Apollo Moon Landing
Tommy Bullock
Background Information
Apollo 11 was the first man mission to land on the moon. It was launched from Cape Kennedy and reached the moon on July 20th, 1969. The crew consisted of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to step foot on the moon. After they arrived they began working on different tasks. They took photographs, samples, and also conducted experiments. President John F. Kennedy had challenged America to put the first man on the moon. It was in response to arms race that had became a competition with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The United States had heard that the Soviets had planned to send a man to the moon. In an effort to beat them they began their own apollo missions. It took eleven missions to finally succeed, but the United States ending up winning the race to be the first on the moon.
Media Portrayal #1
There are many conspiracy theories about whether or not Apollo 11 even landed on the moon or if any of the attempts that they made actually happened. Conspiracists have focused on the perceived gaps or inconsistencies in the historical record of the missions. The United States wanted to beat the Soviet Union so what did they do? They tampered with photos, recordings, and videos of the landing. The main video of them arriving to the moon was said to have been accidentally recorded over by NASA during the events. Many critics believe that the whole thing was staged inside a studio and that the astronauts were hired actors that were realistically filmed. Some of the evidence they brought forward to justify this claim was that Buzz Aldrin planted a waving American flag into the soil. The problem is that the flag clearly shows the movement of wind which is impossible in space. The picture was leaked and in fact the flag did have a wavy feature to it. NASA responded with saying the flag looked wavy due to the way he twisted it in the soil.
Media Portrayal #2
The conspiracy theories were mostly focused on the pictures that were provided to the public about the landings. Many people analyzed these and came up with very interesting claims to why this was a hoax. For example in one of the photos there is no stars in the background. People were confused to why there wouldn't be any stars in space. In another one of the photos of a space rock there is the letter "C" carved into it. People questioned NASA on why the rock would have a perfect carving of one of the letters of the alphabet. One of the biggest points was in one of the photos the shadows of the objects and people were running in all directions. In space there is only one light source and that is the sun, so the shadows should parallel. Many claimed that is was due to the prop lights they were using to film the fake landing. The pictures did not help the public decide whether or not it was real.
Media Bias
The reason to why this event is so controversial today is because of the missing information and videos of the landing, but also because of the photos that were released and the fishiness nature of them. People have been given explanations by NASA, but some still can't grasp the idea that we actually made it when technology wasn't at its full potential. Some of the points that squash the theories is that according to NASA over 400,000 people were working to make this goal accomplishable. The possibility that one of them would've slipped up and told the truth about it being fake would be highly likely. Another rebuttal to the claims is that the Soviet Union was watching the mission from one of their telescopes and would've immediately came forward if it was fake, so they wouldn't have to admit to being beat. The theories have been brought forward have made it controversial but due to the lack of evidence it has not been a major point.
Criticism #1
One of the criticisms that keeps coming up is historical. People question the apollo moon landing actually happening. Many people question the whether or not the United States had the technology to do it. They couldn't grasp the idea of a spacecraft leaving the atmosphere and reaching the moon. NASA had failed 10 times before that in an effort to get there, so when they finally did people began to wonder what actually happened. In todays world we write about it as if it wasn't that difficult because of the technological advances we have made. We have now been farther than the moon and are creating things that will greatly change our nation.
Criticism #2
Many people believed that Americans held themselves above everyone else. That they valued their own culture as the best and tried to make other cultures convert to their own. The United States was believed to be in the arm race with the Soviet Union solely to establish themselves as the best. Many believe that this applies for the apollo moon landing. The United States had to be the first on the moon to show their dominance over the other nations. It was the next race they had to beat the Soviet Union in because they knew it was there top competition. In the end, the United States were the first to step on the moon.
CBS Coverage of Apollo 11 Lunar Landing