The Apollo Program: The Best Special Effects Hollywood Could Buy?

 

On July 20th, 1969, man first set foot on the moon.  For many in lab-coats, it represented a triumph for science; for others, humankind’s conquering of the heavens; and for the more nationalistic Americans, a major victory for the United States over the Soviets in the cosmic sport known as the space race. 

The first mention I ever heard of the conspiracy theories that held that the Apollo Eleven astronauts did not actually land on the moon was in 2001, with the airing of the Fox television show Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon.  Since the airing of that “documentary” (but never before it), I have encountered a number of people who genuinely believe that the Apollo Eleven moon-landings were faked.  It is a pretty telling reminder of how mass media exposure of fringe ideas can help popularize them, especially when conspiracy theorists’ claims are not counterpoised by the responses of representative experts. 

The conspiracy theories predate the 2001 Fox program, of course.   A 1999 Gallup poll found that six percent of Americans believed  that the Apollo moon landings were faked, not astonishingly high numbers when compared to the percentages who believe that Oswald did not shoot John F. Kennedy or deny evolution, although perhaps twenty five percent of Britons believe the moon landings were faked.  [1]

A quick Google search finds this Apollo Hoax website at the top of the results, with promises of a, huge update to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the moon landings, which, of the 40th anniversary of the moon landings, do not exist.  This website (like so many conspiracy theory treatises) does not actually put forward a cogent alternative explanation, but rather presents a laundry list of claimed inconsistencies with NASA’s version of the Apollo Eleven mission.  I am not going to bother going into detail with debunking this, as many others have already done so (some links appear at the end of this posting). 

The best, simplest, and most consistent explanation (like with so many other conspiracy theories), is the “official” one.   The Soviets successfully launched a satellite into orbit in 1957.  In 1961, they safely launched, and retrieved a man from Earth orbit.  While landing people on the moon was a much more complicated procedure, with a lot more variables, requirements, and chances for disaster, the basic  level of scientific competence and technology was not particularly different, although it did require much more complicated calculations and the technology was more complicated, it was not, on a basic level, more technology or scientifically advanced.  What it did require was more careful planning, a more complicated technological system, and a lot more money. 

One day, tourists may routinely visit the location of the first moon landings, but it may be a long time before men walk on the moon again.  Currently, NASA has no concrete plans to ever return.  Until then, we will have to be satisfied with unmanned probes, like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that recently snapped these pictures of the Apollo mission sites. 

Courtesy NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/369228main_ap14labeled_540.jpg

Sources:

[1]http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Apollo11MoonLanding/story?id=8104410&page=1

Links:

Bad Astronomy does a good job reviewing the Fox program mentioned above: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html

Another good debunking of popular myths by National Geographic. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/photogalleries/apollo-11-hoax-pictures/

Lessons of the ‘Fake Moon Flight’ Myth
JAMES OBERG
Skeptical Inquirer, March/April 2003, pp 23, 30 http://www.jamesoberg.com/042003lessonsfake_his.html