Ever since that spectacular day on July 20, 1969, there has been much celebrating, but

also much debating. There are many people out there who believe that the whole thing was just a

fake; a movie created by NASA to trick people into believing that we really did land on the

moon. These citizens came up with reason after reason why it wasn’t possible for us to land on

the moon, but unfortunately for them, we came up with reason after reason that contradicted

theirs on why it was possible to land on the moon.

Apollo 11 took flight and left the surface of the earth at 8:32 am, leaving on time with all

the astronauts – Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin – ready to make

history. They had been training for more than two years to get ready for this mission – one that

would change the lives of many people. With all of this hard work and dedication, they were able

to make the final trip to the moon, inspiring many Americans. While taking his first step onto the

moon’s surface, Neil Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for

mankind.” Understanding the amount of love and dedication these men poured into this trip, it is

hard to figure out why anyone would doubt them.

The reason many people think that it is fake has a lot to do with the Space Race. This

important event in history was a race between the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. to become the

first country in space. They think that America was so focused on not letting the Soviet Union

win that we decided to cheat and just fake the whole thing. They also thought that since the

Soviet Union never tried to land on the moon, that it was impossible – further proving that we

faked it. This is not true since the Soviets did attempt to land on the moon, but unlike America,

their rocket did not work quite as fast, therefore resulting in them not caring to try anymore.

Not only are there statements that try to prove it a fake that relate to the Soviet Union, but

also many that have to do with the pictures and videos of the landings. One of the main

arguments has to do with the shadows of the astronauts and other objects in the photographs. In

some of them, the shadows were not exactly parallel to the object, causing arguments about

whether or not they were faked with two different light sources in the photograph. To contradict

this, there has been some research done proving that when a person or an object is on a slight

hill, the shadow will be elongated and warped, making it look different. This proves that it was

an actual picture taken on the moon.

There is also another reason for people to believe that we did not actually visit the moon:

the footprints of the astronauts are too well preserved to be made in moon dust, they must’ve

been made in wet sand on the Earth. This statement, however, can also be proven wrong. Unlike

on the Earth, there isn’t any wind or weather on the moon. This means that any footprints or

markings imprinted in the moon dust would be perfectly preserved unless altered by a different

source. With this knowledge, we can prove this theory wrong and make it more clear that we

actually did land on the moon.

There are so many false accusations on this topic that it is tempting to believe them and

get the wrong information on our first moon landing. With some investigation, though, I have

been able to understand that many of these claims are wrong due to sloppy research. To truly

understand the importance of this event in American history, you must be able to see past the

incorrect statements and believe in the right ones: we really did land on the moon.

Bibliography:

"Apollo 11 Moon landing: conspiracy theories debunked - Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2010. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/5833633/Apollo-11-Moon-landing-conspiracy-theories-debunked.html>.

"Apollo 11 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2010.

"BBC - h2g2 - Apollo 11, The First Landing." BBC - Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A429086>.

"The Great Moon Hoax." NASA - Science@NASA. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2010. <http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast23Feb_2.htm>

"The Moon Hoax Debate." www.braeunig.us. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2010. <http://www.braeunig.us/space/hoax.htm>

Platt, Richard. DK Discoveries: Moon Landing. 0 ed. New York: DK CHILDREN, 1999. Print.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11>.