Interesting facts and conspiracy theory: in the United States celebrate the 50 anniversary of the moon landing

On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. President John Kennedy set the task: to send a man to the Moon and return to Earth before the end of the decade - NASA fulfilled the requirement.

To the 50 anniversary of the landing of a man on the moon edition with the BBC gathered 10 interesting facts about the American lunar mission.

1. About 11 thousand people worked on the Apollo 400 space program.

2. The average age of the controllers who led the mission from Earth was only 27 years.

3. The crew rehearsed the final decline dozens of times. But communication with the lunar module was interrupted right before landing.

4. Neil Armstrong had 60 seconds to land a module on the surface of the moon.

5. During landing, the sensors showed that the fuel in the module would remain no more than 17 seconds of flight. However, post-flight analysis showed that 349 kg of fuel remained in the landing stage fuel tanks. That would be enough for 25 seconds to freeze, after which 20 seconds would remain to start the engine take-off stage. As it turned out, the warning of critically small fuel residues caught fire ahead of time, because the fuel in the tanks began to splash after Armstrong inclined the lunar module to fly over the crater. In all subsequent models of the lunar module, additional partitions were installed in the tanks to avoid such hardware errors.

6. Armstrong's pulse rate at the final landing stage reached 150 beats per minute.

On the subject: NASA will send tourists into space for $ 35 thousands per day

7. About 530 million people watched on TV for the first steps Armstrong on the moon.

8. Taking advantage of a break in communication, Aldrin, as an elder Presbyterian churchheld a short private church service on the moon by performing sacrament of communion. Initially, he planned that this event will be broadcast directly by radio. But at the last moment, NASA abandoned this idea because of a trial initiated by an atheist. Madaline Murray O'Hare. Armstrong did not take part and did not receive communion. Aldrin had with him a small plastic box with a traveling set of miniature chalice, visit и winewhich he took in advance at the Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston. He read the verse In.15:5 of Gospel of john.

9. After the flight, Aldrin returned the miniature chalice to the webster church. Every year on Sunday, closest to July 20, local parishioners there take part in the liturgy of the Eucharist.

10. Neil Armstrong and Baz Aldrin spent 21 on the moon an hour 36 minutes.

12 astronauts can boast that they have left their marks on the surface of the moon:

• 21 July 1969 of the Year - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, they spent an hour 21 minutes on the planet 36 (mission Apollo-11);
• 19 November 1969 of the year - Charles ("Pete") Conrad and Alan Bean, on the moon they stayed 31 hour and 31 minute (Apollo 12 mission);
• 5 February 1971 of the year - Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell spent on the Earth's satellite 33 hours and 14 minutes (Apollo-14 mission);
• 31 July 1971 of the Year - David Scott and James Irwin, they spent on the Moon 66 hours and 55 minutes (Apollo-15 mission);
• 21 April 1972 - John Young and Charles Duke spent an hour on the planet 71 an hour and 2 minutes (Apollo-16 mission);
• 11 December 1972 of the Year - Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt stayed on the Moon for 75 hours and 1 minutes (Apollo-17 mission).

Despite several such missions, still not everyone believes that the first landing was real. Many believe in the “Moon Conspiracy” and consider the landing to be staged.

An important argument for supporters of this theory was the death of three astronauts in 1967, who were preparing for the first manned flight to the moon, but were burned alive during ground tests a month before the scheduled launch. They allegedly intended to tell the world the truth about the impending falsification, for which they were killed by the American authorities.

With the advent of the Internet and social networks, the number of supporters of this theory has only increased. Doubt they cause several facts at once.

Sources of light

Reason for doubt: The sun is the only possible source of light in photographs from the lunar surface. Thus, everything that is in the shadow must be completely black. However, we clearly see objects in the shade, which means that lighting devices are hidden somewhere behind the frame.

Explanation: The error is hidden in the first statement. To see objects in the shadow of the Sun, additional sources of light are really needed - however, lighting devices have nothing to do with it.

The fact is that the Sun in these photos is not the only source of light. The sun's rays are reflected from the lunar surface and scattered in all directions, highlighting objects located in the shade. Therefore, we can see them.

On the subject: Doublers and farewell letter: 7 little-known facts about Gagarin and his flight into space

Starless sky

Reason for doubt: We see no stars in any photo or video of the landing of the crew, although in the absence of the atmosphere they should shine even brighter than on Earth. Obviously, the shooting was done in the pavilion.

Explanation: It's all about short exposure. If she had been longer, the stars would have been perfectly visible - but the astronauts themselves would have disappeared.

The brightness and detail of the image depends on the amount of light that has fallen on the film. If it is not enough, the photo will turn out dark; if too much, overexposed.

You can adjust the amount of light in two ways: the width of the lens opening (aperture) and the time during which it remains open (exposure). It is especially difficult to take a photo when the foreground and background are very different in degree of illumination.

Фото: Depositphotos

Where is the crater and where is the dust?

Reason for doubt: When landing, the lunar module "Eagle" had to leave the impact crater in the bulk of the lunar soil, but in the photo no crater under the ship is visible. In addition, the dust that had risen from the impact should have settled on the module supports, but it does not exist.

Explanation: Let's not forget that the lunar gravity is about six times less than the Earth's gravity - therefore, the effect of the impact there is much less than we imagine on the basis of life experience.

Immediately before touching, the module went down at a speed of about 15 cm per second, and the landing turned out to be so soft that the astronauts did not even understand at what exact moment the surface touched.

Habitual earth views mislead us about dust. We know that when launching a rocket or striking a shallow soil, dust scatters like clouds in all directions.

However, it spreads it on the Earth by air currents, but on the Moon there is no atmosphere. As a result, lunar dust - the top layer of soil - was only disturbed where it was touched by the supports themselves or jet engine exhausts scattered to the sides along a ballistic trajectory - and she physically could not “settle down”.

Ripple flag

Reason for doubt: The flag of the United States, set by astronaut Buzz Aldrin, flutters like in the wind. But on the moon, as noted above, there is no air - and therefore, there can be no wind. Obviously, the scene was filmed on Earth.

Explanation: There is really no air on the moon, so the top edge of the cloth holds the horizontal rod - otherwise it would instantly hang.

This rod was collapsible, but after landing the sliding mechanism jammed a bit, and the astronauts did not succeed in stretching the panel to its full length. That is why the fabric does not look stretched and will obviously fasten.

Let there be no air on the moon, but nobody canceled the waves there - and every movement of the metal pole, to which the cloth is attached, is transmitted to the cloth itself and causes it to oscillate.

On the subject: China will launch an artificial moon into space: how and why it is needed

Soil samples

Reason for doubt: Fragments of an extraterrestrial origin, which the astronauts demonstrated as evidence of their landing on the moon, are not necessarily brought from there - this may well be meteorites collected in the Antarctic, which flew to Earth themselves.

Explanation: In Antarctica, it is indeed sometimes possible to find small stone fragments, knocked out of the lunar surface by powerful asteroid strikes and reached the Earth - but there are not so many of them.

The astronauts brought with them a total of 382 kg of lunar rock samples (for six visits) to Earth.

The stones were studied not only by American scientists, but also by their colleagues from all over the world - including from Russia, Japan and China. They could have easily detected a fake, but they came to the conclusion that the soil is the same in composition as the samples previously found in Antarctica. There is one important difference.

When passing through the dense layers of the atmosphere, meteorites melt from friction. There are no such traces on the stones brought by NASA astronauts - which means they could not fly from space on their own.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Lunar conspiracy and its refutation: why not everyone believes in the landing of the USA on the Moon. PHOTO, VIDEO

'With the naked eye': the Russian astronaut made out from the ISS Ukrainian shells in the Donbass

A resident of Nevada 43 a year ago bought a videotape written down: why is it now worth a fortune

In Russia, a figurine of the director of Roscosmos was launched into space in a Zhiguli: Musk threatens with a battle. VIDEO

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.