by Rod Kennedy

Created on: June 03, 2008

Today, there is an entire generation of Americans that are not old enough to remember the Apollo moon landings. Sadly, this has led to the belief by many that the Apollo program, while real, did not actually land men on the moon. They argue aggressively using pseudo science and weak arguments. Yet the evidence that humans did walk on the moon is vast, compelling and in the end incontrovertible. Obviously the arguments against the validity of the Apollo landings is made to sound plausible and scientific. Yet these arguments can be used quite effectively to prove that the Apollo landings actually DID happen. Let us examine a few of these arguments.

Argument 1: In the photos of the astronauts there are no stars visible in an otherwise black sky. This is a true argument. In all the photos taken on the moon the sky is totally black. Those who argue that the Apollo landing was a hoax state this proves the whole thing was done on a sound-stage & NASA either couldn't produce stars that looked convincing or didn't think anyone would notice. However, let us examine what we do see in these pictures: astronauts in white space suits in front of a brightly lit, white (or gray) landscape. There is no atmosphere on the moon to diffuse the sunlight so the full effect of lunar daylight is blasted right into the aperture of the camera. Any amateur photographer will tell you that under such harsh lighting conditions subtleties of contrast will be lost. Therefor the light of small pinpoint stars are lost in the glare of the much brighter sunlight.

Argument 2: The camera on the lunar rover followed the path of Apollo 12 as it left the moon's surface at the end of the mission. Those arguing for hoax state this proves that a model of a lunar lander was shot into the air like a model rocket and a person filming the launch panned the camera upward. This may be one of the weakest arguments in the arsenal. Remote controlled cameras have been in use for decades, and were easy to operate in the early 1970's. In fact, the camera on the rovers could be controlled by either the astronauts themselves or by Mission Control in Houston. When Apollo 12 was ready to leave the moon, the rover had been parked close to the Lunar Module with the camera facing forward. As the upper stage of the LM blasted off, controllers at Mission Control simply followed the ascent.

Argument 3: There is no way we had the technology in 1969 to get to the moon. This argument could be subject to debate, and is in fact the

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