On
July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first man to land on the moon (Dunbar
1). This event was televised, and approximately 600 million people tuned in to
watch (“Apollo 11 Moon landing: ten facts about Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins'
mission”). There are many debates on whether or not the moon landing was filmed
at a studio. Several theories have formed about the different ways that it
could have been fake:
1. The flag was waving, but there is no
wind on the moon.
2. They had multiple shadows in different
places.
3. They used special effects for the
televised video.
Let’s look at the moon
landing and whether it is fake or real, with the most presumably solution being
that the video those millions of people watched was filmed at a studio.
Character
Analysis
Neil
Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969 (“The
Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica”). His fascination with airplanes and outer
space was sparked at a very young age (“Neil Armstrong Biography”). Armstrong
took part in two different missions at NASA prior to Apollo 11 (“Neil Armstrong
Biography”). He was an alternate for Gordon Cooper for the Gemini 5 mission and
was the command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission (“Neil Armstrong Biography”).
Gemini 8, if not for Neil Armstrong’s quick-thinking, his first mission in
space would’ve easily become a disaster (Gelernter). This event could possibly
have been the reason that he was also selected as command pilot for Apollo 11.
As
Josh Gelernter says, “If Gemini 8 had failed NASA would most likely have been
shut down”. This is because there has been three incidents that took place
during the space race (Gelernter). It showed how determined they were during
the space race, and how it was mostly about winning rather than the gaining knowledge
part. Neil Armstrong most likely gained NASA’s trust after the Gemini 8
mission—the most complicated at that time. At first, the mission was going
perfectly as planned. Then the mission was suddenly cut short when Gemini 8
started spinning uncontrollably (“Neil Armstrong”). Due to Armstrong’s
quick-witted actions, mission control was able to plan an emergency landing for
Gemini 8 (Loff). This showed Armstrong’s ability to work under pressure and how
NASA took a liking to him.
The
goal for Apollo 11 was for the first lunar landing to take place and get the
crew back home safely (“Apollo 11 Mission Overview”). Since this was an even
more difficult mission, and after seeing how Armstrong acted during Gemini 8,
NASA selected Armstrong to be the command pilot for the Apollo 11 mission (“The
Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica”). During Neil Armstrong’s training for the
Apollo 11 mission, his superiors at NASA thought very highly of him (“Neil
Armstrong Biography”). During flight simulations, he would keep his cool and
stay professional, even during the times that it would end in failure. It was
during this mission that he said his famous words “That's one small step for
man, one giant leap for mankind,” as he took his first steps on the moon.
After
Gemini 8, it was known that Armstrong had the skills and the knowledge of being
in outer space. Now, in regards to how the moon landing was fake, they would
have had to take someone that was trusted by everyone to make it
believable—Neil Armstrong. They knew that he was very capable of handling
emergency situations in space, so he was selected as the command pilot (“Neil
Armstrong Biography”). There are many different possible situations that
could’ve taken place. The landing could’ve been completely fake and taken place
at a studio without the knowledge of the crew of the Apollo 11 mission. It
could’ve also actually happened, but due to the technology at the time, they
couldn’t film it in space. So instead they filmed the moon landing at the
studio to have “evidence” that it actually took place. Neil Armstrong was an
important part of the plan in order for the fake moon landing to take place.
Neil
Armstrong was a person that people thought very highly of and most likely
played an important part in the moon landing, whether it was fake or not. He
was very fascinated with airplanes and outer space, so he had all the skills
and knowledge for the Apollo 11 mission (“Neil Armstrong Biography”). He was
trusted because of the part that he took during the Gemini 8 mission. Armstrong
created a great example of quick-thinking during this mission (Gelernter). He
was capable of staying calm during unplanned events. Fake or not, the moon
landing needed Neil Armstrong for it to take place.
Conspiracy
Descriptions (Main Idea and Details with Survey Results)
Ever
since the moon landing happened on, there have been many theories that have
developed about whether or not it was real or fake; the waving flag, the
multiple shadows, and the use of special effects. Although some have been
debunked, let’s take a closer look at the different theories and how plausible
they are.
On
the moon, astronauts: Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, struggled to place the
flag on the surface of the moon (Sunseri 1). The flag appeared as if it was
waving, due to how it was staying up and how wrinkled it was (Millis 1). There
is no air that exists on the moon, so a waving flag would have been impossible
(Sharp 1). Though this theory is logical, it has been debunked. In order for a
flag to be placed on the lunar surface, Tom Moser and his team created a
special flag pole. This pole had a “small telescoping arm” attached to the pole
perpendicularly (Sunseri 1). With this special pole, the flag was able to
appear to look straight without the need of a breeze to keep the flag up.
Some
people have said that the shadows looked weird and that there were multiple
shadows of the astronauts from different angles, indicating the use of multiple
lights, such as stage lights. National Geographic News says that there technically
was multiple light sources; the sun, the reflection of the sun on the moon, and
the one reflected on the lunar module (National Geographic 1). This still
doesn’t fully explain multiple shadows, because even though there are multiple
light sources it doesn’t mean that they’re all pointing towards the same area
that causes the shadows. Since the moon is round and is not flat, this would
explain the weird shapes of the shadows. Although National Geographic states
that this theory is debunked, it still possible that they were wrong.
Finally,
this last theory could be hard to believe due to the time period, but it still
could have been possible. Theories suggest that special effects or “camera
trickery” were used to film the video of the moon landing. There could’ve been
many situations with this theory. The moon landing could’ve been fully fake and
filmed at a studio, using camera trickery to seem as if they were actually on
the moon. Camera trickery such as placement of objects to cover up cameras,
microphones, and lights. The moon landing could’ve also been real, but due to
the technology at the time they couldn’t actually film on the moon, so they
filmed in a studio to show to the public. Using special effects, they made it
believable that it was filmed on the moon even though it was filmed at a
studio.
With
the exception of the debunked waving flag theory, the other two theories tie
together with the moon landing being filmed in a studio. Although more than
half of the people from my survey don’t believe the moon landing was filmed in
a studio, it is still a possibility. There are still many theories that could
support the moon landing be fake.
Conclusion
The moon landing being real or fake has become one of the
top most popular argued topic throughout the years (Ratner 1). One of United
States’ biggest accomplishment formed multiple theories, three of them being:
1. The flag was waving, but there is no
wind on the moon.
2. They had multiple shadows in different
places.
3. They used special effects for the
televised video.
All
of these conspiracy theories come together to support the idea that the moon
landing was filmed in a studio. Although there has been no proof of this
theory, it is still a very debatable topic. The conspiracy that best works to
support the conspiracy that the moon landing was fake is the multiple shadows
coming from different angles.
Works
Cited
"Apollo 11 Moon Landing: Ten Facts about
Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins' Mission." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media
Group, 18 July 2009. Web.
Dunbar, Brian. "July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap
For Mankind." NASA. NASA, 19 Feb. 2015. Web.
Editor, Tim Sharp Reference. “Atmosphere of the
Moon.” Space.com, www.space.com/18067-moon-atmosphere.html.
Gelernter, Josh.
"Neil Armstrong's Forgotten First Space Flight." National Review.
National Review, 16 Apr. 2016. Web.
Loff, Sarah. "Apollo 11 Mission Overview."
NASA. NASA, 17 Apr. 2015. Web.
Millis,
Ph.D. John P. “Moon Landing Conspiracies Are the REAL Fake News.” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/did-men-really-land-on-moon-3072611.
National
Geographic, National Geographic Society,
news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/photogalleries/apollo-moon-landing-hoax-pictures/photo5.html.
"Neil Armstrong." Biography.com. A&E
Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017. Web.
"Neil Armstrong Biography." Encyclopedia
of World Biography. N.p., n.d. Web.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Neil
Armstrong." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 05
Apr. 2017. Web.
“Why
Do People Persist in Denying the Moon Landings?” National Air and Space Museum,
22 Mar. 2017,
airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/why-do-people-persist-denying-moon-landings.
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