52-year-old conspiracy theory: Did Americans really land on the moon?

Although more than half a century has passed since the first Americans landed on the moon, the conspiracy theorists are increasing day by day.

In conjunction with the news circulating a few days ago that the Chinese rover (Yutu 2) spotted a "mysterious house" as part of its mission to explore the dark side of the moon, many have returned to open the door to questions again about the American "Apollo 11" flight, renewing their belief in the conspiracy theory that denies landing Americans on the Moon in 1969.

Since the landing of the American space and aviation agency NASA's flight on the moon in mid-1969, discussions about conspiracy theory have been burning and spreading, and perhaps the most prominent evidence that skeptics cite about the landing process are the images and videos that show the American flag fluttering on the surface of the moon, which does not possess An atmosphere and no air to move the flag.

Undoubtedly, the flag and its flutter led many people to believe the conspiracy theory that the Americans did not land on the moon and did not plant their flag on its surface, and that the pictures and videos they published of the “Apollo 11” flight are nothing but footage shot in a Hollywood studio, or perhaps In an unknown location in a desert in the US state of Nevada.

Conspiracy theories

There are many conspiracy theories that question some or all of the 6 Apollo landings that NASA made between 1969 and 1972, and conspiracy theories claim that all the photos and videos published after the 6 landings are hoaxes organized by NASA. Secretly aided by American photographers and filmmakers in order to win the space race against the Soviet Union.

The widespread spread of these theories since the mid-1970s is attributed to Bill Kessing, a former Navy officer with a B.A. in English who published a book in 1974, We Never Went to the Moon: The US Thirty Billion Dollar Hoax, igniting these conspiracies. For those who came after him and added them.

Despite disproving conspiracy theories and third-party evidence that proves the decline true, conspiracy theorists have succeeded in maintaining public interest for more than half a century, with opinion polls conducted in various places showing that between 6-20% of Americans 25% of Britons and 28% of Russians believe the landings of the Apollo crew were fake. Even in 2001, a Fox TV documentary called "Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?" That NASA faked the first landing in 1969 to win the space race.

Debunk conspiracy theories

Besides NASA responses that refute most claims of conspiracy theories, there is also plenty of evidence from third parties for the landings. Since the late 2000s, high-resolution images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter of the Apollo landing sites have been able to find tracks and trails left by the astronauts.

And in 2012, pictures were issued showing that 5 of the 6 Apollo missions’ flags embedded on the moon’s surface are still standing, the only exception being the “Apollo 11” flag, which no longer exists and fell on the moon after it accidentally collided with the exhaust of the launch rocket. .

As for the issue of the American flag fluttering in the images of the Apollo 11 flight, the British National Space Center in Leicester indicated that the movements of the flag were caused by the astronauts themselves and not by winds that are not originally on the surface of the moon. He pointed out that the reason for the flag's ripple is that the astronauts rotated it back and forth in order to immerse it in the moon's soil, which made the flag ripple like a "pendulum."

"Apollo" program

During the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and in the light of the space exploration war, the United States was able to resolve the space conflict in its favour, after the pioneers of the “Apollo 11” mission, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, managed to land on the surface of the moon and plant the American flag on its surface on July 20 / July 1969 by order of US President Richard Nixon.

In order to achieve space superiority, at a total cost of more than $25 billion, NASA, through its space program called "Apollo", was able to make 11 space flights, most of which landed on the moon. During the first 4 flights, the systems and equipment used in the Apollo program were tested, while 6 of the other 7 flights landed on the moon.

It is noteworthy that the first space flight of the "Apollo" program was conducted in 1968, the first human landing on the moon was in 1969, and the last landing in 1972. In total, a total of 12 astronauts walked on the moon's surface and conducted scientific research there, and they studied The surface of the moon and collected rocks from it to return to the Earth, perhaps the most famous astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the surface of the moon.