Few days back the world celebrated on the 40th anniversary of human landing on the Moon. Even I was exuberant and was wondering how Neil Armstrong would have felt when he walked the maiden step on the lunar surface. Indeed it was a significant achievement. A significant achievement for humans, a significant achievement for NASA, and most importantly a significant achievement for the Unites States of America!
But all my excitement gets mitigated when I think about the Conspiracy Theory. I never bothered to deep dive and tried to find out why there is a faction of people who believe it was nothing but a fake! But for the last few days I read a lot on this and watched a sensational documentary floated by Fox TV in 2001. This video did put me into a dilemma that whether we ever landed on the moon? Was the Apollo Moon landing fake? Was this the biggest hoax of the history?
Conspiracy theories about the Apollo missions began not long after the last astronaut returned from the moon in 1972.
Read these statistics and the polls conducted on this:
- Twenty-five percent of respondents to a survey in the British magazine Engineering & Technology said they do not believe humans landed on the moon.
- 1999 Gallup poll found that 6 percent of Americans doubted the Apollo 11 moon landing happened, and there is evidence that the ranks of such conspiracy theorists, fueled by innuendo-filled documentaries and the Internet, are growing.
- Officials for Fox television stated that such skepticism increased to about 20% after the February 15, 2001 airing of that network’s TV show titled Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?, seen by approximately 15 million viewers
- A 2005-2006 poll by Mary Lynne Dittmar, a space consultant based in Houston, Texas, found that more than a quarter of Americans 18 to 25 expressed some doubt that humans set foot on the moon.
- A 2000 poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Fund found that 28% do not believe that American astronauts have been on the Moon
Bill Kaysing, which built rocket engines for NASA’s Apollo program, published a 1974 book, “We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle.” In the book, Kaysing argued that NASA lacked the technology in 1969 to land humans safely on the moon, that the Apollo astronauts would have been poisoned by passing through the radiation belts that ring the Earth and that NASA’s photos from the moon contained suspicious anomalies.
Well one may not believe what Kaysing theorized. But when you peek into the evidences around which he postulated this theory, it will surely set you thinking. My belief did shake when I watched the Fox TV documentary named as “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?” that spotted eerie “inconsistencies” in NASA’s Apollo images and TV footage.
Lets look at few of those argument, and then you folks tell me your views on this. Do you also think that the USA managed to pull off the biggest hoax of the history!
One of the reasoning given by Kaysing is that how come there are no blast craters are visible under the landing modules. Which to me seems quite correct!!
No Blast Crater Below the Module's Descent Engines
One of the biggest evidence is the picture which shows the USA flag waving. If there is no wind and air in the Moon, then how come a flag can ripple in a breeze? Check out the below picture
The Waving Flag
How about this one? The astronaut appears bright inspite of he being in shadow.
The Atronaut appears bright inspite of being in shadow
This one needs a closer view. The argument is that the shadows intersect instead of running parallel, suggesting the presence of an unnatural light source!
Shadowsintersect rather than running parallel
Well, there are umpteen reasoning like such which made a faction of people believe that we humans never landed on the lunar surface. Well, one would be thinking then where these pictures have been clicked. The Conspiracy Theory followers justify this as well. According to them, the entire event was simulated and filmed in heavily guarded military base known as Area 51.
Now comes a very important point that even if this was a hoax, how could the US managed to pull this off when there were so many people involved esp the astronauts. Now, strange it may sound or someone may call it is a coincidence, but there were astronauts related to this mission who died in mysterious ways! Three of them got killed when a fire swept through the capsule of Apollo 1. One of the astronauts died in a freaky car accident. One died in a plane crash. Does this mean that the US Government chose to silent the potential whistle-blowers? Might be or might be not!
So folks, what do you think now? Was this a $30 billion swindle? More importantly, did we even land on the moon?
Do check out the Fox documentary on this. It will surely startle you.
Also, for complete details (more information and more elaborated) visit the below sources:
www.en.wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Moon_landing_hoax_conspiracy_theories)
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Nice post Amrit!
You know what, I used Google, the God and saw a site, which refutes all the allegations made by Bill Kaysing.
You may check it out at: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html
:p
Thanks Shilpa. Of course there is a faction of people who believes that this was no hoax and hence they will refute the allegations made by Bill Kaysing.
But what is interesting is that there is no unique and final answers on these allegations. I read several websites where one gave a reason as to why the flag was waving..and in another website it gives a different reason why the flag is waving. Different people giving different logic on the same allegation.
Thanks for the link..the author had given better explainations! The author seems to be well qualified as well.
And in the end..I am not a hard-core follower of the faction which says that this was a hoax. But this theories seems interesting and hence I am looking for more and more explainations on this subject.
By the way..you seems to be in lot of conversations with your inner-self these days! Nice post that was..would come back to comment on that soon!
Well,
I believe that the lunar mission was no hoax, and I have a few answers for that too!
The waving flag can be possibly due to the effluents coming froom the space ship, as in when a space ship lands, it generates vast amounts of effluent gases with high velocity which might have caused the flag to flutter.
as for the astronaut appearing bright in spite of the shadow, it can be possibly due to a camera flash or more possibly a illumination form the space shuttle, and this point is too trivial to consider.
And moreover, in the same wikipedia link you have given in the end there are many theories which actually give an explanation to all your questions!
Just go through in detail!
Cheers!
A timely article!
Thanks Pawan.
I dint profess that I am considering the lunar landing as a hoax! But what intrigued me is that there is no unique reasoning provided to prove these allegations wrong.
Just like you mention that the waving flag can be possibly due to the high velocity and vast amount of gas would have caused the flag to flutter..then what do you say about not being a single blast crater on the surface where the module landed!!! As per your reasoning then definitely there should be a blast crater on the surface..and in the picture the surface is entirely flat!
Well, the same wikipedia link also gave such pictures which directs towards the landing as a hoax. If you would have seen the flash picture (waving flag) by combining two different pictures…it reflects that even being two different pictures there is no change in the waving pattern of the flag (If you click two diff photograph of a waving flag then there has to be differnece in the waving pattern).
In the end…I say again that I am not a supporter of the Conspiracy theory, but yes the allegations made are real note-worthy!!
Isn’t it??!! 
Cheers!!
No comments on this!! I just want to believe that makes me happy and proud
And hey, check out my blog, your tag is finished…….finally!!
Neilina,
Indeed we should be proud of such an achievement!
So you chose to take the happy route! Good!
So you have done the tag!!! I am off to your blog now!
Well,
AS for the flag waving thing, there was an interesting yet amazing reason provided by the wikipedia. The flag was folded and brought up to the surface of the moon. SO it had many wrinkles, and when it was layed out flat on a pole it stood still, giving impression about the movement. And moreover, the camera shook between the two photographs (yea, you misunderstood that point!) and hence giveng it a more waving feature!
As for the absence of the blast craters. Remember, the engines were not switched off when it landed on the moon but way far off from the surface of the moon, leaving no caters, but no one took a photograph after its take off and hence leaving everyone puzzled!
Hope you get my point!
Well..wiki gave the possible ideas..and one will not find one exact reason for teh allegations made. By the way…does thet Flag look like a wrinkled piece of cloth or it looks like it is waving..see what I am trying to make apoint here is that..sometime one says it is due to the module’s high velocity that the flag is waving..and sometimes it is claimed that it is not waving but wrinkled. Camera shook or that was two different pictures taken!!
Pawan..I am not trying to refute your point..nor I am putting my foot down saying that Lunar Landing never happened. My point again is that there is no unique and exact answers for these allegations. Okay! Lets not take this argument further.
You dint say “Cheers” this time.
Okay..so I say..Cheers!!!
Hey, Mr. YamBeeyay, this was an interesting post. Good enough to shake your belief in what you have learnt all your life.
Though being a optimist, I like to believe man has been on the Moon.
:in whispers: Please don’t tell this conspiracy to anyone.
Hey Poonam..thank you so much for visiting this space. Can’t even explain that how elated I am…its simply feels great when bloggers like you visit blogs like this and even drop a comment!!
I am extremely happy! 
I am glad you found this post interesting. Yes..indeed it did shake that belief.
Even I would like to believe that human did land on the moon. Well…now I would not say this conspiracy to anyone…Few of my folks are already killing me with their arguments
*Amrit is thinking..shall I say..keep visiting this space?!
Interesting post… but I guess I belong to the optimist group here…. I like to believe what makes me happy… life is too short for controversies
Hey Sakshi…welcome back..long time indeed!! BTW..still waiting for you to put some thoughts on thoughtcourt.com
Everyone seems to be on the optimist side
That was rightly said “Life is too short for controversies”. But hey..but sometimes controversies are fun..aren’t they?!
Some other people say Michael Jackson is not dead
I think I will be an optimist and I hope man did land on the Moon… about waving flag I think those look like wrinkles!
So you are also on the optimist side.
But yes..lets support those guyz who say that..by saying that..yes MJ is not dead..he will be alive in our heart forever! 
About MJ not dead..is little extreme
BTW..you also believe that its not a waving flag…rather a wrinkled flag! Okay!!
I concede..I am already on the optimist side now. 
Really interesting post. I have never been sure what to think. Sometimes, I think these conspiracy theories are just that…theories. But then I read another article on this topic (like yours), and I am forced to think about it again
That what actually happened with me as well Nishi. I really got confounded and infact still confused as to what is true.
But I decided to be on the optimist front and accept it.
Even though I accept it..one part of me is always ready to argue.
Had to make a post as i do believe we never set foot on the moon, have read this with great interest and rather than play it safe i will just go ahead and say how do you account for the levels of radiation in the van halen belt the craft would have to go through? That – some times greater than chernoble, investigators found the makers of the suit in the 70s (incidentally look at tech for that time) if such a suit could withstand exploring chernoble. They found not even close.
The craft given the dimensions and tech for that time, is….laughable. There is some interviews on Youtube with the pilots where the maker tried to get them to swear on the bible, there reactions are “interesting” (I say with a grin).
Theres the shadows, theres also the point of camera technology of that time – the housing of the camera, the film of the camera, radiation, environmental variables and the clarity of the pictures again is ….laughable (sorry)
Go back and exmamine the original footage of the flag and some of the motions of the astranauts, even glimmers of wires! In my mind, man walking on the moon is like ….pigs fly or the moon is made of cheese?
Im not out to destroy any ones belief systems im truely not, people are entitled to there views and opinions, on whatever the topic. If you build a perception of reality based on events you “know” to be true. Well…..when its challenged, its very uncomfortable with good reason. IT opens up questions, and the wall begins to come down a brick at a time, if anything ive wrote here makes you feel bad in anyway, dismiss me as a nutter…but if youve a genuine interest just look at the evidence and arguments from both camps and draw your own conclusions and dont worry either way, we did, we didnt, dosnt really matter just being here is like winning the lottery enjoy your life and try not to think so much
Peace!
Hi Amritm What a Blog and great reading glad to see people talk about it. I also sat and watched this documentary floated by Fox TV on the Conspiracy Theory of the moon landing and I must say it has now made me rethink what I strongly believed growing up and now wonder if what was told and shown was just a bi lie and we never did landed on the moon. And that the Apollo Moon landing was in fact a fake and the biggest hoax ever pulled off in history. For me after a lot of research and now swaying on the side that we never did landed on the moon and it was the biggest hoax ever pulled off in history. I ask myself as well if we did land on the moon then why have we not seen photos sent back to earth of foot prints, tyre tracks on the moon. The flag that was left behind. Why have we not yet seen photos from satellite like the Hubble satellite many others that have been sent into space? As there is no wind the prints, would still be on the moon there would be manifest of the moon landing even today. So I need to ask myself is it plausible this never happened And that the Apollo Moon landing was in fact a fake. At the time, there was a lot of political play here between Russia and the U,S.A as well. so in my opinion only I now do believe it was the biggest hoax ever pulled off in history. But this is only my opinion. But I do believe we will one day found out the truth.
Well in my opinion we had NEVER landed in the moon, why because it is too difficult, despite all the DANGERS for humans to land, (radiation, velocity, no gravity, dense air and soo many others things that we are not even aware off.) Well no I do not think so!!!!…. Also BIG QUESTION, If we did put a man on the moon in the 60s, WHY CAN NOT WE PUT ONE TODAY?????! TODAY!!, that we have tons of technology. Today that we are even exploring Mars already (robots of course!)…. To me the answer is plain and simple, The Aircraft spaceship program, was in between a cold war, and politics… Nasa attempted several times to land unmanned spaceships on the moon, several… non or almost none could landed properly. I belive the only one was “Luna2″ and it was inteded to take pics of the lunar floor…. Anyways in my humble opinion, after spending all those big bucks 30B, from citizens, and well add politics and all the PRESSURE IN THE WORLD to be number #1…. Then that is what you GOT!!.. I do not blame them at all… I belive it will be done some day. LANDING IN THE MOON… I just hope to be alive to witness it… THIS IS JUST MY HUMBLE OPINION!!!!!! PEACE!!
I do not believe we landed on the moon for many reasons, one particularly is major. We had computers the size of buildings that had long processes just to print on a piece of paper what the calculation was or what the answer was, not actually compute and react like most computers do today. How could they put a computer inside a landing module smaller than a dorm room, that could actually calculate complex landing measures for gravity as well as hitting the moon and then taking off and making calculations just to hit the earth. You still have to calculate for trajectory in space not on graph paper. All these things that we were taught in school you wanted to believe because the Russians were potentially going to take over the world at least thats what they thought with the Dominoe affect. So we had to prove to the Russians that we were technologically superior, and that there is no where that we can’t get to you (them)
It was a good strategy at the time but to dispell this now would create a huge controversy and the US credibility would never be the same so it is probably better for all and that this is what it is; a conspiracy. We as a nation need these majority of people to believe or else what else has the US done that hasn’t been matched. If this had come out and ended up not to be true it would have had major consequnces back when we were trying to assert our power. We do not become the world power we are today, no nation would have had trust in us back when other countries needed to feel protected and for democracy to reign.
Even if we didn’t which most people can judge for themselves. It may never come out because we still need to believe we did something no other country has done. When space travel becomes irrelevant or an everyday occurrence you might witness a truth that we did not get to the moon or they may just figure it out with the technology of the day it was impossible. I’m sure all the stuff is in a museum waiting for the day when technology becomes so great that they can just know it didn’t happen by then it won’t matter.
Right now in this day and age we need something to beleive in something big like the moon landing. I would like to see it done today and that they could build a space station on the moon and do research, for diseases, as well as sustaining life on a different surface.