In 1969, on July 16th, Neil Armstrong became forever famous, famous because he was the first man, the first human to even walk on the moon. Even though this epic event took place over forty years ago, people still believe that it is a conspiracy theory. While some of the claims as to why it is a hoax may seem true, scientists have proven that the moon landing did, indeed, actually happen. The main reason for some of these arguments is that during the 1960’s the Space Race was going on.

One of the most common misconceptions of the Apollo 11 mission is that in one of the photographs, the American flag appearing to be flapping, as if there was wind, but there are no air currents on the moon. What really happened is that the picture was taken seconds after Neil Armstrong had placed the flag into the moon’s surface, so the flag still had inertia from Armstrong’s forceful movement. A second sign that proves the landing having been faked was the fact that there are photographs where both the astronauts—two human beings—appear, and if only two people were on the moon, who took the picture? The truth: the cameras were mounted on their chests; therefore, no one had to position a camera to capture a photo. A third argument is brought up because in several pictures, there appear to be no stars. The reason for the lack of various cosmic objects is the fact that the moon’s surface reflects sunlight—creating a glare; therefore making it very difficult to see the stars. Plus, the astronauts used cameras with quick exposure settings, which would have limited the amount of light it could have captured.

There are several other misconceptions of the moon landing. Another argument was the fact that a lot of the shadows in the photographs look to be unrealistic and do not line up with the actual object. The reason for this is due to the various sources of light that were on the moon—the sun, the Earth’s reflection, the reflected light from the space shuttle, the moon’s reflective surface. All of these light sources caused the shadows to look distorted, vague, and imprecise. A fourth point that makes the Apollo 11 landing seem fake is how clear the astronaut’s footprints appear on the moon’s surface. The moon is supposed to have very dusty and coarse surface, which it does, but it is the perfect fineness to have a “memory”. The cause of the lack of imperfectness is because the moon’s surface covering is like finely ground powder; therefore making it easy to create such a vivid imprint.

A sixth, and final, argument that is brought up is the strange reflections that appear on loads of the photographs. Many people believe that studio lights caused these, where the pictures were staged. Well first of all, if NASA really did create this entire moon landing up, why would they make such an obvious mistake? Honestly, would they have wasted millions of dollars, only to publish photographs with the “studio’s” lights glaring in the background? The glares are from scratched lenses, and odd positioning from the

photographer; these types of reflections can appear anyone’s photography.

All of these arguments may seem small, and spontaneous, but during the 1960’s, topics having to do with outer space were a very big deal. The reason behind all the haphazard facts and myths was the great Space Race. The Space Race began in 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. This was a huge event towards space technology advancement, and in 1969, the United States became the first nation to reach the moon. By getting there first, we won the Space Race. All of the events that helped improve the world’s space advancement, were watched—and anticipated—greatly by citizens from all nations. This caused the main disruption about the Apollo 11 moon landing because many people from other countries did not want the United States to win the Space Race. They began to circulate rumors, and various myths about what actually happened. But in the end, every one had to accept the fact that the moon landing was real.