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| Real | 75% | 1313 votes | Total: 1744 votes | |
| Hoax | 25% | 431 votes |
Real
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Add to FavoritesBeginning with the Apollo 11 lunar landing on July 20, 1969, a total of 12 astronauts explored the Moon's surface on foot and traveling in the lunar rover vehicle. On Apollo missions 11, 12, (Apollo 13 was aborted, but returned to Earth safely), 14, 15, 16 and 17, the commanders and lunar module pilots conducted a series of experiments, photographed their lunar surroundings and returned to Earth 382 kilograms (843 pounds) of lunar surface materials consisting of more than 2,000 separate samples.
Apart from the fact that millions of people saw the Apollo series on television and heard them on radio in real time, perhaps the lunar material is as irrefutable proof as any that the Moon missions were not "faked." The rocks and particles, still under study by scientists worldwide, were clearly formed in an atmosphere lacking oxygen and water and they show major chemical differences from any previously known Earth rocks. This material could not have been collected, or even manufactured on Earth, and clearly comes from an entirely different world.
Even if NASA had set out to "fake" the Apollo or any of its other programs, there is no possibility it could have done so. Since its inception in 1958, NASA has operated an "open" program, i.e.: all activities have been covered in depth by the news media. For example, during Apollo 11, over 3,500 media representatives from all over the world were at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, for the liftoff. Most of these press, television and radio reporters shifted immediately after launch to Johnson Space Center, Texas, to follow the operational phases through splashdown in the Pacific Ocean and recovery by an aircraft carrier with the U.S. President aboard. Before undertaking the Apollo program, NASA had to justify it to the President and Congress before funds were appropriated. The Apollo series cost approximately $25 billion.
There has been speculation that the LM never left a crater when it touched down thus supporting the argument that the LM never did land. However, there are two very good reasons to believe that the Lunar Landings did take place and i will list them in the following:
(1) Although the descent engine on the LM is powerful, most of its operation takes place thousands of feet above the Moon during the early stages of the landing. Because the lunar atmosphere is a near-perfect vacuum, no air currents are set up that would scour the surface at a distance as might occur during a landing on Earth. Movies of the landing show that, at the moment of touchdown, a small amount of surface dust is blown away, but the relatively cohesive lunar surface deflects the blast sideways, rather than developing a crater directly underneath the LM.
(2) The lunar soil is not a fluffy dust but a moderately dense and cohesive material somewhat like wet sand or ploughed farm soil. Therefore, it is not surprising that the LM engine did not excavate a crater. The lunar surface, in fact, turned out to be much more dense, compact, and resistant to penetration than some scientists originally thought.
On the Apollo 15 mission, the first soil mechanics tests were conducted using a penetrometer-a device to measure resistance to penetration by a coring bit. The penetration test showed a strong resistance to penetration. A trench, dug to about 14 inches, showed that soil was fine-grained and highly cohesive; a vertical wall was maintained with no difficulty.
In other activities, the astronaut succeeded in implanting the flagpole to a depth of only 20 inches before it required hammering. Holes driven into the lunar surface for heat-flow experiments were observed not to collapse when the digging tools were removed. Surveyor I, the first American spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, transmitted a picture of a footpad resting on the surface; it had sunk in less than one inch. The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicles, which weighed only 80 pounds in the Moon's gravity, drove on the lunar surface and left very shallow tire tracks.
Some surface dust can be seen in Apollo on-the-surface photos. A thin film of dust adheres to the Rover vehicle, the equipment, and especially the light-colored suits of the astronauts. However, all the evidence indicates that the lunar soil is too cohesive for the LM descent engine to excavate a large crater during the lunar landing.
The other thing that needs to be considered is the laser Ranging Retro-reflector was deployed on Apollo 11, 14, and 15. It consists of a series of corner-cube reflectors, which are a special type of mirror with the property of always reflecting an incoming light beam back in the direction it came from. A similar device was also included on the Soviet Union's Lunakhod 2 spacecraft. These reflectors can be illuminated by laser beams aimed through large telescopes on Earth. The reflected laser beam is also observed with the telescope, providing a measurement of the round-trip distance between Earth and the Moon. This is the only Apollo experiment that is still returning data from the Moon. Many of these measurements have been made by McDonald Observatory in Texas. From 1969 to 1985, they were made on a part-time basis using the McDonald Observatory 107-inch telescope. Since 1985, these observations have been made using a dedicated 30-inch telescope. Additional measurements have been made by observatories in Hawaii, California, France, Australia, and Germany.
So with that we can safely conclude that all Apollo missions were moon related and there isn't any refuted argument on the case of the Laser, as it was deployed there in a specific location for measuring round trip distance between earth and the moon.
Learn more about this author, Mark Dykstra.
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Hoax
If you believe that the moon landing was real, then you probably believed that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq! Just because the government says it is so...does not necessarily make it truth. The country was up to its neck in an unpopular war and the government needed a major distraction for its people to continue its senseless war.
Americans love competition and to invent a space race to the moon with the Russians was an ingenious way to get American's minds off the war and onto something much bigger and less destructive. So they masterminded the unforgettable space race of the 1960's. All of America's, and the world's attention was diverted from the horrible realities of war to the all encompassing show of "The race to the Moon!"
I am not an expert in astronautics, or rocket science, and I am barely old enough to remember those events that occurred in history as I was born in 1964. But I am now old enough to do research, and make common sense deductions with the evidence available today. Seeing as this is just a debate, please consider this is just my opinion and not based on anything else but what I determined from my unprofessional research on the Internet. Trust me, the first thing that people always say is if you found it on the Internet, it can't be true...not with all the crap out there that people post. But within all the crap, there is also truth...you have to be able to form your own conclusions, and trust your instincts or intuition to come up with a reasonable conclusion.
Why would I join the ranks of the conspiracy theorists, and go against an overwhelming majority that believe the moon landing was real? I don't know, maybe I just like the underdogs, or a good argument. But mostly, because I go with my gut feelings, and that little voice in my head that questions everything. I am what some call a "doubting Thomas", or relate to people from Missouri..."The Show Me State."
Its easy to join the moral majority, and accept everything that the government tells us is the truth. But the more I learn about our government, and its hidden agendas, the more I do not trust what they spew out as propaganda. And believe me, a lot of you can agree with me on that point with the current condition our country is in.
So here are just a few important details I found in my search about the supposed moon landing. First and foremost is I do not believe that back in the 1960's we had the technology to pull off such a tremendous feat. I do not believe that we had a rocket that was strong enough to go any further than a low altitude orbit such as the current space shuttle is able to achieve. The distance to the moon is just too great to have been able to get the Apollo there, let alone get it back again to earth. And here is the first sign of evidence I came across that made me first question the landing story. If we did have a powerful enough rocket and actually made contact with the moon's surface, it would have made one hell of a dusty mess on the landing craft. The pictures I saw of the landing module show it completely clean, and moon dust free. The story went on to explain that when the spacecraft came close enough to the moon's dusty surface, that the rocket thrusters would have been so powerful that they would have kicked up so much dust that the spacecraft should have been completely coated with moon dust. Its kind of like in those new car commercials that show a very clean, brand new truck speeding through the dirt and mud only to come totally clean and dirt free. The pictures show a clean, brand new looking space craft without a single spec of dust on it. Especially on the landing pads of the module. There should have been huge amounts of dust collected on those parts, but yet all the pictures show a nice shiny landing pad. And I doubt that there is a spacecraft wash-n-go shop located up there on the moon.
The second thing that made me naturally question those events so long ago are the pictures of the space, and of the earth that we all have come to know as taken from the moon. The absence of stars, and the marvelous "marbled"earth. Like I said earlier, I am not an expert at anything, but those pictures, and the ones of the American flag flying on the moon, just do not add up to me, and look "staged" if you will. Again, its just my nature to question these types of things, and sometimes I hear plausible explanations that I can neither confirm, and or believe 100%.
But there is one thing that has made me believe without a doubt that the whole thing was a hoax. Body language. I am sure each and everyone of you say the same thing as I first did...How, and why would all the astronauts destroy their reputations and credibility they worked so hard all their life to build up. Why would they lie to their country they love so much. Why would they "LIE"? I do not know the answer as to why, but I do know that they are human, and therefore are vulnerable to threats upon their lives, and the lives of their families and loved ones.
Its in their body language during their first national news conference, on TV, in front of the whole world. In a time in history when they just accomplished the most incredible feat of any human being, the proudest moment in their careers and the country's most honorable moment, they should have been so jubilant and ecstatic, so overcome with joy and happiness that they should have peed in their pants, but they were just the opposite. Body language is hard to mask, and many lies have been uncovered from just observing ones body language and outward emotional state of mind.
Just go back and re watch that first interview. What I brought away from it was four of the most honorable men in our country at the time seemed to be very uncomfortable about the story they were telling. At times it seems like they would have to look at each as if looking for a signal of what to say next about their historic voyage. They all look like they were searching for answers, the right words to say to explain what their emotions would have been if they had actually went to the moon. None of the astronauts seemed overly ecstatic about what they had just supposedly accomplished. They seemed to be searching for words instead of the words just pouring out of them in an uncontrollable jubilant fashion. I do not know if any of you have ever "had" to tell a direct lie to someone you love, but I have a few times...and I can tell you for certain that it is the most uncomfortable situation to be in. And if you watch this interview, you to will see for a fact, that those honorable men were quite uncomfortable. So uncomfortable with what they were saying you almost feel sorry for them. Sorry for them that they were put in such a horrible predicament to have to lie to their fellow countrymen, and the world, that shame is the only thing you can take away from that performance. Those men know the truth, and of course I have no hard evidence to dispute the story. Just a nagging feeling that we have been duped, super duped into believing that we, as a country and a nation actually did the impossible and landed on the moon. It all just does not add up.
Yes I know about a transmitter that was supposedly put on the moon at the time of the landing, but I am sure there can be other explanations for how it got there. But ask yourself this question...If we did make it to the moon back in the 1960's, how come NOBODY else has been there since? And how come no other manned space ship has ever gone further then the spacecraft we have these days? It was just not possible to go to the moon.
Our government is full of actors, liars and cheats. Nothing is what it seems, and to have blind faith in our leaders can be disastrous to the well being of our beautiful country. Hollywood has always had an active part in our history, and this might have been the biggest blockbuster they ever created. Do not believe everything you hear and see on TV...thats what THEY want us to do. Its so much easier to control us through lies and make-believe than to tell us the truth. And for awhile, the country's attention was diverted by the real horrors of war, and they accomplished their goals of distraction to further their agenda in the war. Do not let yourself be so easily deceived by TV...do your own research and dig through ALL the facts first, and draw your own intelligent conclusions. Blind faith will hurt you in the end!
The opinions in this article are of my own making, and are not endorsed by anyone, anywhere! And when we all get to Heaven...I promise I will not say "I told you so!" Good day and Good luck!
Learn more about this author, Justin Tyme.
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