THE FAKED MOON LANDING

O.K., let’s file this one under …

THE CONSPIRACY OF THE FAKED MOON LANDING

In previous blog posts, I have often dealt with the path of least resistance problem. 

For instance, why not simply believe a lone gunman hid out in a sixth floor window and shot The President of the United States?  Is it that people can’t believe that something that audacious is possible?

Or, is it that they require that a more interesting tale be woven around major events so they overlook the fact that the simplest explanation is more likely than not, the right explanation. 

The shortest distance between two dots is usually just a straight line.

Witness the following, and follow along as a witness:

This morning, Jeff showed me more supposed indisputable evidence that NASA faked the Apollo Moon landings.  It seems he just can’t let this go, even after once being laughed at over this same issue at an NYU speaking event (Jeff says, of course, Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, would never admit to the hoax.  Jeff is lucky that Buzz Aldrin didn’t punch his light’s out).

Aldrin speaking -

This morning, Jeff showed up with a cup of coffee and a quaint old Life Magazine.  A 1969 edition, picked up from a street vendor, for a few bucks, not two blocks from our apartment.

Jeff opened up the magazine to the colorful spread, the first photos of men on the moon.

Here’s a recap of the conversation:

Jeff:  All right who took these photos?

Me:  (insert sarcasm) A photographer?

Jeff:  Well, certainly not the astronauts.  And certainly not on the moon.

Jeff went on to point out several problems with photos in the Life Magazine spread as well as a video recording from the Apollo 11 mission.  

Both, Jeff said, were clearly fakes.

Jeff relies on three separate issues to support his conspiracy theory of faked photos and video, proving man did not land on the moon:

Jeff’s theory number one is that everything is just too perfect.  In other words, the images should have been much more messy given the cumbersome space suits and the hostile environment. 

Conspiracy theorists like messy.  Perfect makes them think it’s a cover-up.  Otherwise, the conspiracy theorists would have nothing to talk about, or around which to invent the conspiracy.

As Jeff demonstrated from the dog-eared pages of the magazine, each of the photos was perfectly framed.  Every one of them was also perfectly focused.  Each one was also  perfectly lit. 

Recall that both Jeff and I went to NYU Film School, so we talk about things like composition and focus a lot.  Jeff himself was a master of unfocused, poorly lit, and poorly composed footage all through freshman year (I couldn’t resist).

Aldrin on the stairs -

But, isn’t it obvious that photos that were released to the magazines were meant to connect the public to the event, not to memories of their own personal bad photography?

It is actually quite easy to find less perfect photos that were not released at the time to Life Magazine, or to any other magazine.

The Internet, the boon to conspiracy theorists, and to truth seekers, has several of these photos available with an easy search.

The astronauts took hundreds of photos, and many of them sucked.  They are the kind of bad photos that get stuffed in conspiracy theorists drawers, along with their own personal copy of Catcher in the Rye.

Some of the 1969 photos are badly composed, out of focus, and badly lit, all at the same time.

Horrible photo -

These photos were rejected, much like this argument.  That’s why copy editors and information departments exist.  They are not covering up anything more than bad pictures.

I remember that in film school we also talked a lot about editing.  That’s where you take stuff out that doesn’t help the story. 

If conspiracy theorists looked at the rejects, their story would not be helped, but the truth would.

Then, there is the question of who took the photos, and also who took the famous video that was fed to the major news networks.  Since, with only two men on the moon, and one of them in many of the photos, the answer to this one should be fairly simple.

Reflection of the other astronaut -

Jeff insists there were other shadowy persons standing on “the lunar surface and the whole thing was an elaborate hoax.

As proof Jeff says when Neil Armstrong steps down the ladder of the Lunar Module to be the first man to set foot on another world, the camera is looking at him from a perspective from which no human could have yet placed a camera. 

Armstrong on the stairs -

Film school graduates, of course, are always very concerned about camera angles.

According to Jeff’s conspiracy theory, this proves the presence of a production assistant, or a still photographer present on “the moon”, seeming to support the “landings were all faked on a soundstage argument” made popular by the film Capricorn One.

Who, pre-placed that camera?, the little gray men that have been kidnapping and molesting the women of this planet since the Mayan’s came up with the prophesy of 2012?

Yes, of course, the camera was pre-placed.  It was preplaced by human beings on the little blue dot called Earth.

When Astronaut Neil Armstrong was at the top of the ladder, he pulled a cord to open a panel in which a TV camera was already lined up for the perfect film-school-like shot.  Astronaut Buzz Aldrin switched on the camera from inside the cabin.  Cue the walk down the ladder. 

“That’s one small step for men, one giant leap for conspiracy theorists…”

Finally, there is the case of the photo of the Astronaut saluting the mysterious waving flag.

:

Apollo flag waiving –

This conspiracy theory hinges on the no atmosphere on the moon argument.  So, there was no wind or even the slightest breeze to blow the stars and stripes, except perhaps for the air conditioners on the sound stage busily keeping the crew and the astronauts cool.

Simple research takes care of this one.  The flag hung from a horizontal rod, connected to a vertical one. The astronauts couldn't get the horizontal rod to extend completely, so the flag didn't get stretched fully. It has a ripple in it, like a curtain that is not fully closed.  It only appears to be waving.

But, it is American to question.  And that is the very purpose of this blog. 

However, Jeff, back in July of 1969, two brave men actually connected two heavenly spheres. 

Someday men will go back there with a camera, and find the undisturbed landing site.  But I am sure someone will say it was placed there, rather than taking the simple explanation, or the path of least resistance.

Until then, a lone dot in the sky that holds the truth.

l

And, until then, e-mails are always welcomed, even if they are from the moon.