45 Years After Apollo 11: Debunking the Top 11 Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories

Rasmussen released the results of a poll on Monday showing that 23 percent of Americans believe President Obama wasn’t born in the United States. By itself, that number isn’t too shocking. But when you add the percentage of people who “aren’t sure” whether the president was born here, the total climbs up to a disturbing 40 percent. Come to think of it, those numbers aren’t disturbing, they’re perverse.

In an age when information is so readily available, you’d think that ease-of-access to a universe of facts would breed a more informed, less gullible and, let’s face it, less stupid public. Nope, it hasn’t really worked out like that. The internet appears to have merely served as a bottomless cup of confirmation bias in support of all varieties of ridiculous conspiracy theories, from the existence of testosterone-sapping juice boxes to weather weapons to chemtrails to, yes, spritzing vinegar on chemtrails to make them vanish. In fairness, it’s not just the internet, by the way. Formerly respectable networks like Discovery and History Channel are now the homes to popular shows about bigfoot and ghost hunting.

One of the many conspiracy theories that’s flourished online is the alleged staging of the Apollo 11 Moon-landing inside a Hollywood studio. Simply put, the over-arching conspiracy theory suggests that instead of going to the Moon, the U.S. government hired a Hollywood director to stage the entire thing right here on Earth where NASA would pass it off to the American public as a legitimate achievement.

The whole thing from top to bottom is a great big pile of horseshit.

So, in honor of the 45th anniversary of the stupendous Apollo 11 mission, which, yes, actually delivered two astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, to the surface of the Moon (Michael Collins manned the orbiting command module), then returned them safely to Earth, let’s debunk the top 10 theories that claim to prove the landing was a hoax.

1) President Nixon was behind the hoax.

It’s easy to make Nixon the villain in any scenario because Nixon, in general, was a villain. Yes, he was president during all of the Apollo missions that landed on the Moon. But the Apollo missions begin when he was elected nor did the program end because Nixon left office in disgrace — there simply wasn’t enough congressional support to continue funding it.

2) The American flag appears to flutter in the breeze, but there’s no breeze on the Moon.

This one might be the dumbest of the litter. The only time the flag moves is when Armstrong and Aldrin are planting it on the surface. The top seam of the flag contained an aluminum rod that was designed keep the flag permanently taut, so when the flag was being set up, the aluminum rod moved with the motion of the astronauts adjusting the flag pole. With very little gravity on the Moon, the movement of flag continues briefly after the pole is planted. Additionally, the poor quality of some of the film and video footage gives the illusion of movement due to distortion and interlacing.

3) There isn’t a starfield in the photos from the surface.

You know how we’d know for sure the Moon landing was staged? If there were stars in the photos. This would prove that the stars were artificially created in a studio, bright enough to match the brightness of the Moon’s surface as it reflected the harsh daylight. In order to capture detailed photos in such bright sunlight, the astronauts used an extremely fast shutter speed… CONTINUE READING

By: Bob Cesca

Bob Cesca is the managing editor at The Daily Banter (www.thedailybanter.com) and a Huffington Post contributor since 2005. He's worked in journalism since 1988 as a print writer/editor, a radio news anchor, a digital media columnist/editor, a book author and blogger. He's the co-host of the Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show podcast and a Thursday regular on the syndicated Stephanie Miller Show. He's appeared on numerous other radio shows including the John Phillips Show and Geraldo Rivera Show in Los Angeles. Bob has been a commentator/analyst on the BBC (TV and radio), MSNBC, Current TV, CNN and Sky News. Following him on Twitter: @bobcesca_go