Today at lunch I was watching a YouTube video of a Discovery Channel documentary about the Apollo 11 story. It had some really interesting things to say, but mostly things I'd seen before. I did learn one thing new, that Buzz Aldrin had to use a pen to get the ascent engine to start by keeping a breaker closed due to a circuit board getting broken when they put on their space suits. But that was after they totally glossed over Buzz being responsible for the 1201 and 1202 alarms by purposely skipping steps in his checklist.
Anyway, I was reading the comments after the video and it was one big argument between folks that claimed the landings were faked and folks that say it wasn't. This isn't unusual unfortunately, most videos on YouTube about the moon landings have this sort of discussion in the comments section. It's sort of sad.
Realizing that I'd never change anyone's mind, I still decided to chime in and post myself. I'm looking forward to getting replies to this post on the YouTube video because they'll certainly be entertaining. Here's what I wrote:
"The people who say the landings never happened are either trolls that don't really believe it but are saying it just to start an argument, or they're complete morons.
First of all, the sheer number of people involved in the Apollo program makes it impossible for a faked landing to remain secret for this long. If it were faked, then we would have definite proof from people involved by now. But the only people that claim it didn't happen are people that weren't involved.
Secondly, the only proof that conspiracy theorists have against the landing are issues with the documents provided by NASA (pictures, video, etc.). Things that don't quite seem right to them. Every single claim that the lighting, shadows, lines on pictures, moving flags, etc. are evidence of being faked have been explained as what would actually happen.
Third, the Soviet Union, who managed to get people within the Manhattan Project to divulge secrets on how to make an atomic bomb, would certainly have been able to get someone within NASA to share evidence that they were faking the landing! This was a HUGE political slap at Communism from a Republic that we were able to beat them in the race to the moon. If it were faked the Russians would definitely have made it very public as soon as possible. But instead they just had to eat crow and accept the fact that we beat them.
Fourth, there were plenty of mistakes that NASA made along the way, rockets that blew up during launch tests, astronauts that burned up during ground tests, and none of that was ever kept a secret. The Russians had their share of failures too but they tried to cover it all up and make us think they were doing everything right. Years later all the Russian failures have come out and we've seen why they never made it to the moon, so wouldn't all our secret failures and faked landings come out too? But they haven't. Again, the only people that claim the landings never happened are people that weren't involved. "
Anyway, I was reading the comments after the video and it was one big argument between folks that claimed the landings were faked and folks that say it wasn't. This isn't unusual unfortunately, most videos on YouTube about the moon landings have this sort of discussion in the comments section. It's sort of sad.
Realizing that I'd never change anyone's mind, I still decided to chime in and post myself. I'm looking forward to getting replies to this post on the YouTube video because they'll certainly be entertaining. Here's what I wrote:
"The people who say the landings never happened are either trolls that don't really believe it but are saying it just to start an argument, or they're complete morons.
First of all, the sheer number of people involved in the Apollo program makes it impossible for a faked landing to remain secret for this long. If it were faked, then we would have definite proof from people involved by now. But the only people that claim it didn't happen are people that weren't involved.
Secondly, the only proof that conspiracy theorists have against the landing are issues with the documents provided by NASA (pictures, video, etc.). Things that don't quite seem right to them. Every single claim that the lighting, shadows, lines on pictures, moving flags, etc. are evidence of being faked have been explained as what would actually happen.
Third, the Soviet Union, who managed to get people within the Manhattan Project to divulge secrets on how to make an atomic bomb, would certainly have been able to get someone within NASA to share evidence that they were faking the landing! This was a HUGE political slap at Communism from a Republic that we were able to beat them in the race to the moon. If it were faked the Russians would definitely have made it very public as soon as possible. But instead they just had to eat crow and accept the fact that we beat them.
Fourth, there were plenty of mistakes that NASA made along the way, rockets that blew up during launch tests, astronauts that burned up during ground tests, and none of that was ever kept a secret. The Russians had their share of failures too but they tried to cover it all up and make us think they were doing everything right. Years later all the Russian failures have come out and we've seen why they never made it to the moon, so wouldn't all our secret failures and faked landings come out too? But they haven't. Again, the only people that claim the landings never happened are people that weren't involved. "