Most likely it was a piece of hair or thread introduced during copying.Ī more subtle argument that the landings were faked is based on various misunderstandings of Nasa equipment and lunar physics. Again, analysing the original photo there is no anomaly – the ‘C’ isn’t there. There appears to be a C written on it, like a lettered movie prop.

Others point to an oddity in a photo of a Moon rock taken during the Apollo 16 mission. When these images are copied or scanned some of this detail is lost completely, giving the effect that the crosshair is behind the object in certain shots. But testing here on Earth has shown that the brightly lit objects make the crosshairs appear fainter. If the images were real this would be impossible, suggesting someone painted them on. This meant starlight lost the battle against the very bright surface of the Moon, too dim to show up in photos.Īnother common argument is that the crosshairs that appear in many Apollo images sometimes appear to be behind objects in the photos. All manned missions to the Moon took place in sunny daytime. Unfortunately, this argument rests on the photos being snapped during the lunar night. Free from Earth’s light pollution and hazy atmosphere, you would expect to see thousands of stars in all the astronauts’ images. One of the most popular conspiracy arguments is that there are never any stars in Apollo photos. If someone uses these oddities as evidence, what do you say? Here are the most common arguments that support this view, and why each of them is wrong. The argument for any of these viewpoints rests on finding evidence that the landings were faked.Īnd more often than not, people point out peculiarities in specific images or videos to deal the critical blow. They claim the US government faked Apollo 11 and later missions either to deal a crucial blow to the USSR in the Space Race, or to boost Nasa funding or to divert attention away from the Vietnam war. Most people take it as gospel that the US government, Nasa, the 12 astronauts in total who have walked on the Moon and the 400,000 people involved in the Apollo programme would have neither the will nor the way to fake one of humanity’s greatest ever achievements.īut there are those who think the landings were a hoax. If you find yourself in a debate questioning whether humankind first stepped on the Moon on 20 July 1969 the chances are that you are woefully underprepared. Moon fact: With a powerful amateur telescope you can see the Apollo landing sites and, if you look at the photos from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, you can spot the remnants of the Apollo missions yourself. But even today, 50 years later, people discuss conspiracy claims online, on television programmes and around the dinner table.

Lunar landing sites