Voice of London

Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, but some sceptics still believe the moon landing never happened. Did we really land on the moon? Or was it a staged set that they televised?

Here are main reasons why many believe the moon landing never happened along with facts by NASA debunking those conspiracy theories:

The American flag waving

On the footage released by NASA many speculate why the flag is moving. There is no wind on the Moon, so how is the flag moving? The only explanation would be that the moon landing was fake. But that is not the only explanation.

As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were fixing the flag in place, they wiggled it around, and planted it into the ground, causing the flag to wrinkle during the motions. Once the flag was planted it stayed on the exact same position. No breeze needed!

Where are the stars?

If we are in space, why are there no stars? Surely there should at least one star in the sky, right?

Actually, no. The surface of the Moon itself already reflects a great amount of sunlight, that is why it appears very bright in a lot of photos. Because of this the camera struggles to pick up objects in the background, making it completely blacked out.

If you were there you would have seen the stars in the sky. But, through the lens of a camera, unless adjusted, stars will remain unseen. This is also the case for many photos takes in space, where it shows a starless background.

The weird shadows

If the Sun is the only source of light, why are the shadows going in different directions? There must be multiple studio lights around. I bet you can’t debunk that!

Actually, yes it can. Due to the Moon’s rough surface is the cause of the uneven shadows. The uneven holes in the ground can cause complicated shadows depending on the angle of the Sun.

The rock labelled C

The most compelling piece of evidence that proves the Moon landing was a hoax, might just have been a piece of hair while the photo was being copied. The rock marked C could have solely proved everything was shot inside of a studio, with the rock being nothing but a prop.

However, in the original image released by NASA the C is just not there. Could it have been edited out? Was the entire mission shot inside of a studio?

So far no one has come up with sufficient evidence to prove that the Moon landing did not take place. These were the most compelling evidence presented and they could easily be debunked. There seems to be more evidence supporting that it than disproving it. Maybe the US just wanted to win the race over the Russians, and staging the it would be easier than actually going to the Moon. Very unlikely, but at times believable. Till this day, especially with the use of the internet, many still believe it was all a hoax by the Americans.

One Twitter user has rallied up quite a discussion after saying that the Moon landing was “Fake news”:

Even with these tweets disagreeing with the fake Moon landing theory, a study by e2save and research company Atomik Research shows that more than half of British people still believe that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin never landed on the Moon.

In an article by Gallup they review various ways in which Americans know very little about the Moon Landing.

So, what do you think! Was the Moon landing real? Or was it all a hoax?

Words: Mariana Husek Maestro | Subbed: Memuna Konteh