Monday, December 2, 2019

Moon Landing Conspiracy by Andrew Scott


      Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins didn’t land on the moon on July 16, 1969. At least that is the rumor that has been spread around for the past fifty years. With the multiple videos and pictures that were developed, it is easy to see why there are doubtful concerns for the historic moon landing. Neil Armstrong and his team have denied these claims for many years, even punching someone square in the jaw for talking about it to his face. Do these claims against the moon landing hold any valid ground or are they simply outlandish? Here are the conspiracy theories surrounding the landing:
1.      How can the flag wave without any wind?
2.      Why can’t you see the camera in the reflections of helmets?
3.      Why are the shadows not aligned with objects?
Let’s dive deeper into this mystery and discover more about this landing.
Buzz Aldrin is an arrogant astronaut who will stop at nothing to stand up for what he believes in. Aldrin was born in the dead center of the North-East, in Montclair, New Jersey, surrounded by like-minded individuals who were set on the attitude of principles and beliefs over suspicion.
Aldrin is known to be generously stubborn with the things that he believes in and doesn’t stand down in the face of non-believers,
In a poll conducted by Ipsos on behalf of C-SPAN in June 2019 revealed that 6% of Americans believe the moon landing was staged – and even more respondents, 15%, said they don’t know if it was real or fake. In the running for most famous of the deniers might be Bart Sibrel, a 55-year-old Tennessee resident notorious for having been punched in the face by Buzz Aldrin in 2002 after Sibrel confronted Aldrin in person, calling him a liar, coward and thief. (McKelvey, 1)
Image result for buzz aldrin
Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, with Armstrong being the first man to take steps on the moon proclaiming, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” (Armstrong) Half a century after the famous moon landing occurred, despite other moon landings, real moon rocks, and countless other evidence, there are still theorists who doubt the authenticity of the event. One of the most popular beliefs is that the landing was filmed in a Hollywood studio. Or, even that the government and the CIA are covering the arrival up to try to fool Americans. Sibrel, the theorist who was punched, had put together “serious” evidence that the landing was faked by Nixon. He supposedly had recordings, photos, and interviews that all disproved the moon landing. Buzz Aldrin took these words as a threat to his beliefs and stood up for himself. He attacked Sibrel and was not prosecuted due to police feeling as if Aldrin was provoked.
Buzz Aldrin is encouraging for the lives of Americans and proves that anything is possible if you have confidence. Aldrin mentioned in a recent interview that he was destined to fly.
Ever since Buzz Aldrin was a little boy, he knew that he wanted to do something meaningful in life with aviation and his best bet was through the military,
Well, there's absolutely no doubt that from the first memories that I have of an airplane ride at age two that I was impressed with aviation, airplanes and the heritage, in a way, that my father's career had established. It just took a little time for me to absorb it all, but it's really what motivated me to, I guess, feel a security that that's where I would end up. So, I didn't have to pave my way into that. I just knew that's what I would do. (Aldrin 1)
Aldrin was a teenager during World War II, which meant that he was the perfect age to join the air force and learn how to fly. There was not an Air Force Academy back then, so Aldrin went to West Point than from there went into the Air Force. Aldrin always believed that it was his goal to change the world, and he knew he could do that by becoming an astronaut and attempting to discover space as it had never been discovered before. Aldrin knew that it was humanity’s goal to reach a point where we leave earth and go to the object in the sky that we called the moon and walk around on it. He knew that that was the way that he wanted to change the world and made that his goal. With his ShareSpace Foundation, Aldrin wants to be able to share his experiences of space with the rest of the world. He organizes people who have visited space to talk to people that haven’t to give them that vicarious experience of being an astronaut. Aldrin also wants to help with education by teaching kids in classes K-12 to work together just like he and his crewmates did back in 1969. Aldrin also had a dream of one day writing a book and guess what he did: wrote a book. He wrote about a person of celebrity status stepping down from their podium and becoming a humble everyday citizen.
Image result for moon landing conspiracy
            In the famous moon landing of 1969, there were several conspiracies that developed. The first of the many theories is the discrepancy of the U.S. flag waving without any wind (“NASA Moon Landing: Why Did the Apollo 11 Flag Wave and Flap in Space?” 1). As simple physics should intale, a flag planted in a place where there is little to no atmosphere shouldn’t move or “flap in the wind”. “A leading conspiracy theory decrying NASA’s achievement claims the US flag flapping around in the vacuum of space is evidence of the Moon landing being a hoax” (1). The NASA Space Center explains the flag appearing as waving because of the disturbance in the flag when it was planted into the ground. (NASA Space Center 1). In addition to the disturbance, the length of the flag is supported by a horizontal bar that prevents it from drooping over time. Around 45 percent of the people that were surveyed over the past week said that the moon landing was faked because the flag was moving.
            The second conspiracy is how you cannot see the cameras that are supposedly filming the moon landing from the moon in the reflections of the helmet. (Little 1). Normally when filming glass or another material that is similar, you can see the device that is recording in the reflection. “In one of the pictures from the moon landing, you can see Armstrong clearly reflected in Aldrin’s visor. Some skeptics have pointed out that Armstrong does not appear to be holding a camera, so someone else must be taking the picture” (1). Some of the experts say that a handheld camera would be too bulky and akward for Neil Armstrong to carry and manipulate. So he had a camera that was mounted on his suit for ease of access which is supposedly covered up by his hands in the famous picture of Armstrong in a helmet reflection. Around 11 percent of the people that I surveyed said that they thought the moon landing was faked because of the false helmet reflection.
            The third conspiracy has to do with how the shadows do not line up how they should with the objects that the astronauts were using. (Myers 1). The claim that multiple conspiracy theorists have dealing with the shadows in the pictures and videos is that there are multiple sources of light like a large studio lamp. The science behind this claim is that “the astronauts were taking their photos on a hilly, brightly-lit landscape while the sun was close to the horizon” (1). NASA equates this effect to someone taking a photograph on a rolling field that was uneven and covered in snow. This conspiracy could also link to the fact that none of the pictures have any other stars or planets in the background. Around 9 percent of the people that were surveyed said that the moon landing was faked because of the inproportionate shadows.
            All three of the conspiracy theories tie together, so it is very possible that they were mistakes when filming the 1969 moon landing. All of these conspiracies can be linked to either mistakes made by the team that was instructed with filming the “landing” or post-production editing. Around 35 percent of the people that were surveyed all agreed that the moon landing was not faked with a resounding 65 percent agreeing that it was faked. These statistics show that there is something viable about these conspiracies. And if the moon landing truly was faked could it be kept a secret for 50 years?
Image result for moon landing conspiracy
        Sometimes it is fun and natural to go against the grain and believe that a popular event is “faked” or “set up”. It happens all the time with popular sporting events and is very prevalent in the moon landing. Even with most conspiracies have been disproven, there are still some that prevail:
1.      How can the flag wave without any wind?
2.      Why can’t you see the camera in the reflections of any helmets?
3.      Why are the shadows not aligned with any objects?
After examining these conspiracy theories, I believe that the moon landing was not faked but there are still some doubters.
MLA Final Works Cited
T “Buzz Aldrin.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 3 Oct. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Buzz-Aldrin.
S Kettley, Sebastian. “NASA Moon Landing: Why Did the Apollo 11 Flag Wave and Flap in Space?” Express.co.uk, Express.co.uk, 19 July 2019, www.express.co.uk/news/science/1140849/NASA-Moon-landing-flag-Apollo-11-why-flag-wave-flap-NASA-hoax-conspiracy.
T Little, Becky. “The Wildest Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories, Debunked.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 10 June 2019, www.history.com/news/moon-landing-fake-conspiracy-theories.
S McKelvey, Olivia. “Conspiracy Theorist Punched by Buzz Aldrin Still Insists Moon Landing Was Fake.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 21 July 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/20/man-punched-buzz-aldrin-still-says-moon-landing-fake/1784847001/.
S Myers, Robert. “Apollo Moon Landing Hoax Theories That Won't Die.” Space.com, Space, 2 Sept. 2011, www.space.com/12814-top-10-apollo-moon-landing-hoax-theories.html.
P “Transcript from an Interview with Buzz Aldrin.” Reading Rockets, 12 Aug. 2013, www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/aldrin/transcript.


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