Transmission issues
The lack of a more than two-second delay in two-way communications at a distance of a quarter million miles
Typical delays in communication were on the order of half a second
Better signal supposedly received at Parkes observatory when the moon was on the opposite side of the planet
Parkes billed to the world for weeks as the site that would be relaying communciations from the moon, then five hours before transmission they were told to stand down
Various conflicting stories from Parkes re: their involvement in the hoax
Parkes supposedly provided the clearest video feed from the moon, but Australian media and all other known sources ran a live feed from the United States
-no rebuttal available-
Mechanical issues
The lack of a blast crater from the landing
That the launch rocket produced no visible flame
The rocks brought back from the Moon are identical to rocks collected by scientific expeditions to Antartica
The presence of deep dust around the module
The flapping flag
Exhaust from the propulsion system was throttled low during the final stages of low gravity descent and the lack of air-pressure on the moon causes those exhaust gases to rapidly expand well beyond the landing site. Therefore there was in fact little pressure right below the landing site.
Hydrazine (a fuel) and dinitrogen tetroxide (an oxidizer) were used as the propellants. These two chemicals ignite hypergolically - upon contact - producing a transparent jet of particles. They simply produced an equal and opposite motive force, pushing the rocket. See Newton's laws of motion. This combination has been also been used on the American Titan, Russian Proton and Chinese Long March launchers.
Chemical analysis of the rocks confirms a different oxygen isotopic composition and a surprising lack of volatile elements.
The dust around the module is called regolith and is created by ejecta from asteroid and meteoroid impacts. This dust was several inches thick at the Apollo 11 landing site.
The astronauts were moving the flag into position, causing motion. Since there is no air on the moon to provide friction, these movements caused a long-lasting undulating movement seen in the flag. Morever, former astronauts have stated that they left the horizontal (spring-loaded) bar not fully extended because they liked the fabric's rippled appearance--which could be mistaken for motion in a still photograph.
Refutations of the theory generally focus on the following topics:
- Telemetry
- Prior missions
- The rocks brought to Earth from the moon
- The presence of retroreflectors left on the moon
Some landing skeptics have claimed that famed director Stanley Kubrick was somehow a part of the conspiracy, usually casting him as the director of the moon landing sequence. These proponents hypothesize that the superb "realistic" outer space effects of the movie were developed and perfected in special CIA film sets while preparing the faked moon landings, and that Kubrick later made use of the same special effects technology to make his movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Moon rocks
Landing believers claim that rocks allegedly brought back from the moon prove that the landings took place, however, skeptics raise concerns about ex-Nazi and NASA's chief rocket scientist Wernher von Braun's trip to Antarctica two years prior to Apollo missions. They contend that no credible explanation for the trip was ever offered, and that he would have been susceptible to pressure to agree to the conspiracy in order to protect himself from recriminations for his Nazi past. Others counter that secretly obtaining extraterrestrial-seeming rocks from Antarctica could have been more easily done by anonymous CIA operatives.
The claim that the rocks are the same as ones found on Earth does carry some weight in the scientific community. However, it is believed that rocks dislodged from the moon by meteoric impacts occasionally land on Earth. The physics of this process is well understood. A handful of rocks believed to be from Mars have also been found in Antarctica.
Stanley Kubrick
It is alleged that in early 1968 (while 2001: A Space Odyssey was in post production), NASA secretly approached Kubrick to direct the first three moon landings. He initially said he was not interested, but, apparently, NASA convinced him using a combination of carrot and stick; exclusive access to the alien artifacts and autopsy footage from the Roswell crash site, and threats to publicly reveal Raul's (Kubrick's younger brother) links with the American Communist Party. Kubrick is alleged to have spent sixteen months working on the project with a special effects team led by Douglas Trumbull on a sound stage in Huntsville, Alabama, with the Apollo 11 mission being staged in July of 1969.
Allegedly a Saturn V rocket was launched into low Earth orbit with astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins remaining there while Kubrick's footage of the 'landing' was released to the press. The return to Earth and splashdown were, of course, real. Several months later, the Apollo 12 mission was successfully staged in a similar manner. Randall Cunningham was later recruited to direct a 'failed mission'.
Deaths of key people involved with the Apollo program
10 astronauts and others related to the program died in accidents - landing skeptics claim that these are part of a cover-up, and that NASA or other U.S. government agencies were disposing of people who they feared would 'blow the whistle'.
- Ed Givens (car accident)
- Ted Freeman (T-38 crash)
- C. C. Williams (T-38 accident)
- Elliot See and Charlie Bassett (T-38 accident)
- Virgil "Gus" Grissom (an outspoken critic of the Space Program) (Apollo 1 fire)
- Ed White (Apollo 1 fire)
- Roger Chaffee (Apollo 1 fire)
- X-15 pilot Mike Adams (the only X-15 pilot killed during the X-15 flight test program - not a NASA astronaut, but had flown X-15 above 50 miles).
- Robert Lawrence, scheduled to be an Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory pilot who died in a jet crash shortly after reporting for duty to that (later cancelled) program.
- NASA worker Thomas Baron (claimed to be a coverup of a 500 page report on the Apollo 1 accident).
- Bill Kaysing contacted Paul Jacobsh, a private investigator from San Francisco and asked him to help him with his Apollo anomalies investigations. Mr. Jacobs went to see the head of the U.S. Department of Geology in Washington and asked: 'Did you examine the Moon rocks, did they really come from the Moon.?' The geologist just laughed. Paul flew back from Washington and told Keysing that the people in high office of the American Government knew of the cover-up. Paul Jacobs and his wife both died from cancer within 90 days.
- Lee Gelvani claims to have almost convinced informant James Irwin to confess about the cover-up. Irwin was going to ring Kaysing about it, however he died of a heart attack within 3 days.
Falsifiability
Unlike some other theories, this is claimed by some to be falsifiable. Observations could be made—for example, through powerful telescopes or via new moon landings—of the physical evidence—landing bases, equipment, footprints, etc.—that would prove or disprove the theory.
For example, the Apollo astronauts reportedly left reflectors on the moon, during Apollo missions 11, 14, and 15, which scientists routinely use to very precisely measure the distance between the earth and the moon. Skeptics contend that those data could also be faked, or that reflectors, if they exist, could more easily have been placed by robot missions (such as the French-built mirror was on the Soviet Lunakhod 2) and do not prove a human landing. However, supporters note that the Apollo retroreflectors are apparently more accurate than the Lunakhod mirror--they claim that this was only possible through manned placement.
In September, 2002, astronaut Buzz Aldrin was harassed by, and in return assaulted, Bart Sibrel who had repeatedly, over several years, demanded that Aldrin swear an oath on the Bible that he had walked on the moon, or admit that it was all a hoax. Aldrin repeatedly refused to do this.
In early November 2002 NASA announced that it was cancelling publication of a book by Jim Oberg that was intended to challenge the claims that the Moon landings were a hoax. Their decision was apparently prompted by the outcry raised by people who felt such a book would legitimize the claims of hoax theorists.
European scientists announced in 2002 that they intend to use the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope to obtain images of the moon landing sites, which are expected to show the moon lander bases still in place. No firm date has been given when the telescope will be used for this purpose, or when the results will be released. It also seems likely that any photographs produced would be subject to the same scepticism that has dogged other evidence, and that accusations will be made that these too could be faked.
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