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in General Factchecking by (150 points)
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.

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by Novice (520 points)
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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
by Genius (47.3k points)
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Excellent work on your fact-check.  Don't forget to add a rating to all your fact-checks going forward.
by Newbie (220 points)
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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.
by (100 points)
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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!
by Newbie (250 points)
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After reading the original source and the opposing side, this article was great for justifying your answer! Using common sense as an opening is great especially with a great source!
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by Newbie (200 points)
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
by Genius (47.3k points)
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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.
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by Newbie (270 points)
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
by Genius (47.3k points)
0 0
Nice job on your fact-check.  Don't forget to add a rating to all your fact-checks going forward.
by (100 points)
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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!
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by Newbie (300 points)

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"

 

False
by Novice (600 points)
0 0
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.
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by Newbie (300 points)
edited by

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 wind like 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 comes from a 1999 Gallup poll that shows 6% of Americans believe the moon landing is fake, while 5% remain undecided. This claim then remains only a conspiracy theory/opinion.

No available information
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by Newbie (300 points)

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

False
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by (150 points)
edited by

In the article, "The Moon Landings Were Faked," for TIME Magazine's conspiracy theory miniseries, the theory claims that the 1969 U.S. moon landing was a staged production in order to beat the Russians in the space race. The article goes on to further explain points of the conspiracy, such as the "wind" that catches the flag, and that it was directed by Stanley Kubrick. 

The article isn't necessarily arguing these points, but rather illustrating the main points of the conspiracy, as it is part of a series of articles like these. As this is a conspiracy theory, there is no real basis/source for any of the claims given, even in the article. Many of the beats TIME touches on, such as the wind blowing the flag are debunked in articles like this one from NASA archives, which goes on to say, "They designed a flagpole with a horizontal bar allowing the flag to "fly" without the benefit of wind to overcome the effects of the moon's lack of an atmosphere." Another resource comes from the Institute of Physics, which explains the multiple different types of evidence we have that the moon landing happened. In terms of hard evidence, there is plenty of proof that the moon landing was not faked. "[T]here are 8,400 publicly available photos, thousands of hours of video footage, a mountain of scientific data, and full transcripts and audio recordings of all air-to-ground conversations."

Can't be true or false (Opinion, poem, etc.)
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by Novice (660 points)
There have been many pieces of "evidence" that have been used as evidence to try and support the claim that the moon landing was faked. However, most, if not all of these, have been debunked with the scientific knowledge that we had back then as well as new data that further supports these findings.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/moon-landing-conspiracy-theories-debunked
False
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by Newbie (370 points)
The article claims that the moon landing was fake because the US government faked the moon landing to win the space race against Russia with the good of the country in mind. Thousands of people have worked on the moon landing and faking this would be highly unlikely.
False
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by Novice (570 points)
The moon landing is, with our current evidence, not faked. Theories regarding the landings have circulated, with one prominent one being the flag that appears to be flowing in the wind. Strong evidence points towards the moon's microgravity being responsible for creating ripples that look as though the flag itself is waving as there is no atmosphere strong enough to produce this effect through wind.

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

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