The claim here is that the 1969 moon landing was actually filmed on a movie set and humans have never set foot on the moon. To start off, an important aspect of any research supporting a claim is the source from which you're gathering information. Though there are many articles published arguing whether or not it was real, the source up above is from a Youtuber, Shane Dawson, who is known to believe in outlandish theories that have consistently been proven wrong (such as Dawson believing that 9/11 was an "inside job"). Agreeing with his claims versus, say, NASA, a universally recognized and respected scientific center for space exploration, diminishes the claim before it's even unpacked. But, let's dive into why the moon landing is real, backed up by actual scientific proof. The main three points that are constantly used as evidence are the shadows being "off", the lack of stars in the sky, and the American flag waving as though there was wind present. Loads of articles "debunk" these claims but I focused on the findings from this one from Royal Museums Greenwich. The first piece of evidence is that the shadows are "off" or not parallel. If the Sun is the only light source, then shouldn't the shadows be parallel? Surely, this means that the whole scene was made in a studio, with multiple light sources generating many different shadow patterns. Not exactly. According to National Space Centre Discovery Director, Professor Anu Ojha, "...because of perspective, parallel lines appear to be non-parallel. If you are trying to reduce on to a two-dimensional plane a three-dimensional situation, you can make lines do all sorts of weird things. Artists have been using this for centuries". You can actually test this if you go outside when the Sun is low in the sky and see that the shadows aren't parallel. The second piece of evidence is the lack of stars in the sky. Shouldn't outer space be the place for stars? Especially with no clouds or atmosphere to mess with the view? Well, it was daytime on the Moon. Both the astronauts and the lunar landscape itself are brightly lit by the Sun. "If you're going to take a photo of a brightly lit scene, your camera's shutter speed needs to be fast and your aperture incredibly small. In that situation, faint objects like stars simply aren't going to show up". The final piece of evidence is that the American flag was waving when it was triumphantly placed in the Moon. There's no atmosphere on the Moon, meaning there is no wind on the moon, so this one has to be right...right? According to an article written by The Washington Post, "A horizontal rod had been inserted through a hem at the top of the flag, but the astronauts had trouble pulling the telescoping rod all the way out, leading to that rippling effect. In other words, it was an engineering blunder". To conclude, it is clear to see that all of the flashy conspiracy theories have been debunked, backed up by credible sources and concrete evidence.
