The Enigma of the Moon Landings: Did NASA Lie?
The photos of the moon landings, analyzed several decades later by expert photographers, cast doubt on their authenticity, so much so that we ask ourselves: did man really go to the moon?
Even on July 20, 1969, among the millions of people who watched the moon landing live on TV, there was skepticism. Since then, the number of people who don't believe in that famous event has grown. In present day many people do not believe that NASA sent astronauts to the moon, just as they don't believe in evolution. But why this distrust in one of humanity's greatest achievements? Expert photographers have analyzed the famous Nasa's photos with modern technology, and some—indeed, many—of them show strange anomalies and errors that suggest the landing was all just a staged event by NASA in a film studio.
During the 1960s, there was a frantic race for space conquest between the United States and Russia, with the Russians having better rocket power. According to Bill Kaysing, an engineer at Rocketdyne, the company responsible for building the Apollo mission rockets, the American engines weren't powerful enough to propel the lunar module to the Moon. Even today, the Shuttle cannot exit Earth's orbit; sending over nine tons of modules 400,000 km from Earth seems almost science fiction. Therefore, it's possible that this whole scene was staged to beat the Russians in the race to conquer our satellite, or so they would have us believe.
The main hypothesis, supported by Kaysing in his exposé book "We Never Went to the Moon," is that the landing never happened and that there was a simulation in a Nevada television studio. Other theories suggest the alleged failure of the landing and thus the impossibility of taking photos, or that the landing did occur but with poorly taken photos. This theory is quite plausible, as Nasa used Kodak commercial films, which, once exposed to the sun's heat exceeding 100°C, likely melted (just think of what happens to film rolls left in a car exposed to the sun).
However, the most shocking theory is that the three astronauts of the first Apollo mission encountered something quite unexpected, terrifying them to the point of exclaiming famous phrases like: "These objects are frightening... huge... you wouldn't believe it. There are spacecraft down there... they are lined up on the edge of the crater... on the opposite side of ours... they are on the Moon and they are watching us!" These words, allegedly spoken by Neil Armstrong, were recorded in the communication between Apollo 11 and Houston and promptly censored by NASA; they were accidentally intercepted by the Russians and revealed to the general astonishment. Maybe the original photos showed something truly compromising, leading to their storage in secret state archives, forcing the space agency to create fake ones?
In any case, whether we went to the Moon or not remains a mystery; this is why we now see the famous photos as analyzed by a New Jersey writer, Ralph Renè, and professional photographer David Percy, the main proponents of the falsification theory.
In the picture above Neil Armstrong descends the ladder of Apollo 11 on July 21, 1969. This is the very first photo of the first man to set foot on the Moon. But who took this picture from the outside if Armstrong was the first to step down? A robot? I don't think so, especially since the photo was taken in the shadows, and as everyone knows, because there's no atmosphere on the Moon, the contrasts between light and shadow should be sharp... So, where did this bright flash come from?
The most famous photo of Aldrin is the one you see above. As we mentioned earlier, the sunlight hits the astronaut directly from the right, but since there is no atmosphere, the shadowed side should be completely black. However, as you can see, the astronaut's sleeve and leg show visible details, as if another light source were illuminating him from the left. Also, notice the background: if the Sun illuminates everything directly, why does the horizon appear shadowed? There were no hills or elevations in the Apollo 11 landing area!
Aldrin and Armstrong are raising the American flag. But why do their shadows cross? And why is one shadow shorter than the other? And who took this photo from above if there were only two of them?
The mystery of the diverging shadows: The Sun in the photo should be about 150 million km away, and like on Earth, the shadows it casts should be parallel. However, in the photo, the astronaut and the small probe to the right appear to be illuminated by a spotlight placed a few meters away, causing their shadows to diverge so sharply! Try it yourself with a flashlight, and you'll see! (Also, consider the usual illumination that shouldn't be present on the right side of the man and on the shadowed side of the hills).
The famous footprint of Armstrong on the lunar dust covering the ground: a blatant fake because the surface of the satellite, lacking an atmosphere, shows no trace of moisture, making it impossible, due to its fine consistency, to create such clear marks. Think of dry sand on earthly beaches, where no footprints are left, only grooves. It's different with wet sand...
As we can see, while the astronaut's footprints sink into the ground, the Lunar Module, which weighs 8 tons, rests lightly as a feather without sinking even a millimeter! Additionally, we notice that the lighting is confined to the area around the astronaut, while the horizon, as usual, seems forgotten by the spotlights...
This image features an astronaut standing next to the Lunar Module (LM) on the surface of the Moon. The astronaut visible could be either Alan Shepard or Edgar Mitchell, the two astronauts who landed on the Moon during Apollo 14. Also this photo has some errors: first of all, there should be a crater under the Lunar Module created by the rocket engine during landing, and with the thrust of 8 tons, there shouldn't even be a pebble left. Instead, we see that there are small stones of all kinds under the LM, along with dust that hasn't been blown away. Furthermore, the shadow of the LM is very short, yet it seems to almost touch the horizon, which appears too low as if it were the backdrop of a studio set. And indeed, not a single star is visible, as in the other photos. But without an atmosphere and humidity, the sky should be extremely clear, and we should even be able to see the Milky Way!
In the Apollo 12 mission, astronaut Alan Bean is photographed by his companion. The problem is that the Hasselblad camera is fixed to the chest of his colleague Charles Conrad, and its position doesn't allow, for geometric reasons, to capture the upper part of the helmet. Additionally, the reflection in Conrad's helmet is not aligned with the photo, which appears off-center to the right. Moreover, notice how Bean's shadow, as usual, is not sharp but blurred, due to diffraction!
During the Apollo 15 mission, the lunar rover made its appearance, and the inconsistencies increased. Notice how the gravel suddenly stops (in the area marked by the arrows), and it's clear that the photo transitions to a different, more blurred background! Furthermore, how can we explain the mud splashes on the rover's fenders? If the surface is dry, how could it get muddy? Also, note the divergence between the shadow of the rock on the right, which goes in a different direction than the astronaut's shadow!
Additionally, the photo of the rover shows this curious detail: the camera's crosshair has been covered by the antenna of the vehicle! This further demonstrates that the image of the rover was superimposed on a lunar background.
An image that should be stunning: the low Sun illuminates the familiar rover, but if the Sun is behind, why is the astronaut illuminated on the front as well? The vehicle, however, casts a clear shadow! And what about the little hill in the background? Look at the strange "haze" effect, almost like a mist surrounding it, as if it were a large cardboard cutout reflecting the light... Also, notice how the ground is separated from this hill! Some more notes: if the landing area of the LEM was flat, where did this hill come from? And yet, the shadow of the Lunar Module stands prominently in the foreground.
(top) Even in lunar orbit, there are oddities. Here you can see the Apollo 11 Command Module with astronaut Collins on board, orbiting above the surface of the satellite. But why (bottom) is the shadow of the Module's rocket engine so large that it covers half the hemisphere if it was 85 km away from the Moon? In fact, this is one of the photos released in the days following the mission, later censored by NASA and never republished. It should be noted that according to some experts, it might be the silhouette of a small retrorocket in shadow, appearing in the extreme foreground and thus blurred.
Another photo showing diverging shadows.
There are many other photos that show strange anomalies like the ones we've seen. The stars, which should be clearly visible due to the absence of an atmosphere, the sunlight that illuminates only the subject but fades into darkness, etc.
Many photos were censored by NASA, and NASA even admitted to retouching "a few" because some came out poorly.
Many years later NASA released some picture showing the landing area.
The image above shows the Apollo 11 landing site, as imaged by the LROC camera aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, decades after the first Moon landing.
Did man really went to the moon or was it all staged?
