Denying the Apollo Moon Landings

1. Denying the Apollo Moon Landings

2. Why did the flag wave in space?

3. Why are there no stars?

4. Why no flame from the rocket?

5. Why didn’t the rocket make an impression on the moon yet there were footprints?

6. The lunar rocks were identical to rocks found on Earth.

7. Did Anyone Disbelieve in 1969? • 1969 opinion poll said 5% “doubted the moon voyage had taken place.”

8. Common Conspiracy Scenarios • Entire Moon landing program a sham, manufactured for public consumption by an evil political establishment. • Robotic missions to the Moon were real, but human landings were faked. • Humans landed on the Moon with either the assistance of extraterrestrial visitors or Apollo astronauts discovered extraterrestrial life there.

9. Bart Sibrel . “it’s ‘an absolute fact’ the astronauts didn’t go to the moon.”—Bart Sibrel • Asserted Apollo crews faked missions, used trick photography—accepts the Earth orbital missions. • Claims astronauts could not go to the Moon because going beyond the Van Allen Radiation Belts irradiate them. • Several films: • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon (2001) • Astronauts Gone Wild (2004) • Apollo 11 Monkey Business (2004) • Accosts astronauts demanding they swear on the Bible that they walked on the Moon. • September 9, 2002, Sibrel confronted Buzz Aldrin, then 72 years old, who in turn hit Sibrel with a hook that sent him to his knees.

10. Major Claims • Photographic Anomalies • Radiation Survivability • Lack of Technology • Fake Lunar Rocks • Anomalies in Historical Record Flag Seems to Wave Van Allen Radiation Belts

11. Moon Hoax and Modern Media • Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon? (Fox, 2001) changed debate. • Afterward Moon hoax exploded on Internet. • Internet a haven for conspiracy theorists; with barrier for entry on-line so low anyone can post anything. • 1,440,000 sites returned on recent Google search.

12. “Conspiracy Theorist Convinces Neil Armstrong Moon Landing Was Faked”—August 31, 2009 • A periodical known for outrageous humor, this story was picked up as truth in several newspapers around the world. • It is bad enough when conspiracy theorists state such things without foundation; when legitimate news organizations do so it is much more disturbing. • “We thought it was true so we printed it without checking.”

13. The U.S. has landed on the moon 6 times. Apollo 11- the 17 but the Apollo 13 never made to the moon. Moon landing

14. Apollo 11 • Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. • The first steps by humans on another planetary body were taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969. • The astronauts also returned to Earth the first samples from another planetary body. • Apollo 11 achieved its primary mission - to perform a manned lunar landing and return the mission safely to Earth - and paved the way for the Apollo lunar landing missions to follow.

15. Apollo 12 • Apollo 12, the second manned mission to land on the Moon, was planned and executed as a precision landing. • The astronauts landed the Lunar Module within walking distance of the Surveyor III spacecraft which had landed on the Moon in April of 1967. • The astronauts brought instruments from Surveyor III back to Earth to examine the effects of long-term exposure to the lunar environment.

16. Apollo 13 • It never made it to the moon because one of the oxygen tanks blew and the back-up tank has ten hours of air and they were 86 hours from home but they made it back ok. • As some people call it a successful failure.

17. Apollo 14 • Apollo 14 landed in the Fra Mauro region, the intended landing site of the aborted Apollo 13 mission. • The astronauts used the Modularized Equipment Transporter (MET) to haul equipment during two EVAs (later missions would use the Lunar Roving Vehicle). • They collected samples, took photographs, and the nearby Cone crater.

18. Apollo 15 • Apollo 15 was the fourth mission to land men on the Moon. • first flight of the Lunar Roving Vehicle which astronauts used to explore the geology of the Hadley Rille/Apennine region. • The LRV allowed Apollo 15, 16 and 17 astronauts to venture further from the Lunar Module than in previous missions. • Total surface traverses increased from hundreds of meters during earlier missions to tens of kilometers during Apollo 15 and 16 and just over 100 kilometers during Apollo 17.

19. Apollo 16 • Apollo 16 was the fifth mission to land men on the moon and return them to Earth. • It was also the second flight of the Lunar Roving Vehicle. • Apollo 16 landed in a highlands area, a region not yet explored on the Moon. • Astronauts collected samples, took photographs and conducted experiments that included the first use of an ultraviolet camera/spectrograph on the Moon.

20. Apollo17 • Apollo 17 was the last Apollo mission to land men on the Moon. • It carried the only trained geologist to walk on the lunar surface, lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt. • Compared to previous Apollo missions, Apollo 17 astronauts traversed the greatest distance using the Lunar Roving Vehicle and returned the greatest amount of rock and soil samples. • Eugene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, still holds the distinction of being the last man to walk on the Moon, as no humans have visited the Moon since December 14, 1972.