows/Artificial Light/Hot Spots:
Identical Backgrounds:
Flag Waving:
Song Lyrics:
Moon Landing:
In July of ’69,
We blasted off to space.
To beat the Russians to the moon,
And win the great Space Race.
But did we ever really go,
Or was it all a lie?
I posit that it’s just a hoax,
And now I’ll tell you why.
Tell me, tell me why.
Tell me, tell me why.
It was a hoax that summer’s eve,
They showed it on TV.
But they control the media,
And everything we see.
They filmed it on a sound stage
In Area 51.
They thought that we would never know,
They think the public’s dumb
They think the public’s dumb…
They think the public’s dumb…
A hoax, a hoax,
This man’s a joke,
A liar, a lout, and a loon.
His argument’s hollow, eleventh Apollo,
Landed on the moon.
A hoax, a hoax,
It wasn’t a joke,
History says that it’s so.
I think that you’ll find that you can’t chance our mind,
All we’ll say is no.
All we’ll say is no…
All we’ll say is no…
They got some lights and rigged them up,
To replicate the sun.
A big mistake, two shadows make,
Of suns, there’s only one.
Their footprints were formed perfectly,
Old glory waved with grace.
That’s quite a feat upon the moon,
Low gravity in space.
Low gravity in space….
Low gravity in space…
A hoax, a hoax,
This man’s a joke,
The fact and black and white.
You cannot proclaim that they falsely exclaimed,
“One small step!” that night.
A hoax, a hoax,
It wasn’t a joke,
NASA says that it’s strue.
You must believe us,
They wouldn’t deceive us,
We won’t agree with you.
Won’t agree with you,
Won’t agree with you.
Here’s the biggest fact my friend,
The one you can’t refuse.
In forty years we’ve not been back,
Since 1972.
So why is that, why not return?
What is there to hide?
It’s that we never landed there,
It’s all a big fat lie
It’s all a big fat lie,
It’s all a big fat lie.
A hoax, a hoax,
This man’s no joke,
The facts are terribly grey.
You stand at your alter
And never did falter,
Opinions start to sway.
A hoax, a hoax,
The biggest of jokes,
Conspiracy runs deep.
We thought you were lying,
But now we’re denying,
Mankind’s giant leap,
Mankind’s giant leap.
I’ve given you a gift my friends,
A truth I ask you share.
Enlighten all the people who
Believe without a care.
And as for me I take my leave,
Across the nationwide
To tell all of the common folk,
The landing was a lie.
The landing was a lie,
The landing was a lie!
With apologies to Neil and Buzz,
I say the landing never was!
Hoax!
Moon Landing:
In July of ’69,
We blasted off to space.
To beat the Russians to the moon,
And win the great Space Race.
But did we ever really go,
Or was it all a lie?
I posit that it’s just a hoax,
And now I’ll tell you why.
Tell me, tell me why.
Tell me, tell me why.
It was a hoax that summer’s eve,
They showed it on TV.
But they control the media,
And everything we see.
They filmed it on a sound stage
In Area 51.
They thought that we would never know,
They think the public’s dumb
They think the public’s dumb…
They think the public’s dumb…
A hoax, a hoax,
This man’s a joke,
A liar, a lout, and a loon.
His argument’s hollow, eleventh Apollo,
Landed on the moon.
A hoax, a hoax,
It wasn’t a joke,
History says that it’s so.
I think that you’ll find that you can’t chance our mind,
All we’ll say is no.
All we’ll say is no…
All we’ll say is no…
They got some lights and rigged them up,
To replicate the sun.
A big mistake, two shadows make,
Of suns, there’s only one.
Their footprints were formed perfectly,
Old glory waved with grace.
That’s quite a feat upon the moon,
Low gravity in space.
Low gravity in space….
Low gravity in space…
A hoax, a hoax,
This man’s a joke,
The fact and black and white.
You cannot proclaim that they falsely exclaimed,
“One small step!” that night.
A hoax, a hoax,
It wasn’t a joke,
NASA says that it’s strue.
You must believe us,
They wouldn’t deceive us,
We won’t agree with you.
Won’t agree with you,
Won’t agree with you.
Here’s the biggest fact my friend,
The one you can’t refuse.
In forty years we’ve not been back,
Since 1972.
So why is that, why not return?
What is there to hide?
It’s that we never landed there,
It’s all a big fat lie
It’s all a big fat lie,
It’s all a big fat lie.
A hoax, a hoax,
This man’s no joke,
The facts are terribly grey.
You stand at your alter
And never did falter,
Opinions start to sway.
A hoax, a hoax,
The biggest of jokes,
Conspiracy runs deep.
We thought you were lying,
But now we’re denying,
Mankind’s giant leap,
Mankind’s giant leap.
I’ve given you a gift my friends,
A truth I ask you share.
Enlighten all the people who
Believe without a care.
And as for me I take my leave,
Across the nationwide
To tell all of the common folk,
The landing was a lie.
The landing was a lie,
The landing was a lie!
With apologies to Neil and Buzz,
I say the landing never was!
Hoax!