The Mythbusters Look at the Moon Landing Hoax

[Richard]

associatedcontent.com

One of the oddest conspiracy theories to arise in popular myth is that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax. On August 27, 2008, the famous Mythbusters were examine this conspiracy theory in their own unique way.

To test the theory that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax, former special effects wizards Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman , as well as the rest of the Mythbusters cast Kari Byron, Grant Imahara, Tory Belleci, went to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and, with the help of NASA experts, conducted a series of tests. These are said to involve a feather, a weight, a lunar soil boot print, and a flag in a vacuum.

Results of the Mythbusters' tests and whether the myth of the moon landing hoax conspiracy are rendered confirmed, plausible, or busted will air on the Discovery Channel in about a month.

The idea that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax is just one of many conspiracy theories that include President Kennedy being killed by a conspiracy that included the Mafia, the CIA, the FBI, and-no doubt-the Freemasons and the Illuminati, that Elvis is alive somewhere, and that Princess Diana was assassinated by MI6. The whole idea of conspiracies was buttressed by the very real Watergate conspiracy. Secret government conspiracies have been popularized in popular culture, such as the TV show The X Files and the film Capricorn One (about a faked Mars landing.)

Apollo moon landing hoax conspiracy theories posit a whole variety of possible motivations for faking the moon landing. Some involve money used for payoffs of big aerospace companies and government officials. Some involve a relationship to other conspiracy theories involving UFOs and alien abductions.

The "proofs" offered by the conspiracy theorists that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax are many and varied and will no doubt be examined by the Mythbusters team. One involves the fact that no stars are seen in the black sky in the footage of the Apollo moon walks. Another involves an American flag that seems to sway in a breeze, impossible on the airless lunar surface.

Apollo moon landing hoax debunkers point out that in the first instance, the moon walks happened during the lunar day and therefore the stars were obscured by the sun's light. In the second instance the American flag that was raised on each of the Apollo landing sites were stiffened by wires, which caused the seeming "swaying in the breeze effect."

Also, the Japanese lunar orbit probe Kaguya recently imaged the burn marks of the Apollo 15 lunar module descent engine at the Apollo 15 landing site. Special effects artists who worked on films like Apollo 13 and TV series like From Earth to the Moon have suggested that the technology just wasn't available to fake the moon landings in the 1960s.

The whole idea of an Apollo moon landing hoax is just an insult to the men and women who made the moon landings possible. People, like the crew of Apollo1, died to make the moon landings happen. Others, engineers and scientists whose names will never be known, sacrificed long hours and suffered ruined marriages and wrecked health so that men could walk on the Moon. The idea that it was all faked seems like a way to try to cheapen all that work and sacrifice.

It is doubtful that despite this debunking or what the Mythbusters team concludes that Apollo moon landing hoax conspiracy theorists will be swayed. Conspiracy theories are not generally about evidence, but rather the desire for fame and the paranoid style of history, to paraphrase Richard Hofstadter.

And what will happen when human beings return to the Moon, sometime in the next decade? Dr. Dwayne Day suggests, rather tongue in cheek, that it won't be faked on a sound stage. That's so 20th Century. Instead, the Orion/Altair missions will be faked on a computer. Just the sort of thing Dick Cheney would think of.

Sources: Mythbusters To Tackle Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories, Mythbusters Results

The Great Moon Hoax, NASA, February 23rd, 2001

Japanese Selene Spots Apollo 15 Landing Site, Univesre Today, Julty 16th, 2008

It Can Easily Be Done on a Computer, Dwayne Day, The Space Review, July 7th, 2008 

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...tml?cat=15

[Richard]

 When Mythbusters, Reality and NASA Mix

 Posted by K.C. Morgan

Former special effects gurus-turned reality stars, the MythBusters took on their biggest challenge yet for last night’s episode: the famed moon landing. For decades (specifically since 1969) people have persisted in believing the whole thing was a hoax.

Was it?

According to the episode’s opening dialogue, 20% of Americans to this day (well, perhaps not this day - but let’s say a week ago) persist in believing the well-publicized moon landing was actually faked. Many of what the show calls “conspiracy theorists” point to various evidence and say the entire thing was filmed not on the surface of the moon, but on a Hollywood set.

Some may scoff at this idea, but in a way it’s not farfetched. After all, hasn’t Hollywood faked everything from space invasions to true love? Really, is one little moon landing so hard to re-create?  

I’m not one to immediately discount any theory - no matter how farfetched it may seem. Whatever the idea, stranger things have probably happened. I don’t necessarily believe or disbelieve any “conspiracy theory” - I’m willing to view the evidence for either side.

Thankfully, so are the MythBusters. The show has been airing on the Discovery Channel since 2002, exploring everything from movie myths (they’ve done more than one James Bond special) to old wives’ tales. The team is led by Adam and Jamie, who worked together for several years in the special effects field before using their skills in a whole new way - examining myths. Kari, Tory and Grant make up the second team, who usually work independently of the pair.

Since it would be impossible to go over all the evidence used by anti-moonsters, the MythBusters focused on the most popular evidence used in the hoax theory.  

The first claim examined was mis-matched moon shadows. One famous picture of the moon’s surface shows the shadows of two different objects lining up differently - non-parallel to each other. On any flat surface with a single light source (in the moon’s case, the sun), the shadows of every object will all point in the same direction on the same angel. The moon’s surface, however, isn’t exactly flat. After building a scale model and creating a textured, moon-like surface, Adam and Jamie easily re-created the famous photo - using a single source of light.

One myth busted.

The second claim was taken on by Kari, Tory and Grant - Aldrin’s famous footprints. One photo of the landing shows a very clear, very detailed moon boot print on the surface of the moon. After traveling to a vacuum-creating chamber and using a real moon boot with man-made lunar dust, the team was able to discern in only one run that a clearly delineated print could easily be achieved on the moon - even without moisture to hold the sandy particles together.

Two myths busted.

Kari, Tory and Grant used the same airless vacuum chamber to test one of the biggest pieces of the hoax theory - a waving flag. Theorists point to the fact that there is no wind on the moon, and show off footage of a clearly moving flag. After creating an exact replica of the moon flag, the team used a mechanical arm to manipulate the banner. Inside the vacuum, after being moved around in a fashion similar to the movements of the astronauts, the flag flowed easily against the frictionless air space. On the moon, after being handled by human hands (even in space gloves), the flag is actually more likely to wag about - there’s no resistance against it.

Three myths busted.

Adam and Jamie then turned their attention to the movements of the astronauts on the moon. Theorists pose that the hops, skips and side-to-side run of the men could easily be mimicked by changing camera frame speeds. The pair tested this film technique as well as others, even rigging Adam up in a harness to help him achieve a weight that would be equal to one-sixth of the Earth’s gravity (and thus, the gravity of the moon). Then, they both experienced the real thing, taking a special plane ride in space suits to feel the moon’s gravity firsthand. Only inside this vehicle could the two accurately re-create the movements shown in the moon footage.

Four myths busted.

To drive their point home, Adam and Jamie visited a special space observatory housing one of the world’s most powerful lasers (about 100 billion times more powerful than standard, hand-held laser pointers). During the moon mission, the astronauts planted “several” retro reflectors on the surface of the moon. These prismatic mirrors will reflect a beam of light, sending a signal right back to the source. This allows scientists on Earth to collect information directly from the moon itself. The MythBusters sent up a signal, hit a reflector, and watched the information bounce back - proof positive that someone, someday really put prismatic reflectors right there on the far-away surface of the moon.

And so, another hoax has been banished by those who do it best: the MythBusters. New episodes are currently airing weekly on Wednesdays, 9pm ET. Next on the busting agenda: Internet videos.

http://television.gearlive.com/tvenvy/ar...-nasa-mix/