After all the recent excitement around the Artemis II mission, many people are talking about the moon and space. This has reignited age old conspiracy theories that have been around as long as the space program itself.
Space Race to the Moon
One of the biggest accomplishments in U.S. history was the Apollo 11 mission. The first man to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong, followed by Buzz Aldrin. President John F. Kennedy announced to the nation, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving a goal, before this decade is out, landing on the moon.” So the United States and Russia went head-to-head to see who was able to win. The United States did win the space race, successfully landing on the moon on July 20th, 1969 and returning to Earth on July 24. It was a bold and groundbreaking moment that captured the world’s attention and showed what was possible.
Conspiracy Theories
There are so many conspiracy theories about when we landed on the moon. Some conspiracy theories had said there were stars in the sky in the video. Some argue that the shadows on the moon seem to go in different directions, which could show studio lighting. Some people said the American flag is waving in the videos, when waves do not normally occur in an airless environment.
The Royal Museum Greenwich has theorized that the pictures that they took on the NASA website looked off; if you look closely, the shadows on Neil Armstrong and the other object there are not parallel. The other theories are that the astronauts wouldn’t have survived the earth’s radiation field, and the American flag is waving in space even though there is no air.
PBS news talks about how the moon landing was fake. They talk about how the moon landing was filmed in a TV studio. Also that it was filmed in two different ways. Their second claim talks about how Apollo used special camera equipment and then slowed the footage down. Their third claim is they could have had an advanced storage recorder to create slow motion. Their fourth claim is that they shot it on film and slowed down the film instead.
CMHS Responses
I asked CMHS to see what they think about this, and here’s what they had to say.
9th grader Ashley Mejia’s response, “For me, I do believe it was fake, only because we had equipment to film stuff like space movies in 1969. And it’s not clocking to me?”
9th grader Amy Sandoval’s response, “I don’t believe it’s real due to the fact we didn’t have that much good equipment to build a spaceship back in the 60s?? So I do think it’s fake.”
9th grader Danna Acevedo’s response, ¨I believe we did, but I’m not too sure.”
9th grader Olivia Soto’s response, “I think we did only because of the video MythBusters.”
9th grader Michelle Xahuentitla’s response, “Yes, I do believe we did land on the moon because it was livestreamed on TV, so it was most likely.”
9th grader Bethany Pena responds, “ I think that back then we didn’t have many sources or resources strong enough to make it all the way to the moon.”
Sounds like we have some skeptics on campus! What do you think Mesa Nation?
