The Moon Landing Conspiracy Is Pseudoscience

5 Reasons Why The Moon Landing Conspiracy Is Pseudoscience 

 Calling The Moon Landing A "Conspiracy": A Denial Of Modern Science 

In July of 1969 American astronauts and NASA accomplished what humans thought was impossible: we landed living humans on the surface of Earth's moon. Apollo 11 is arguably one of mankind's greatest scientific achievements and proof that Earthlings can go anywhere if we put our minds to it. However, the accomplishment has been slowly tarnished by a cluster of morons claiming that it never happened. The "moon landing was a conspiracy" began as early as 1976 with a book called "We Never Went to the Moon: America's Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle". Just as with every moon landing conspiracy theorist the book was written by a person who never properly studied physics or astronomy. The movement spread like herpes with the World Wide Web and videos of supposed "proof" that it was all staged. Here are 5 of the biggest claims about how we never landed on the moon and why those claims are horse-shit. 

 Claim #1: The Flapping Flag

"If there's no wind on the moon how can the flag be seen flapping? Clearly NASA messed up when they forgot to close all the doors, windows and shut off all the fans in their studio during filming. Every scientist knows that there is 0 wind in space so the fact we can see the flag moving and flapping in the video is proof that they are not really in space." 

 Why It's Bullshit - 

This is a great example of pseudoscience: people pretending to understand science. There are other variables that can cause the flag to flap besides wind; things such as inertia. The only time the flag actually flaps is during or after the astronauts touch the flag or flag pole. With the laws of physics the flag continues to flap until it is stopped by the resistance of the pole. In fact it's flapping is exaggerated because there isn't friction from air as there would be on Earth. Additionally, the astronauts also accidentally bent the flag pole causing further flapping. It's the result of science, not a conspiracy. 

 Claim #2: You Can't See Stars In The Photos

"Obviously, if you took photos from the actual moon you would see stars in the background because that's how it looks in Star Wars, Star Trek and my pop-up book. Space is full of stars and it's not possible to take a picture in space without a bunch of stars in the background." 

  Why It's Bullshit -

Humans went to the moon to take pictures of ... the fucking moon! Not the stars, the moon. It's like your friend came back from a trip to France and you ask why there aren't any pictures of McDonald's in the background. France is full of McDonald's so if you don't see any McDonald's in the background of their photos it's obviously a fake vacation.
The reason we can't see stars in the background is because the camera was set to be sensitive to take photos of the moon and not focus on the stars. We can see stars from Earth, why waste film on them? This is not so much an astronomy problem, but a film problem. Film students and photography Otakus can clearly point out why there aren't any stars in the background.
Oh and they also did take a photo of the stars, but conspiracy theorists can't be bothered to do more than 20 seconds of research.

 Claim #3: The Astronauts Don't Walk Right

"That's not how somebody is supposed to walk when they're on the moon! I know, I've seen tons of science fiction shows and that's not what it looks like. If the astronauts in the moon landing video don't walk the way we've seen in movies than that would mean the moon landing was a hoax. Or it would mean all the movies and TV I've watched is wrong, but that's just crazy paranoia." 

 Why It's Bullshit - 

Again we have an example of people pretending to understand science and presenting their own version of "evidence". This conspiracy claim contradicts itself because they claim that nobody has been to the moon yet they are claiming to know exactly how it's supposed to look when somebody walks on the moon. It's a self defeating argument. You can't claim something is impossible and then claim to know how the impossible would obey the laws of physics.

 Claim #4: The "C" Rock 

"In one of the photos you can clearly see the letter "c" on one of the moon rocks. That's from a studio set and not from the actual moon. How could the moon have anything in the shape of a letter "c"? This is absolute proof that the moon landing was fake. I'm sure someone from the studio got fired for that later." 

 Why It's Bullshit - 

Apparently conspiracy theorists think that NASA spent billions of dollars making a perfect hoax, but somehow missed a prop with the letter "c" on it. The reality is that the "c rock" is the result of a cropped image after the original photo was taken. The facts state that a hair fell on it and the photo we are seeing is a mistake on other parties, not NASA. We have clear proof that this is the result of a photography error and the original photo doesn't have the "c" in it.  

 Claim #5: Who Filmed Neil Climbing Down the Ladder? 

"If Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot on the moon; who filmed him stepping down from the Lunar Module? Obviously, somebody from the studio was filming him and forgot this important detail of "How can he film himself getting off the moon lander?" Putting a camera on the ground before you get on the ground is impossible!"

 Why It's Bullshit - 

Conspiracy theorists could have Googled the answer to this in a few minutes and not feel so stupid. Neil Armstrong pulled a cable which released a TV camera as he descended the ladder. You can actually hear him asking something along the lines of "Can you see me now?" as he descends the ladder. There's no mystery whatsoever about how Neil was able to film himself getting off the ladder. A thinking person could have even taken a guess about the number of ways this was perfectly possible and not the result of a hoax.

There really is no need to come up with a complex conspiracy about the moon landing because the truth is far more fascinating and complex than any paranoid fantasy. Which is more intriguing? The idea that NASA faked a scientific accomplishment to beat the Soviets or make some money? Or the truth that scientists came together to slip the bonds of Earth's atmosphere and explore beyond the limited capacity of our 1 tiny blue planet? The only purpose a conspiracy actually serves is proof that science is just too complicated for some people so they come up with something that makes them feel smart. Unfortunately, they would appear smarter and more mature if they simply admitted to not understanding the moon landing than if they had opened their big fat mouths with paranoid crap about government cover-ups.