Moonstruck Theorists Battle Nasa Scientists

Ever since the Apollo program sent Americans to the moon, conspiracy theorists have argued that the entire program was an elaborately planned hoax by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Theorists composed a list of “production blunders” which illustrated how NASA had made errors in its cover-up and couldn’t have possibly landed a man on the moon. NASA and other world scientists pointedly explained away the theories that ranged from the Van Allen belt radiation, to the stars in lunar pictures, to the lunar dust inlaid with the astronaut’s footprints. The list of conspiracies and explanations is endless; however, a close examination of only a few will surely prove that NASA, in all its genius, did in fact land men on the moon.

Conspiracy theorists’ first argument involved the photographs brought back by Apollo astronauts. Surely the stars, which are supposed to be so brilliant on the lunar surface, would appear in the backgrounds of the pictures. Theorists claimed this as a mistake made by NASA in its “production process”. The “on-stage” pictures that NASA took couldn’t truly illustrate the stars, thus they were staged... right? Most photographers can easily explain this: it's difficult to capture something very bright and something else very dim on the same piece of film. Typical emulsions don't have enough "dynamic range” (Moon Hoax). Astronauts striding across the bright lunar soil in their sunlit spacesuits were literally dazzling. White reflects the most heat radiation, which is abundant on the surface of the moon; hence the astronaut's spacesuits were a bright white. Setting a camera with the proper exposure for a glaring spacesuit would naturally render background stars too faint to see.

The Van Allen belts are a band of concentrated radiation, surrounding the earth in a donut shape, discovered by Dr. Van Allen in 1958 (Plait). It has been estimated that it would require a foot of lead casing to protect those inside from radiation, which the Apollo crafts didn't have. Theorists stated that the thin aluminum foil protection on areas of the Apollo spacecrafts would not sufficiently protect the astronauts from radiation poisoning. The Apollo spacecrafts couldn’t afford to carry lead shielding due to weight restrictions, however, NASA wasn’t concerned. Scientists calculated that while flying the speed traveled by Apollo astronauts, they would only be subjected to one REM (roentgen-equivalent man). Symptoms of actual radiation sickness don’t begin to show until around 25 REM’s, serious illness around 100 and death usually around 500 (Moon Hoax). Upon examination one can see that the amount of radiation suffered by the astronauts was mild at most.

One of the most famous pictures brought back from the moon was that of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong’s footprint in the lunar soil. Theorists, carelessly assuming the lunar soil to be similar to that of Earth’s sand, pointed out that the footprints themselves would not have been so sharp, nor would they have been able to keep their original form. The claim was that NASA had used a mix of plaster and water to capture the effect of a boot print on the moon. Earth sand is constantly corroded and smoothed by the elements such as wind, water, and ozone that constantly affect the environment. A footprint in such is quickly filled once the boot has been removed. Dust on the moon consists