The module Eagle landed on the surface of the Moon on July twentieth, 1969. This moment marked the first time that humankind has landed and explored the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the astronauts manned on the module, took pictures and conducted experiments to better understand the silver orb in our sky. Michael Collins, the astronaut manned on the module Columbia, described it as “the weirdest looking contraption I have ever seen in the sky” (Dunbar). After twenty-one hours on the moon, the men started their trip back, they manned the module Columbia and landed safely back on Earth in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii (Apollo). Despite the fact the Apollo 11 Moon landing was a worldwide spectacle, a plethora of communities, organizations, and everyday people believe that the mission was a hoax.
Speculation of the Moon landing being a production to trick the public has been an ongoing controversial topic since the 1969 launch. According to online polls, it is estimated that twenty percent of Americans believe that the landing was a hoax, most of his or her reasoning being that the United States has not sent anyone back for a second exploration mission (Fox). Photos and videos taken from the landing have shown many questionable details leading people to believe in the multiple conspiracies. In the famous photograph showing Armstrong holding the pole of the American flag planted freshly into the Moon’s crust, the flag appears to be rippling in the wind (Sinclair). This is however, impossible due to the Moon having a thin atmosphere (Fox). In photos showing the module Eagle stationary on the Moon, many conspiracy theorists have found the absence of an impact crater from landing strange. People claim that the blast created from landing the module would have left what would look like a dent or crater underneath the Eagle. However, no crater or dent of any kind is shown. The appearance of multiple light sources in landscape photos are yet another addition to the conspiracies. The shadows falling in multiple different directions and angles in photos and videos suggest a film set. A picture showing one of the two astronaut’s space helmets shows what many believe to be a reflection of an overhead spotlight used in making movies in the upper right corner of the helmet. The absence of stars in any photo or video is consistent and fuels another reason for speculation of the mission’s validity. People argue that low quality photographs of the night sky on Earth clearly show stars, and that the absence of stars in any of the mission’s photographs or videos is a major concern for the validity of the mission. Two images of the Moon’s surface taken at different times and according to NASA, “hundreds of miles apart”, have the exact same background and landscape (Fox). This also suggests a film studio cover-up. Stanley Kubrick, the director of many hit Hollywood movies such as The Shining has been targeted as the director of the “hoax” Moon landing. Conspiracy theorists believe that the United States government approached him and offered him the job to direct the Apollo 11 mission hoax. His 2001: A Space Odyssey released in 1968 is known to be possible practice for the secret affair. Hidden clues of his secret job have been hidden in The Shining. In one scene, the young boy is shown wearing an “Apollo 11” sweater. The room number of the suite the family lived in was 237, which co-relates to the 237,000 miles between the Earth and the Moon. A typewriter in another scene is shown displaying a message reading “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” the world “all” in that message can be deciphered as A11, meaning Apollo 11 and hinting that the mission was all production and not valid.
For almost all of the well-known conspiracies about Apollo 11 distributed throughout the Internet, NASA, or people connected to the conspiracies, have spoken out about how they believe that the hoax accusations are due to misunderstandings and/or lies. NASA has heard the conspiracy about the flag waving in the wind and made a statement saying that during the flight into space the American flag was stored into a thin tube and the rippled effect was from the flag being unfurled. Others say that the force of putting the flag into the ground may have caused the flag to look as if it was waving. In regards to the absence of an impact crater, NASA made a statement claiming that the module required significantly less thrust in a low gravity situation, such as the Moon. They also proceeded to explain how the Moon is solid rock and that even if the thrust were to be higher; the impact mark would still be insignificant. People online linked the phenomenon to the same way a plane lands on a runway (Fox). The appearance of multiple light sources at multiple different angles is justified by NASA to be due to the uneven landscape on the Moon. People are highly skeptical of conspiracies like these due to the fact that we can see the Lunar Landing sites from telescopes (Rundle). The unexplained object shown in one of the astronaut’s helmets has been debunked by the public, and the photograph was deemed too low of quality to determine if the “unexplained object” is actually a concern. The lack of stars in any of the photos and videos of the Apollo 11 mission may seem alarming to many but NASA has assured the public that the empty space is nothing to be worried about. The high quality of the images washed out the presence of all stars. What some may believe to be the use of a duplicate backdrop, NASA corrects by saying that due to the Moon being much smaller than Earth, many horizons can look almost identical. The thin atmosphere and low gravity of the Moon makes it very plain looking. Although NASA did not speak upon the “Stanley Kubrick Theory”, his daughter, Vivian Kubrick, announced via Twitter that the theory is a “GROTESQUE LIE” and that her father would “be the very last person EVER to assist the US Government in such a terrible betrayal of its people” (Stolworthy).
Although the country may be split eighty-to-twenty regarding the belief of Apollo 11 conspiracies, the numbers will be ever-changing. Further research on the validity of the mission is yet to be conducted and conspiracy theorists are finding and creating more and more speculation as time goes on. The Apollo 11 mission, a worldwide spectacle, is believed to be a hoax by many all around the world. Could this mission be the biggest hoax in American history or a far-stretched idea created by conspirators? Research and time will tell.