For many years there have been many conspiracy theorists who claim that the United States did not really land on the moon or have the first astronauts to set foot on the lunar surface.
If you believe that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first astronauts to land on the moon on July 20, 1969, you are certainly not alone. Though there may be several factions of society who do not believe – the majority, by far – do believe.
But for years, many believe the footage was faked by the U.S. in order to beat the Russians in the “space race” and to improve morale among the American citizens, who were in the middle of the Vietnam War and the sometimes heated Civil Rights movement.
Currently there is a movie out that uses this theory. “Fly Me To The Moon” was released this summer.
The plot of the film is that during the 1960s Space Race between the United States and Russia, a relationship develops between the NASA director in charge of the Apollo 11 launch and the marketing specialist who is hired to help with NASA’s public image and stage a “backup” fake moon landing video.
Moon landing conspiracy theories claim that some elements of the Apollo program and the moon landings were hoaxes staged by NASA, possibly with the aid of other groups.
The most notable claim of these conspiracy theories is that the six lunar landings from 1969 to 1972 were faked and that 12 Apollo astronauts did not actually land on the moon. Various individuals have made claims since the mid-1970s that NASA and others knowingly misled the public into believing the landings happened.
Why, do you ask? Some say it was because the morale of the United States citizens at that time was bad.
The U. S. was deep into the controversial Vietnam War. There had been the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. There were protests across America due to the war, the Civil Rights movement and more.
The moon landing and the triumph of the U.S. would distract Americans from all of the negative happenings at that time in history.
Former President John F. Kennedy pledged that the U.S. would make it to the moon before the communist Soviet Union. The government and NASA did not want the Russians to beat us to the moon. Kennedy stated, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
Russia had already launched the first satellite (Sputnik in 1957) and the first man into space to orbit around the Earth, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. So the U.S. had to play catch-up with their nemesis the Soviet Union.
The “Space Race” can be traced to the “Cold War.” Landing on the moon was viewed as a national and technological accomplishment that would generate worldwide acclaim for the United States.
Conspiracy theorists accused NASA of faking the landings, arguing that they were staged by Hollywood with Walt Disney sponsorship, based on a movie script directed by Stanley Kubrick.
They also claim that NASA faked the landings to avoid humiliation and to ensure that it continued to get funding. NASA raised almost $30 billion to go to the moon. But if the conspiracy is true, then that was a lot of wasted money and apparently, a lot of people got rich regardless of whether we actually sent astronauts to the moon.
Some theorists claim that the technology did not exist to send men to the moon in the late 1960s. The United States suddenly quit going back to the moon. There is a program now to go back again and eventually send astronauts to Mars. So apparently it is a difficult task even today.
The conspiracy would have to involve thousands of people who worked on the Apollo project for nearly 10 years, the 12 men who walked on the moon, the six others who flew with them as command module pilots, and another six astronauts who orbited the moon.
So faking the moon landings would be difficult to keep secret with so many involved.
I can recall watching the moon landing as a youngster with my parents and sister on our old black and white television in our living room. I was excited and wanted to become an astronaut at that time.
However, even at that time, I recall listening to some old-timers at the neighborhood grocery store stating back then that the moon landing was fake and they had filmed it in the desert.
I guess it is up to you and what you want to believe. So the famous words by Neil Armstrong, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” may not have as much meaning if you believe in conspiracies.
I want to think we made it up there, but as I get older, I have started to question the account.
Until next time.
(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)