Conspiracy Theorists Have Suggested That American Astronauts Did Not Land on the Moon in 1969

Conspiracy theorists have suggested that American astronauts did not land on the moon in 1969. To what extent is their claim reasonable?

The moon landing conspiracy theories claim that some or all elements of the Apollo program and the associated moon landing are hoaxes. Various groups and individuals have made conspiracy claims revolve around a few key issues, the waving flag, the blast craters and the shadows, being cited as evidence in support of the Moon landing conspiracy theories.

Although a number of objections against that NASA landed a mission on the moon are claimed by conspiracy theorists, most of them are vague and illogical notions. Actually, queries brought forth by conspiracy theorists have been explained scientifically. This essay attempts to argue the conspiracy claims about moon landing in 1969 are not reasonable.

There are several key issues that cause the moon landing theories to emerge. One of them is that the US flag is waving according to the photos given by NASA. The flag place on the surface by the astronauts fluttered despite there being no wind on the Moon. Conspiracy theorists hold the view that this suggests that it was filmed on Earth and a breeze caused the flag to flutter. However, there is a special metal pole connected to the top of the flagpole vertically so that the flag does not hang down. There is no wind and no air on the moon but there does exist inertia property. The flag fluttered because of the inertia property caused by the astronaut's motion of insert the flagpole into surface of the moon. Moreover, the videos show that when astronauts let go of the flagpole and walk pass by the flag remains still. This point is a significant demonstration because in an atmospheric environment the astronauts' motion will cause the air flow which could make the flag vibrate.

There is another objection that in the lighting-one source environment the shadow crossing not parallel. Conspiracy theorists address that this suggests that artificial lights were used. Objectors think that the "only light source" should be the sun, actually there are several reflected light sources: the sun, sunlight reflected from the earth, sunlight reflected from the moon, sunlight reflected from the astronauts and the LEM. Shadow on the moon is complicated by reflected light, light from these sources is scattered in many directions. In addition, the uneven ground and dust on the moon make the shadow may appear longer and shorter. Furthermore, if artificial light sources were used, there should not be only one shadow of each object. This theory is debunked on the famous experiment "MythBusters" episode "NASA moon landing". The experiment also demonstrates that the wide-angle lens distortion leads to inconsistent shadow.

Conspiracy theorists also retort that the LEM make no blast craters and the engine does not blast away

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