by W.H. Garcia

Created on: February 08, 2009

The Apollo landings on the moon have left an indelible mark on modern human history. Attempts to deny them are often borne out of sheer ignorance of hard scientific facts. It is no doubt a grave insult to the dedication and time put in by the people at NASA who made it possible.

First of all, it does not take a genius to understand why the moon landings are such an easy target for the conspiracy theorists. When people fail to understand something, they often come up with explanations that make the unknown entity more palatable, no matter how irrational they might be. To these people, the idea that the moon landings were shot at some undisclosed desert location was certainly more believable than the idea that a rocket made up of hundreds of thousands of parts could go all the way to the moon and make it safely back.

Conspiracy theorists have come up with tons of evidence to support their theory that the moon landings were a hoax. Most of them, if not all, have been debunked with hard scientific fact.

One of the more widely propagated myths by the conspiracy theorists is the waving of the American flag while it was planted, almost as if it was caused by wind. That would be impossible since there is no atmosphere on the moon. Experiments have since shown that the flag moved due to a lack of air resistance. When the flag was planted, the initial kinetic energy imparted to it took quite some time to dissipate as there were no air molecules around it.

Another pet theory of the conspiracy theorists is that of the non-parallel shadows shown in some of the photographs. Many claim that this is only possible if there is more than one light source, like in a studio environment. It has since been shown to be caused by the relief on the surface of the moon. Quite simply, objects on different gradient produce shadows with differing angles even when they are lit by the same light source.

The above is just but a taste of the flimsy evidence that conspiracy theorists have thrown at the subject. Increasingly, it looks like they are clutching at straws. They are preying on the minds of American citizens who have no ready access to credible scientific evidence.

In this day and age, the discussion of whether the moon landings were staged is almost irrelevant. After bearing witness to numerous scientific discoveries and achievements, it is clear that humans are much more capable of just putting themselves on the moon. Indeed, plans are already afoot for a mission to Mars and beyond. It would be a travesty to still think that such a landmark in space history as the Apollo landings is nothing more than a clever movie.

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