Landing on the moon a hoax!

[Birchy]

I've always wondered if the landing on the moon thing was a hoax as there has been lots of speculation over the years. Does anyone out there have an opinion on this? I must admit that some of the evidence against the ligit of it all is convincing.

As a youngest I thought space and the solar system was amaizing and was very interested, especially at school. Even wanted a career in that kind of thing but I don't think I was ever bright enough to be honest. And the landing on the moon was a fantastic thing for everyone, went down in history forever. But if it was all a hoax and no one has come forward and admitted it yet that is well bad.

[pressld2]

Personally I find the idea that it was all a hoax to be completely and utterly ridiculous, put about by people who lack the technical knowledge to understand how it was done and the imagination to see what a fantastic achievement it was. Little people with nothing better to do than belittle the achievements of others.

Leaving aside the fact that pulling off a hoax on that scale would have been about a thousand times more difficult than actually going to the moon, not to mention a great deal more expensive, there is also the little matter of radar. The apollo spacecraft were tracked all the way from launch to touch down on the surface by every country in the world with the technological capability to do so. This included both the USSR and China. As this all happened at the height of the cold war I think they might have mentioned it if they couldn't pick up the spacecraft on their radar.

Dave P.

[stirling]

Hi Birchy,i think there were to many people involved for it to be a hoax,someone would have let it out before now.

Best from mike.

[Naz]

I think it's disgusting that these Space agencies around the World can spend hundreds and hundreds of billions of pounds/dollars/rubles sending disfunctional robots to the ends of the solar system when the money could be better spent rectifying the problems here on Earth.

Ignoring of course the money spent on floating our various satellites ... after all, none of us could live without the Discovery Channel, could we?


... Sorry to distract from your original question, but yes, I do think we were stupid enough to send someone to the moon.

[sometimes]

Originally Posted by Naz Nomad

.......the money could be better spent rectifying the problems here on Earth.

There are no problems on earth that man didn't cause in the first place through greed, jealously and over exploitation and you think we should throw more money at them? Interesting viewpoint.

I think they went, though I know for certain they wouldn't try to do it again in the same way.

[carlos_dfc]

Hi
Yes we did REALLY go to the Moon.
A few things:

For a start-off, the main reason for USA to go to the Moon in '69 was to get one over on the Russians. the russians obviously didn't want this, so they were tracking what was happening VERY carefully. If they didn't go, the Russians would have known, and they'd have been screaming about it.

These 'cospiracy-theorist' followers put forward several reasons why they say the footage was faked - but the problem is that many of the things they pick on actually SUPPORT the footage being genuine.
The Moon-Hoax theorists put forward reasons why the footage is fake, but they do it in such a way as to mis-inform the layman, who doesn't really understand the mechanics behind a low-gravity, no atmosphere, environment.
They say that - for instance - the flag waved in a breeze, and quite rightly that there wouldn't be a breeze on the Moon.
BUT - if you watch that footage carefully, the flag has a bar at the top (to hold it up) - and when that bar moves, it sets up a 'wave' down the flag.
This is a PROPER wave - similar in concept to a radio wave, or light wave - except that the movement is passing through the medium of fabric.
When a flag moves in the wind - It is not a wave - calling it a wave is actually not a good description - a flag moving in the wind is a 'flutter'.
The movement of the flag on the Moon was a proper 'wave'
For a good de-bunking of the Hoax-theorist's statements, look here:
Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy: Introduction to Bad Astronomy
And for more in-depth de-bunking, that site also offers links to more technical articles.

One more - Mirrors
No - it wasn't done with mirrors
There are mirrors on the Moon - that were installed by astronauts.
These mirrors are mainly used for bouncing lasers off, to measure the distance of the Moon, VERY accurately.
Many people have seen this done because they do it at public outreach events sometimes.
The thing is that in 1969, the total computung power of the whole lunar lander, was roughly equivalent to a ZX spectrum computer from the 80s
To land a craft softly, then install mirrors, and align them accurately enough to bounce lasers off it - HAD to be done by a human - In 1969 it was impossible to make a robot capable of such a thing.

Buzz Aldrin - aged 81 at the time, actually chinned a 37yr-old Hoax theorist when he approached him angrily, calling him a Liar and a Coward

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Naz Nomad

I think it's disgusting that these Space agencies around the World can spend hundreds and hundreds of billions of pounds/dollars/rubles sending disfunctional robots to the ends of the solar system when the money could be better spent rectifying the problems here on Earth.

An interesting viewpoint, but consider...

American spending on space research 2007 : $16.8 billion
American spending on the military 2007 : $339.5 billion

So if I were looking for places to stop wasting money NASA wouldn't be my first target.

And although it's been said so many times it's starting to sound cliched, space exploration has brought massive benefits to the entire planet. You can see a few of them listed at Ethical Atheist - Benefits of the Space Program. One that should be of particular interest to this forum is:

"10. Better understanding of the Earth and its environmental response to natural and human-induced variations such as air quality, climate, land use, food production as well as monitoring quality of our oceans and fresh water."

The Discovery Channel makes the list at 47

Dave P.

[Dan Salter]

The hoax theory thing seems to go round in Waves...(another kind of wave ....or should it be circles?) ...anyway what seems to happen is the younger generation or just people finding out the theory...maybe from a book they see in an old book shop or just word of mouth...then spend a couple of years telling people its a hoax...or just believeing it and bringing it up from time to time...i was also one of these and fully believed in the hoax theory mainly because i dont like Yanks...
But it takes most people a good year or so of "believing the hoax" before they then find out there have been several excellent debunking documentaries that explain away all the hoax theories as carlos just explained below...the main clincher for me was the laser mirrors.
So im ashamed and sad to say ...yes...they really did go to the moon...id rather they had put the money into exploring the deepests depths of our oceans though

[epops]

Buzz Aldrin - aged 81 at the time, actually chinned a 37yr-old Hoax theorist when he approached him angrily, calling him a Liar and a Coward perhaps the truth hurt also why would anyone want to go to the moon we've done enough damage to this planet without starting on others

[stripee]

Aren't the US planning another trip there? Or was it Russia? I remember something about setting up a quarry there and transporting moon rock back to earth..this was a while ago so can't remember exactly