Claim: the moon landing was fake

Question

This is a conspiracy theory that has been perpetuated for years. As far fetched as it may seem, there are many proponents of this conspiracy and people have made some fairly decent points in support. Some have proposed that the US government faked the moon landing to win the space race against Russia with the good of the country in mind. People also claim the footage of Buzz Aldrin waving the American flag wouldnt actually be possible on the moon, which acts as a vacuum. 6% of the entire American population believes this conspiracy. That makes up about 18 million people.

Answer 1

Moon-landing is very unlikely fake, the waving flag effect was because there was basically minimal gravity on the moon so the flag wouldn't be able to fall down even if there was no wind (there is no wind on the moon!).

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/moon-landing-conspiracy-theories-debunked

Comments

Excellent work on your fact-check.  Don't forget to add a rating to all your fact-checks going forward.

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This is probably the most commonly referenced piece of evidence to suggest that the Moon landing was fake, when in reality the explanation is quite simple. To further support your claim, this article of the NASA contracting report states that the flag had a "horizontal bar", which allowed it to fly.

https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/flag/flag.htm#:~:text=Like%20any%20activity%20in%20space,moon's%20lack%20of%20an%20atmosphere.

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Great job finding a great source! When fact-checking this claim I found additional information about lunar geological information found from the moon landing, but didn't see much about the flag until your comment, thanks for adding another source for me to check out!

Answer 2

The moon landing was not fake as there is evidence to prove its legitimacy.

 https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/moon-landing-conspiracy-theories-debunked

Comments

Nice job finding a source to back up your fact-check. Don't forget to add a full explanation with details on why the claim is true. Also, please add a rating, such as "false, misinformation" for this one.

Answer 3

There is proof of the moon landing being real. Many people are simply misled my informational framing and individual differences. The presentation of information critical of the moon landing increases the likelihood of a person not believing in the moon landing.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/acp.2873?casa_token=MU2EC4ErSCEAAAAA%3AgLpRAv5Nraa85qB7TSYm6It0XmR1KhmvRCBLRulVzDFvCw-TQZkTgckmYNJAdsPpMXgG3_bx6LN5UjQ

Comments

Nice job on your fact-check.  Don't forget to add a rating to all your fact-checks going forward.

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I admire the way you not only provided a reliable source but addressed common misconceptions and misinformation; that's a great way to help people out, but also validate that sometimes it can be difficult to know what's real and what's fake. Nice job!

Answer 4

There is no verifiable evidence that promotes this claim about the moon landing being fake. This is a wildly popular conspiracy theory that claims that the moon landing was faked because of the physics behind how the United States flag was waving but according to Royal Museums Greenwich " A telescopic pole has been extended along the top in order to make the flag fly proudly"

Royal Museums Greenwich

https://www.rmg.co.uk › stories › topics › moon-landing...

 

Comments

Could you elaborate on what the information from Royal Museums Greenwich means? How does this contradict the argument that the moon landing was fake? I see where you are going, I would just like to know more.

Answer 5

The claim of the moon landing being fake is, as stated a conspiracy theory. There are many theories stating that the landing is fake because of how the flag moves windlike which is accordingly impossible in a vacuum, and suggestions that filmmaker Stanley Kubrick was involved with this theoretical facade. These are only theories to this claim, the only valuable information provided in the article is that 6% of Americans believe it is fake, while 5% remain undecided. This claim then remains only a conspiracy theory/opinion.

Answer 6

There is a mountain of evidence to prove that the moon-landing was real. Certain claims that conspiracy theories will make as "evidence" have no basis. For example, the main claim that the TIMES article uses as many moon landing conspiracy theorist's smoking gun, is that the American flag planted by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin is "waving" in pictures, despite the fact that the Moon doesn't have wind, which proves that the landing was fake. However, the actual reason this happens is because the flag was crumpled in travel to the moon, and was still very wrinkled when it was hung, giving it a "waving" effect. The reason the flag is sticking out was because there is a pole in the top of the flag to show off the fact that it was the US flag, not that it was actually waving. There's countless other claims that conspiracy theorists will make, but they're quite easy to poke holes into.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/moon-landing-conspiracy-theories-debunked