Ten conspiracy theories about the moon landing

After several failed attempts, the US space agency Nasa intends to launch the unmanned lunar mission Artemis 1 on Wednesday, November 16, 2022. Artemis 1 was designed to prepare humans for the return to the moon.

10 people who claimed everything on the check was fake

Admittedly, it’s still incredible: people flew to the moon, drove cars there, and even played golf. July 20, 1969 – the landing of the first of six manned Moon missions – marks a turning point in human history. 50 years later, some still doubt humans are on the moon. They believe the recordings were made in the studio. The ten most important arguments:

Claim 1: the “waving” flag

The “waving” US flag is the most vivid example of the so-called staged moon landing. Critics complain that the flag should not be allowed to fly because there is no wind on the moon. That said: The movements of the fabric suspended on a cruciate tie are not caused by a breeze, but the vibrations of the flagpole – when placed or aligned, for example, as Ralf Jaumann of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) says. highlights. Because the moon has no atmosphere, the shaking of the fabric hardly ever slows down.

Claim 2: footprints in moon dust

Many images show the tracks of astronauts in the moon dust. Critics ask how the dry powder can hold its shape. Urs Mall of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research explains the good bonding primarily through the consistency of extremely fine Moon dust. The building blocks were never eroded by wind or water, but remained edged and therefore stuck together particularly well.

Claim 3: very low jumps

The astronauts’ leaps on the lunar surface are very low, skeptics object. Given the low gravity – about one-sixth of Earth’s gravity – astronauts could jump meters high. Mall attributes the low jumps primarily to spacesuits weighing around 85 kilograms and restricted mobility. Jaumann adds that it’s not about high jumps. For safety reasons, astronauts would move in small hops or stumbling steps.

Claim 4: The irresponsibility of the lunar vehicle

Astronauts flew over the moon in vehicles. Given the low gravity, my doubts would have been that the rovers should have skidded through the bends. However, centrifugal force is particularly dependent on radius and velocity. According to NASA, the maximum speed of the vehicles was around 15 kilometers per hour. On a similar surface this corresponds to the centrifugal force that an earthly car of the same radius would have at 37.5 kilometers per hour. It’s highly unlikely that astronauts will drive the corners at full throttle.

5. Recurring “Scenes”

The similarities in the moonscape in different images are taken as proof that the same backgrounds are always used in the studio. The recurring motifs aren’t surprising, however, after all, as Mall explained, the astronauts took thousands of photos at the landing sites from different angles. He also emphasizes that the landscapes at the landing sites are already very similar – this is due to the lack of distinctive optical elements like those on Earth.

Claim 6: Images are missing a plus sign

The lenses of the astronauts’ Hasselblad cameras included crosshairs, for example, to better estimate distances. In some places, this crosshair seems to disappear behind objects, and critics interpret it as a photomontage. A closer look reveals that the crosses are there but hardly recognizable on a dark background. But the edited footage, according to Jaumann, was published later.

Claim 7: There are no stars in the sky

There are no stars in the sky in the photographs of the astronauts. Astronauts entered the moon during the day – a lunar day lasts for two weeks. In the images, the contrast between the bright Moon’s surface and the dark sky is too strong for faint dots in the sky to be seen.

Claim 8: Shadow pattern does not fit

Critics state that the shadows in the paintings move in different directions or are compressed into different light sources. According to Mall, the main reason for this is the unevenness of the lunar surface. This can cause shadows to appear longer, shorter, or distorted.

Claim 9: Incomplete landing crater

There is no landing crater and almost no dust under the landing pods. No wonder, says Jaumann: landing sites were approached from the side, not vertically. Therefore, the engines did not have the power to burn craters in solid Moon rock.

Claim 10: Deadly Radiation

During the outbound and return flight, the crew was exposed to increased particle radiation from the sun, particularly in the Van Allen belt, a radiation ring surrounding the Earth. Critics argue that this exposure can last for hours and can be fatal. Mall estimates it would take about an hour to cross the Van Allen Belt with the crew protected by the aluminum hull of the space capsule. The astronauts were therefore exposed to increased radiation, but the dose was manageable. NASA determined the missions’ trajectory to avoid the most intense radiation fields.

Why can’t this be true

The US space agency Nasa itself does not comment on falsification theories. But a few years ago, he published pictures of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. The space probe sent high-resolution images of the Apollo landing sites to Earth by radio. Even if they don’t want to convince stubborn skeptics – the pictures show not only the tools left behind, but also the rover’s tracks and even astronauts’ footprints.

Also, according to Jaumann and Mall, thousands of employees were involved in the six assignments. “I find it very difficult to keep counterfeit products hidden for decades,” Mall says. There is also clear evidence: more than 380 kilograms of moon rocks that astronauts brought back to Earth. Unlike lunar meteorites that fell to Earth—but were discovered later—these fragments did not change with their journey through Earth’s atmosphere. (SDA)