Was The Moon Landing a Hoax?

    For thousands of years, man has looked to the sky for answers.  In the early ages, it was believed that the stars were gods themselves.  It is this interest in the heavens that sparked the controversy of the moon landing.
    In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into space.  The following year, Dwight Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA for short.  When John F. Kennedy took office in 1961, he made it a personal and national goal to put a man on the moon during that decade.  First came the Mercury and Gemini projects which supplied NASA with the knowledge for how to land a man on the moon.  Then came Apollo.
    The first Apollo mission ended in tragedy.  The spacecraft barely made it off the launchpad when the cabin pressurized with oxygen burst into flames, killing three would-be astronauts inside.  Five non-crewed missions  later, NASA was bold enough to man their flights again.  After another four manned fly-by missions, NASA decided it was time to land a man on the moon.  According to NASA, Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969.  Many pictures and videos were taken of this event, but there are still many people who believe the Apollo 11 moon landing was faked. 
    Based on the evidence available to me, I conclude that the Apollo 11 mission did in fact land men on the moon.  The lack of motive for the U.S. to fake a landing, overwhelming photo and video evidence, and individual testimonies provide a definitive answer to the moon landing question.
    Despite this evidence, people still believe the moon landing was a hoax.  Most of these conspiracy theorists claim that the photographs from the Apollo missions show evidence of fakery.  They also assert that the physics of the trip is impossible.
    The photographs from the Apollo trip do have a few oddities.  First, in the photo of Aldrin stepping off the Lunar Module onto the surface of the moon, the bottom of his foot is visible.  Theorists claim this is evidence of extra lighting.  Some wide angle photos also show the foreground brightly and the background fading into darkness. This shouldn’t happen in an environment without an atmosphere. 
    Most theorists cite an interesting oddity dealing with the Apollo 14 mission.  Astronaut Allen Shepard played golf on the moon during this mission.  During this TV broadcast, the Mission Control team teased him about slicing the ball to the right.  In an environment with no atmosphere, there should be no such thing as slicing the ball one way or another.  Probably the most commonly (mis)cited hoax “evidence” is that the   U.S. flag can be seen fluttering when it is planted on the moon.  This again shouldn’t happen if there is no atmosphere on the moon.
    Although there is some evidence supporting the conspiracy theorists argument, all of it can be dismissed through some basic logic.  Their argument regarding the light on the bottom of Aldrin’s shoe is explained by this: the lunar surface is composed of light-colored dust which reflects light just as snow does here on Earth.  The light on his shoe was from the sun, reflected off the lunar surface.  The fading effect of the background lighting is easily attributed to the film they used.  Film at the time was much less adaptive than the human eye and makes objects in the foreground appear much lighter than those in the distance. 
    The key word in the argument about Shepard’s right slice is “tease”.  Mission Control was teasing Shepard about a right hook.  The ball did not, in fact, change direction in empty space. Although the flag was moving in the video, this is for an obvious reason – inertia.  In order to plant the flag into the ground, the astronauts had to use force to break the surface.  This movement caused the flag to move, giving it the appearance of fluttering.  Even after the flag was planted, it still appears to be rippling.  This is because after a long space journey folded up, the flag is wrinkled.  Although conspiracy theorist arguments seem logical at first, they don’t hold up long against scientific reasoning.
    There was no reason for the U.S. to fake a moon landing. The United States was losing the space race. 
    This was evident, but rather than this becoming a motive for a moon landing hoax, it actually provides evidence against it. Due to increased public support and funding, NASA was able to send men to the moon before the Soviet Union.
    When NASA was created, it was allocated less than 1% of the federal budget.  Kennedy became president in 1961 and stirred up the nations hopes of lunar conquest.  Within 5 years, NASA spent over 5% of the federal budget.              NASA had all the money they needed to finance a trip to the moon.  What would be the point of running a very abstract and expensive conspiracy to make it look like we landed on the moon when we had every capability to actually do so?  Our willingness to spend money to catch up with the Soviet Union dismisses any motive the government would have to create a moon landing hoax.
    Conspiracy theorists like to claim that photos and videos taken during the Apollo missions are evidence of a hoax.  These images are, rather, evidence to the contrary. 
    There is no reason that NASA would fake a mission, then provide thousands of photographs and frames of video to the public.  If they were trying to hide something, they would deem the photos “Top Secret” for one reason or another.
    According to conspiracy theorist Jack White, there were 5771 photos taken during the Apollo missions that landed on the moon.  If the moon landing were a hoax, all of these photos would have been faked.  The chances are very slim that none of these photos have any major mistakes such as reflections of cameramen or evidence of a set.  The videos shot during the missions show the astronauts in low-gravity environment.  This would be nearly impossible to fake using 1969 techniques.  The fact that NASA provides all of these photos and videos freely to the public proves that they are not trying to cover up a conspiracy.
    Finally, there are the individual NASA employees that prove this couldn’t be a conspiracy.
    The only way to keep a conspiracy hidden is to involve as few people as possible.  In an organization as large as NASA, this would be impossible.
    At its peak, the Apollo program employed over 400,000 people and involved some 20,000 universities and firms, according to NASA.  What incentive would private firms and individuals have to stay quiet about a hoax moon landing.  People in the government can’t even keep their daily cables secret as seen in the WikiLeaks “Cablegate” scandal of 2010.  Also, thousands of witnesses watched the Apollo missions ascend into space with the astronauts onboard.  What would be the point of sending astronauts into space, but not to the moon? The sheer number of people involved is enough to disprove a conspiracy, but when combined with the senselessness of a hoax, renders it complete bupkis.
    Based on people’s individual testimonies, the overwhelming photographic evidence, and the lack of motive for a hoax, it is completely preposterous to believe the moon landing was a hoax.
    Through proper education of the basic science and logic involved, NASA could help dispel some doubt of the moon landing.  By creating a documentary that addresses the main theorist claims, NASA could help educate the public as to why these claims are false.  Most conspiracy theorists will dismiss the publication as government propaganda, but if other, more rational minds, are armed with answers, they will no longer need to look to the sky to refute conspiracy theorists.

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White, Jack. “Time & Motion Study.” Was The Apollo Moon Landing Fake?. N.p., 2005.     Web. 8 Jan 2011. <http://www.apfn.org>.

Costello, John PhD. “Were The Moon Landing Shots Faked?.
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“The Dark Side of the Moon.” Web. 8 Jan 2011.

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