by Sydni Crass 

    Just like almost every child, you were blown away when hearing about the first flight to the moon. Being that it was considered one of America’s greatest achievements, it gave our country renowned pride to say we were the first on the moon. But what if I told you that we never stepped foot on the moon- that it was all set up like a low-budget Hollywood movie that only the detail-oriented may discover?

    As believed by many conspiracy theorists and roughly 20 percent of Americans, the footage broadcasted from the moon onto 600 million television sets worldwide on July 20, 1969, was a hoax; taking place on one large movie set with Hollywood cameras and two actors by the name of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. As a result of being televised, many people started to notice features within the footage that didn’t quite add up, such as the infamous waving flag, multiple light sources, and the same exact background in pictures of moon that were supposedly taken “miles apart.” But why would America want to fake something so important to mankind? The answer is actually simple. Back in the day, America desired to be the first country to reach the moon, but the technology in the late 60s was never advanced enough to actually reach the moon, thus resulting in the building of a soundstage and many questionable events found in the footage.

    While the evidence NASA provides appears believable, there are many flaws. One of which has to do with the audio that was recorded. While listening to the astronauts talk during the descent to the surface of the moon, you never hear any noise from the engine although the loudness would be anywhere from 140 to 150 decibels, as loud as a jet engine at 100 feet away, according to hearnet.com. Conspiracy theorists have also pointed out that when shown on live television, viewers could clearly see the American flag waving as Neil Armstrong planted it. Photos of the landing also seem to show rippling in a breeze, such as the image below which clearly shows a fold in the flag. The obvious problem here is that there’s no air in the moon’s atmosphere, and therefore no wind to cause the flag to flutter. Perhaps a stage fan?

In early science classes, we learn that the moon is covered in fine lunar dust; making everything it touches leave a print within it. Had NASA actually landed on the moon, there would be a blast crater underneath the lunar module to mark its landing.  Instead, as found in all video and photograph footage, no crater is visible as if the module was simply placed there- as if it was a prop in a movie scene.

On the moon there is only one strong light source: the Sun. So it’s natural to believe that all shadows should run parallel to one another coming from the same origin. But this was not the case during Apollo 11. Footage from the event clearly shows that the shadows fall in different directions- meaning that there had to be another use of other lights, such as stage lights surrounding a film set, for example.

One captivating argument for the moon landing hoax is the lack of stars in the footage; something you see very clearly on Earth, and something that should be perpetually visible on the moon. “The argument here is that NASAwould have found it impossible to map out the exact locations of all stars for the hoax without being rumbled, and therefore left them out – intentionally falling back on an excuse that the quality of the photographs wash them out (an excuse they did actually give)”, according to listverse.com. People hardly believed this statement given that there had been technology to “travel to the moon.” One last statement that proves the first moon landing was a hoax is that there were multiple uses of sets and backdrops during Apollo 15, meaning that during Apollo 11, nearly two years earlier, NASA also used backdrops as a way to portray the surface of the moon. The two photos below are from the Apollo 15 mission, which clearly have identical backdrops, although NASA states they were ”taken miles apart.” This shows that NASA and their directors simply used the same backdrop when filming different scenes of the now famous moon landing video.

In conclusion, the next time you come across something as extraordinary as landing on the moon, make sure you pay attention to detail. I believe that because of NASA’s obvious counterfeit, up to 20 percent of the population now presume Apollo 11 to be false. Although not officially admitted by NASA or the American government, the photo and video footage are clear evidence that prove the first moon landing was a hoax- that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were not astronauts, but actually actors striving for renowned pride and fame.