Did Man Land On The Moon?

[naomi24]

I watched a documentary last night offering some compelling evidence that he did not. However, it occurred to me that the Americans claimed not one manned mission to the moon, but six, so if the first was a hoax they got away with, why would they bother to manufacture five additional hoaxes? Seems to me they’d have been pushing their luck!

(‘Did we land on the moon’ - repeated today – channel 5 – 12.15pm).

[joggerjayne]

I saw that, too.

I like the was that that guy from NASA didn't feel the need to produce any facts ... "The idea that we didn't go is so insane that its not worth presenting any facts" sort of thing.

I like the fact that the guy who said it was a hoax was himself a NASA astronaut.

I was a bit worried that any astronauts who might have blown the whistle have all met with unfortunate fatal accidents ... nine of them??

I like the fact that a man in soft boots in one sixth gravity makes a deep footprint in the moon dust, but a landing module producing "ten thousand pounds of downward thrust"

[joggerjayne]

... leaves no mark whatsoever.

And there was no dust settled on any of the surfaces.

And when the guy from NASA was given the opportunity to explain why ten thousand pounds of downwards thrust doesn't disturb any dust, he just said ... "We really don't need to explain that"

Well, err, I think you do, actually.

[chrisgel]

Yes, lets leave aside that the Russians, Americas competitors in the space race, actually confirmed that the Americans had landed on the moon and that they had tracked them to the moon and listened in to the traffic between the moon and earth.

[joggerjayne]

It's like a helicopter, landing right above you, and not blowing anything around.

Anyone who has ever stood near a helicopter will know ... it just couldn't have happened.

And, given that there is no air on the Moon for the landing craft thruster to push against, the downwards force to hold the landing craft in the air would have to be massive. Hence, ten thousand pounds.

And, as that astronaut said, on the video of the landing, the men in the capsule are chatting away, and the massive rocket engine about three feet away from them, blasting out ten thousand pounds of thrust, is making ... no noise whatsoever!

As that astronaut said ... that is simply not genuine footage.

[VHG]

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been going round the moon taking photographs and many of them show the various landing sites and items left on the moon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter

http://lro.gsfc.nasa.gov/

[Uriah Heep]

The thing that gets me is that the amount of radiation anybody would be subject to on the journey would be fatal. This has also been widely mentioned recently with regards to a tip to Mars. Until I started to think about this I thought there was no doubt about man having gone to the moon.

[Wharton]

I can see him.

[jake-the-peg]

//I was a bit worried that any astronauts who might have blown the whistle have all met with unfortunate fatal accidents ... nine of them?? //

8 of the twelve to have walked on the moon are still alive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_men_who_walked_on_the_Moon#Apollo_astronauts_who_walked_on_the_Moon

The lunar module breaks in 2 when it leaves the moons surface so the thrust is diverted onto the lower stage (see video)

On Earth you would expect a lot of dust to be thrown up - mut the moon has no air - there is no turbulance and hence no dust thrown up.

If you think about it you'll probably see the logic in that

And you'll probably then also realise how hard that would be to fake on the Earth.

Technology can now even see the remnants of the landing site

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19050795

Of course conspiracy theorists will say this is faked (what proof would they accept?)

However the biggest piece of proof is the laser reflectors left on the moon that over the last 40 years hundreds of scientists have used to bounce lasers off of the moon and measure it's distance.

That's an awful lot of people to involve in the conspiracy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuQYKnt4jl8

[weecalf]

Look the tooth fairy told me santa told him man landed on the moon so thats good enough for me

[ichkeria]

Yes I saw this and at the start I was prepared to pour scorn on the idea. However it was noteworthy that, so far as I could make out, there were no explanations for most of the evidence provided by the sceptics. Only the point about there being no blast marks left by the LEM, and even that wasn't particularly convincing.
The point though about the - it was actually six if you count Apollo 13 - extra missions also occurred to me, especially Apollo 13 in fact.
Other compelling arguments against surely:
Even if a lot of people at NASA were kept in the dark about the "hoax" as claimed there would still have needed to be a huge number of people who did know and it is strange that none of these "insiders" have ever come forward.
Second, it was claimed that the Apollo craft orbited the earth for 8 days but surely some amateur astronomer would have tracked the orbits.

[jake-the-peg]

Oh yes the radiation

Yes and no Uriah

It's very dangerous but the moon is a few days hop and the risk is acceptable - if there had been a big event on the sun at a bad time they'd have fried but it didn't and they got away with it.

A trip to Mars would take a year and in that time you'd be almost certain to get a life threatening event

[grasscarp]

I met Ed Mitchell back in the early seventies when I worked at the BBC. The discussion we had was enough to convince me he really went there.

[ichkeria]

...as well as all the other far more compelling evidence cited above :-)

[jake-the-peg]

Ickeria

What sort of Amateur astronomer has a telescope that can distinguish an orbiter from a distance of a quarter of a million miles away?

Think about how small a 747 looks a few miles up

[aelmpvw]

if i'd actually stood on the moon the ensuing scepticism would have driven me insane

[ichkeria]

I've no idea Jake! But not necessarily an amateur astronomer. it's hard to believe that no one would have spotted something.
Especially the Russians as someone has already pointed out.

[naomi24]

The point I’m making is, if the conspiracy theorists really think this was a hoax, why haven’t they asked themselves what America would gain by doing it another five times – thereby surely making discovery of the lie more likely. The other thing is, as Jake has mentioned, equipment left on the moon is visible from earth– and the US aren’t the only people with good telescopes.

[jake-the-peg]

I've crunched the maths for you

For a telescope on Earth to see a lunar orbiror around the moon would require a telescope at least 3000 miles across

[ichkeria]

I wasn't thinking of a telescope actually. Just some sort of tracking device.