# Moon landing deniers: why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504 "2018-08-12T23:24:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/61 "2018-08-14T14:24:20Z")
And now, because it’s not enough that CT thinking has taken over one of our political parties and put a whackjob in the White House, someone’s deployed [the QAnon conspiracy](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/psychology-qanon-why-do-seemingly-sane-people-believe-bizarre-conspiracy-ncna900171) to explain away Trump’s failures. Why isn’t America great again? It’s that damn QAnon, and our fearless leader is fighting it tooth, nail and claw! ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/62 "2018-08-14T16:09:36Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Others tie it into the whole Illuminati/New World Order business: the elites are part of some satanic cult, and putting on these events serves some mystical purpose. Some even say that the more blatant the fake is, the better, because they get more mystical power out of getting people to believe obvious BS. I think this was a big part of the Birther conspiracy. Why go to all this trouble to fake a birth certificate for one mixed race baby back in the 1960s? Because they had a plan, and the plan was to take a baby who was not a US Citizen, fake up everything, and then put that mixed race foreign baby in the White House. Because it’s not enough to have an Illuminati controlled puppet in the White House, it has to be through a ritual desecration of the Constitution. So you had to have a scenario where an 9 months pregnant Ann Dunham sneaks out of the country to go to Kenya to give birth, and then sneak back into the country with her newborn baby. And why? Specifically to make it so that her child would not be a US citizen, so that when he would later become president it would desecrate America. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/63 "2018-08-14T18:34:20Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > I think this was a big part of the Birther conspiracy. Why go to all this trouble to fake a birth certificate for one mixed race baby back in the 1960s? Because they had a plan, and the plan was to take a baby who was not a US Citizen, fake up everything, and then put that mixed race foreign baby in the White House. Because it’s not enough to have an Illuminati controlled puppet in the White House, it has to be through a ritual desecration of the Constitution. > > So you had to have a scenario where an 9 months pregnant Ann Dunham sneaks out of the country to go to Kenya to give birth, and then sneak back into the country with her newborn baby. And why? Specifically to make it so that her child would not be a US citizen, so that when he would later become president it would desecrate America. Puh-leeze! Dunham was in Kenya the whole time, and the fake US birth certificate wasn’t created until Obama entered politics in the late 90s. /sarcasm ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/64 "2018-08-14T22:06:43Z")
The entire concept just makes no sense. Let’s say that in 1966, NASA discovered that the radiation in the Van Allan Belts were just too much to sustain human life. What do you do? Do you go on TV with the data that shows that interstellar travel is impossible, or start to orchestrate a conspiracy involving hundreds of thousands of people for what? The rah-rah victory of landing on the moon? And if we did do that, why the follow up missions? Couldn’t the conspirators have said, “We fulfilled Kennedy’s promise. We landed on the moon. We are awesomer than the USSR. But no reason to spend more money and risk more lives on follow up missions. It’s a sand dune. Peace out.” Why risk more “missions” when a screw up could happen that would blow the whole story? The whole idea of a hoax is beyond fanciful. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/65 "2018-08-14T22:30:59Z")
I think the best take I’ve seen on the faked Moon landings was that most of the cost of the mission was getting the astronauts into LEO … something millions of people could see from their backyard … that didn’t leave enough money in the budget to rent a Hollywood studio and pay everyone union scale … much much cheaper to pay a couple guys military scale, load some props into the capsule and just send them on to the Moon … That’s what fools people … the film was shot on location … _the surface of the Moon_ … that’s why the fake footage looks so authentic … ---
**Author:** ![GuyTanzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/48db29/32.png) [@GuyTanzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuyTanzer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/66 "2018-08-14T22:48:35Z")
Wait. What Moon landings? 😜 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/67 "2018-08-14T23:37:22Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > The entire concept just makes no sense. Let’s say that in 1966, NASA discovered that the radiation in the Van Allan Belts were just too much to sustain human life. > > What do you do? Do you go on TV with the data that shows that interstellar travel is impossible, or start to orchestrate a conspiracy involving hundreds of thousands of people for what? The rah-rah victory of landing on the moon? > > And if we did do that, why the follow up missions? Couldn’t the conspirators have said, “We fulfilled Kennedy’s promise. We landed on the moon. We are awesomer than the USSR. But no reason to spend more money and risk more lives on follow up missions. It’s a sand dune. Peace out.” Why risk more “missions” when a screw up could happen that would blow the whole story? > > The whole idea of a hoax is beyond fanciful. This, and then why fake Apollo 13? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/68 "2018-08-15T00:09:04Z")
> [@betterlifethroughchemistry](#): > > I put it in the same category as the “Flat Earth” believers, there are far more issues to worry about or waste time on, people ain’t gonna learn what they don’t want to know… I disagree. A Flat Earth can be disproven pretty easily. If you see the sunrise/set over the ocean you see half a sun. It doesn’t dwindle to zero size like it would with the perspective argument they use. On the other hand you can argue against my evidence all you want but you can PROVE we went to the Moon. We could have sent an unmanned probe with video and tape-recording of conversations to fool the Russians tracking Apollo. There is [a video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_loUDS4c3Cs) claiming the technology wasn’t around to slow-mo the footage BUT that video fails twice. He shows the video could not have been slowed down in real-time using commercial equipment but the reality is 1. The “landing” could have been filmed before and slowed down well in advance and the film edited. 2. NASA developed specialized equipment built for that purpose. Do you think the Manhattan Project went down to the local hardware store for supplies? What evidence do you have that proves we went to the Moon? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/69 "2018-08-15T00:12:17Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > This, and then why fake Apollo 13? Low ratings. Actual fact. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/70 "2018-08-15T00:17:45Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > This, and then why fake Apollo 13? Good point. The conspirators wanted to mix things up in the middle and have a nice story? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/71 "2018-08-15T00:19:09Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Low ratings. Actual fact. I know you are being silly, but if you are faking shit, low ratings is exactly what you want. ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/72 "2018-08-15T02:01:45Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > What evidence do you have that proves we went to the Moon? What evidence do I have? Personally? I have none as I was never involved with NASA nor any of the lunar missions, I possess no proven artifacts of any of the missions, and my most recent contact with any of the lunar missions was a visit I took to KSFC last April… However, others seem to put forth a compelling argument… > **[How Do We Know The Moon Landing Really Happened?](https://www.spacecentre.co.uk/news/space-now-blog/how-do-we-know-the-moon-landing-really-happened/)** > **[Proof we landed on the Moon is in the dust](https://www.popsci.com/blog-network/vintage-space/proof-we-landed-moon-dust/)** > > A less common reply against Moon hoax theorists: the way dust behaves in Apollo videos is proof we landed on the Moon. > **[Apollo and the moon-landing hoax | Human World | EarthSky](https://earthsky.org/space/apollo-and-the-moon-landing-hoax/)** > > Why do people persist in denying that human beings landed on the moon? Do I think the Manhattan Project went down to the local hardware store for supplies? I have no idea… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/73 "2018-08-15T02:42:32Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > You, personally, can go and buy a powerful enough laser and telescope and, on your own time, bounce the laser off the moon. When you hit one of the manmade retro reflectors that we put there, you’ll have your own proof that we’ve been there. Because it is impossible to have laser reflectors taken there by probes? ---
**Author:** ![MarvinKitFox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MarvinKitFox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarvinKitFox)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/74 "2018-08-15T07:26:55Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Because it is impossible to have laser reflectors taken there by probes? Ok, so… You believe we DID go to the moon, just not manned missions? That would require that the moon is a real astronomical body, etc.. It would require that we have the ability to get there.. But it would also require the _same_ hugely massive conspiracy to fake sending _manned_ missions to the moon. So the argument is that we _could_ have sent men to the moon, but didn’t want to bother, we rather faked it? wow. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/75 "2018-08-15T08:16:49Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > And yet another guy today, on another Facebook post. At first he claimed the deadly Van Allen belts and then this: > > “… think about this… > NASA claim the reason we can’t go back is because they “lost” all the data and technology from all the missions. > Do you really believe they sent man to the moon from computers with less capabilities than a calculator. ?” I love little nonsense details like this. By the time of the first moon landing in 1969, the IBM System/360 mainframe had already been in the field for four years and they were in use at NASA. Descendants of that system architecture are still in use today. By 1968, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center was running a System/360 Model 91, a supercomputer that was at the time the most powerful computer in the world. Or maybe the CT nuts are talking about the onboard flight computers. Those were specialized computers that didn’t need to be very powerful. The Apollo guidance computer was a highly specialized unit using a 16-bit processor with 2K RAM and a little over 32K ROM that was perfectly adequate for what it needed to do. ---
**Author:** ![Rocky\_from\_Plano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Rocky\_from\_Plano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocky_from_Plano)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/76 "2018-08-15T12:51:25Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It’s a sad symptom of the paranoia sweeping this country. > > Some of the public doesn’t trust anything anymore. The media, government, their church, nobody. The web fuels paranoia and distrust like gasoline on a campfire. > > Every time a major news event happens, there’s deniers and truthers out there saying it’s a manipulated hoax. The same was true in the 60’s and 70’s also. We young kids knew everything and big government was always trying to control our lives and keep us down. Of course, back then, the conspiracy group tended to be younger and more liberal than todays group (or maybe today’s CTs are leftover 70’s CTs. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/77 "2018-08-15T13:06:38Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > The only conspiracy theorist I know personally is such because he refuses to believe what’s in front of his eyes: he can’t believe burning jet fuel softens support beams so he thinks the World Trade Towers were rigged for demolition On the morning of 9/11 when **DesertRoomie** roused me with, “Come look at this!” after the first hit, I sleepily blinked at the images for about five minutes, then predicted the building was coming down. “How so? The hole looks small enough.” I told her steel weakens at 2,200-degrees (but does not melt) and jet fuel burns at 2,500-degrees. That big weight on top will drop like a hammer on the rest of it, and split it open like a wedge in firewood. Frankly, I didn’t expect it to go clear to the ground but get stopped sometime before, but they would be forced to take down the rest of the building. Now mind you, I am no genius. I am bright (most days), well-read, and have an insatiable curiosity about things, particularly STEM. I also know how to apply Occam’s razor. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/78 "2018-08-15T13:59:15Z")
> [@MarvinKitFox](#): > > Ok, so… > You believe we DID go to the moon, just not manned missions? > > That would require that the moon is a real astronomical body, etc… > It would require that we have the ability to get there… > But it would also require the _same_ hugely massive conspiracy to fake sending _manned_ missions to the moon. > > So the argument is that we _could_ have sent men to the moon, but didn’t want to bother, we rather faked it? > wow. Sending men to the Moon and having them survive is very different than sending an unmanned probe. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/79 "2018-08-15T15:35:28Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > It will be interesting what they say as the moon is colonized and the Apollo landing sights become tourist attractions. Back when the Chinese started making noises about sending a mission to the Moon, I predicted that the CTists would dismiss all the photos of the Chinese Moon landing because they all look _just like the photos of the Apollo Moon landings_. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/80 "2018-08-15T15:44:44Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I subscribe to a few science threads on Facebook. I also tend to read NASA and space-related stories in the media. > > Whenever there’s a discussion about the moon landings, without a doubt, within 10 posts someone will deny that the moon landings were real. > > I honestly don’t get it. Some basic research, like one hour maximum, will tell you all you need to know about the Apollo missions. > > 400,000 people working directly or indirectly for NASA would to have remained silent to this day. Other technologically advanced nations: UK, Soviet Union, Canada, Australia, etc. would have to have been in on it. In fact some of the transmissions were routed through Australia’s Parkes Observatory radio telescope when the moon was facing the southern hemisphere. > > Why? What do these uneducated, ill-informed people get out of denying what is probably the most significant technological achievement of mankind? > > In other words: how fucking stupid do you need to be to dismiss this achievement? 400,000 COMPARTMENTALIZED workers. The team designing the astronauts’ boots doesn’t have a clue about how the the lander tests are going. Landing people on the moon seems too hard a problem to have been achieved back then. Or even now without a lot of further R&D. But I realize if this becomes the prevailing belief, school children won’t want to do their science homework, so I won’t belabor the hoax likelihood. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504.md?page=5)