Did the Apollo landing really happen?

My "theory" is fact. The Apollo moon landings did happen. I've never disbelieved NASA on this and last year Mythbusters actually busted the myth that the moon landings did not occur. They took several of the popular myths conspiracy theorists use as claims the landings were faked and disproved every single one.

Myth 1, shadows of the lunar topography falling in different plains proves two sources of light proving the landings were done on a sound stage. Wrong, same thing can happen here on Earth. The key here is the topography itself, it makes shadows look like their falling in seperate plains due to two light sources when all that's required is one.

Myth 2, an astronaut in the shadow of the LEM (the lunar module) is quite visible rather than in shadow is further proof of a second light source in the studio. Again wrong. The lunar regolith, the dust like substance that covers the surface of the moon, is highly reflective, which causes the moon to shine at night. It also act like a mirror reflecting light from the sunb onto the astronaut in the picture.

Myth 3, without water footprints can not be clearly defined in the moons surface and thus the landings happened on Earth. Problem with this is erosion. Sand on Earth is a more rounded substance thanks to errosion and requires water to better adhere when a clear footprint is made. While a footprint can be made in dry sand, it's not likely to be clearly defined like it is in moist or wet sand. But the lunar regolith doesn't face terran erosion and is thusly jagged. This means that it naturally acts like LEGO blocks when pressed upon, that is the jaged elemts cause it to hold it's shape as if it were wet sand.

Myth 4, the flag planting clearly demonstrates an atmosphere and a breeze, both of which are needed for the flag to wave. Not so. In an atmosphere if you plant a flag like they did on the moon friction will quickly stop the waving motion. But without any friction caused from the atmosphere to stop it, a flag planted on the moon will look like it's waving in a non-exsistent breeze.

Myth 5, the motions the astronauts made were filmed on a high spped camera and then slowed down to half spped when replayed to fake being on the moon. Again no, though such a feat can be done to mimic the astronauts on the moon, it's not quite precise. And there are aircraft which through parabolic flight can mimc the moon's gravity. They used one of these planes to test the movements in real time and found they were quite natural for that gravity.

The final nail on the coffin of the moon landings being faked comes from the reflectores left behind by Apollo 15. If you know where to look and have a powerful enough laser you can bounce the beam off the reflector and return it to Earth to measure the distance between the two based on how long it takes the beam to return. And they visited a observatory which did exactly that.

Displayed in the smithsonian??? Tapes?? are you crazy? That is the last place, where you would like to store magnetic data carriers of historic relevance. Also there is more than enough other and less fragile stuff from Apollo in the Smithsonian. You couldn't actually tell the difference between an Apollo 11 telemetry tape and the 1965 business records of IBM, unless you look at the label - the real important stuff is invisible to the human eye. Tapes belong worked with. NASA is actually working slowly on copying the telemetry from tape to DVD, there are similar plans to do that in Germany, as the radio observatory of Bochum also owns tapes with radio emissions by the Apollo spacecraft, but they are currently having a problem reading the old tapes, as their last working tape reader is broken before they had been able to read most tapes. The typical problem. In some decades, we might no longer be able to read DVDs...

Just popping in to answer Just wondering:

There was an instrument package on the side of the descent stage called the MESA. Neil pulled a handle just outside the door that let it fold out and started a TV camera. The main problem was getting the pictures back to Earth, as the Lunar Module didn't have a very powerful transmitter, so they had to compress the picture a lot which is why it's so grainy. They also didn't have a colour camera - that first came with the next mission.

There are some Hasselblad photos of an astronaut climbing down, but that's actually Buzz Aldrin. Neil took most of the pictures for Apollo 11, so it's usually Buzz you see. Here's one, for example:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/AS11-40-5863.jpg

Here's an index to all pictures from the landings:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/frame.html

My theory as to what happened is that after nearly a decade of space missions and spending billions of dollars, NASA sent a mission to the Moon which actually landed. The lunar lander Eagle was piloted by Niel Armstrong, who took the controls and landed manually after the onboard computer malfunctioned. He manuvered the craft over a boulder field and landed with 20 seconds of fuel to spare. That is not really my theory but known fact. I was a kid when the Russians launched Sputnik and 20 years old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. It was all very real.

And now you come on here with this ridiculous question, motivated by a cockamamie conspiracy theory which seeks to discredit the courage of Armstrong and other astronauts, including the ones who died. Please delete this question.

And next time you shine a powerful laser at the moon, be sure to watch for the reflection from the reflector the Apollo 11 crew left on the moon.

My theory of what happened is between 1969 and 1972 twelve men set foot upon the moon.

If what you're saying is it was all faked in a studio, then it must have been a colossal studio and one bigger than any project could build (look at the footage of the lunar rover driving over the surface of the moon)

....so if you accept that the footage of the lunar rover is real and they walked on the moon in 1971 - 1972 then why not in 1969?

There were too many people involved in the Apollo project to stand any chance of getting away with a con and a conspiracy on that scale. Someone (possibly an astronaut) would have broken ranks and gone to the press eventually

Greetings! As technologically advanced as we became by 1969, I doubt we had enough sophistication to FICTIONALIZE the moon landing. We had just enough scientific and ballistic technology to pull off the moon landing, but to create it in a movie studio would have been a colossal undertaking. I really don't think Hollywood could have produced such a fabrication, and Hollywood is ten times better at fabrication than the US government ever will be.

Ned is absolutely right. Such a colossal undertaking would have had to be done by hundreds of technicians. Someone would have squawked long before now. Hell, even the astronauts would have...what would they have to lose?

The moon landings happened. Take it to the bank.

Yes the apollo landing did happen

Yes the government says that it did and the myth busters put it o the use and using the footage recreated and it was confirmed that it really did happen.

Yes. They brought back moon rocks as proof.

Well, I like to believe it was real, but I've always wondered --

When the astronaut is coming down the ladder and stepping on the moon and saying "One small step for man, one giant step for mankind,"

who was already on the moon taking his picture?