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

July 16 marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of NASA's historic Apollo 11 lunar mission. Four days later, on July 20, 1969, the first human foot set foot on the surface of the Moon.

Buzz Aldrin and the American flag. A photo: NASA, Wikipedia

This man was the commander of the ship, Neil Armstrong, who uttered the historical phrase: “A small step for a man, but a giant leap for all mankind,” writes Air force.

The landing on the moon was the first big victory of the Americans, who were far behind the USSR in the space race: Soviet scientists and engineers before them managed to bring the first man first to Earth orbit (Yuri Gagarin), and then to outer space (Alexei Leonov).

Since then, a total of 12 American astronauts have visited the Earth’s natural satellite—and not a single Soviet or Russian cosmonaut.

It was this fact that gave rise to one of the most famous conspiracy theories: supposedly Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin never actually landed on the Moon, and all the photos and videos of their landing were staged by the US government with the support of NASA and Hollywood to announce victory in space race.

On the subject: The White House demanded to send American astronauts to the moon before the 2024 of the year at any cost.

This conviction is so settled that it even got the name: Lunar conspiracy.

An important argument for supporters of this theory was the death in 1967 of three astronauts who were preparing for the first manned flight to the Moon - but 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.

Buzz Aldrin walks the surface of the moon with Neil Armstrong. A photo: NASA, Wikipedia

The fact that the USSR never disputed the details of the Apollo 11 mission does not bother conspiracy theorists, although it would be Soviet scientists and state propaganda that would be primarily interested in exposing the falsification, having all the necessary means for this.

Despite this, decades after the landing there are still people who are convinced that the entire Apollo 11 story is one big fake.

In the USA alone, there are fifteen million supporters of this theory; in Britain, every sixth person believes in the “Moon Conspiracy” - this belief is especially widespread among young people. It is quite possible that there are supporters of this theory among your friends or relatives.

How to convince them? The Russian service BBC examines the main arguments of conspiracy therapists and explains why they do not stand up to scrutiny.

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 should be completely black. However, we can clearly see objects in the shadows (like Buzz Aldrin emerging from the camera in the picture below), which means there are lighting fixtures hidden somewhere off-screen.

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.

Think about it: even if the windows of your room face west, at dawn it will still become lighter in it - precisely thanks to the reflected light.

To finally be convinced of the failure of this argument, try somehow, once on the beach on a bright sunny day, turn to face your own shadow.

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.

The first photograph taken by Neil Armstrong after his release on the lunar surface. A photo: NASA, Wikipedia

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.

On a bright, sunny day, try walking into the shade and taking a selfie against a backdrop of light-filled landscapes—without using extra smart features like HDR. You will have to choose: either shoot a clearly visible face against a heavily overexposed and blurry background, or a beautiful landscape with a dark spot instead of a photographer.

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The crew of Apollo 11 had to make approximately the same choice, only there it was the other way around: the surface of the Moon was flooded with light and the astronauts themselves were against the backdrop of a completely black sky.

Short exposure allows us to clearly see the brightly lit subjects (although the white suits in many pictures are still overexposed), but does not allow to see the stars.

The same effect can be seen in this image of the ISS taken in 2011 from a Soyuz spacecraft departing from the station. As you can see, the sky there also turned out to be completely starless.

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.

Lunar module "Apollo" on the surface of the moon. A photo: NASA, Wikipedia

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.

Buzz Aldrin and the American flag. A photo: NASA, Wikipedia

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.

In the photo above, it really gives the impression that the flag is flying in the wind.

However, the original NASA video clearly shows that the panel comes into motion only when astronauts touch the flag and perform any manipulations with it.

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.

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 due to friction. There are no such traces on the stones brought by NASA astronauts, which means they could not have come from space on their own.

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