Top 5 Apollo 11 Moon Landing Conspiracies

Many conspiracy theorists have pointed to the Apollo 11 lunar module’s lack of an exhaust flame while departing from the moon as proof that it was actually a model being pulled by strings on a sound stage in some top-secret Hollywood film studio. As exciting as that sounds, it’s simply not true. You know the old expression, “it’s not rocket science?” Well in this case, it is. You see the Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo 11 into orbit burnt liquid oxygen and kerosene, the combination of which creates a massive flame. However, the lunar module used nitrogen tetroxide and Aerozine 50, which produces transparent exhaust gases. Case closed.

Despite the weight of the lunar module being reduced from 36,100lbs on earth to 6,100lbs during its decent, people still wondered why it didn’t produce a crater on the moon’s dusty surface. Well, beneath all that dust is a layer of dense rock, which is far more difficult to leave an imprint on, thus explaining why the module failed to create a noticeable crater. Additionally, many wondered how Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were able to leave footprints on the moon without moisture. Well, friction allows finely grained moon dust particles to hold their shape when moved around, so that’s why the footprints are still there all these years later!

Many a conspiracy theorist has claimed that because photographs show multiple shadows of different lengths and angles, there had to have been an additional light source - such as a large lamp – on sight. Well actually, because Neil and Buzz were snapping pics on an uneven, brightly lit landscape with the sun hovering just about the horizon, the ground produced a slew of different shadows. Another theory involves the stars, or lack thereof. How come there are no stars in the background of all those famous moon photographs? The answer: nearby objects washed out the film. This is common in nighttime photography, with bright foreground objects effectively erasing distant background objects from the film.

Protecting earth from harmful solar radiation are the Van Allen belts. They form a ring around our planet, collecting and trapping all that pesky radiation in one place. Conspiracy theorists want to know why the astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission didn’t succumb to radiation poisoning when they passed through. While it’s true that there is a lot of radiation in the belts, Apollo 11 passed through them in less than four hours, and it takes days of exposure to be considered dangerous. “Okay” say some, “but what about meteors? Surely they would have done some damage!” Due to the density of space, the chances of this happening are close to zero. Lawyered.

One the most infamous Apollo 11 conspiracy theories involve the pictures of the American flag taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. In the iconic photos, the flag appears to be fluttering in the wind, which is admittedly odd seeing how there’s no atmosphere and by extension no wind on the moon. The reason Old Glory appears to be waving is because Neil and Buzz made it so. A wire was inserted in the top of the flag to keep it steady and the astronauts created the waving effect as they were setting it up. In fact, once the flag was planted, it stopped “waving” completely!