# Moon Landing **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 10, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069 "2008-11-10T17:58:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Core44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Core44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Core44)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/1 "2008-11-10T17:58:48Z")
Did the United States really land on the moon? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/2 "2008-11-10T18:00:41Z")
Yes, damn it. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/3 "2008-11-10T18:01:06Z")
Yes. (Well, I mean, not _all_ of us, but several Americans did as part of a United States government program.) ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/4 "2008-11-10T18:03:32Z")
We were _wondering_ where that landmass had buggered off to. One day, everything’s fine and normal, and the next we’re getting angry letters from Canadians who’ve found themselves falling off the side. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/5 "2008-11-10T18:17:11Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > We were _wondering_ where that landmass had buggered off to. One day, everything’s fine and normal, and the next we’re getting angry letters from Canadians who’ve found themselves falling off the side. On the bright side, the Canucks did gain a lot of beachfront property. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/6 "2008-11-10T18:18:35Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > (Well, I mean, not _all_ of us, but several Americans did as part of a United States government program.) Is there any truth to the rumor that I’m just now making up that Mike Collins had to stay in the command module because, having been born in Italy, he wasn’t a “natural born American?” ---
**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:** [November 10, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/7 "2008-11-10T18:19:59Z")
Yes. A thousand times yes. It would have been impossible to fake it. Believe it or not the whole world was watching, and not just on T.V. either. Australia played a big part in helping with the satellite reception. See [here.](http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/news_events/apollo11/) And from Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > - The Bochum Observatory director (Professor Heinz Kaminski) was able to provide confirmation of events and data independent of both the Russian and US space agencies. [5] > - A compilation of sightings appeared in “Observations of Apollo 11”, Sky and Telescope, November 1969, pp. 358-359. > - The Madrid Apollo Station, part of the Deep Space Network, built in Fresnedillas, near Madrid, Spain tracked Apollo 11. [6] > - Goldstone Tracking Station in California tracked Apollo 11. [7] > - At Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK the telescope was used to observe the mission, as it had been many years previously for Sputnik.[14] ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/8 "2008-11-10T18:20:28Z")
> [@Core44](#): > > Did the United States really land on the moon? No. The cost of sending the entire country turned out a bit high, so they just sent a few people in rockets. ---
**Author:** ![dehacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@dehacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dehacker)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/9 "2008-11-10T18:27:10Z")
The best thing to come out of the moon landings? Buzz Aldrin at 72, [punching](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU) Bart Sibrel for calling him a coward and a liar. Bart is the idiot conspiracy theorist who believes that NASA faked the moon landing. The man was already a hero of mine. This moved him directly into Legendary status. So in summary – don’t fuck with Buzz. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/10 "2008-11-10T18:27:46Z")
To sum up: In 1969, some astronauts went into the top of a really big rocket, big enough that it could have gotten them to the Moon. While those astronauts were in the top of the rocket, the rocket took off. Radar stations from around the world showed that rocket, or portions thereof, heading toward the Moon. Radio transmissions of the voices of those three men, detectable to anyone with a ham set were picked up from the expected location of the top of the rocket, with time delays consistent with their expected distance from the Earth, were picked up in the direction the rocket was expected to be. After an amount of time consistent with travel to the Moon and back plus some puttering around on the surface, those three men splashed down into the ocean, still in the top of the rocket that took off from Florida. They brought back with them still and video film of people in spacesuits walking around in a barren environment, full of dust that behaved differently than dust does anywhere in an atmosphere. Further, said films encompassed larger areas than any vacuum chamber ever built on Earth. They also brought back rocks with a mineral composition unlike any found on Earth. They claim to have left behind on the Moon a corner reflector, in exactly the location where laser rangefinding experiments from Earth have confirmed that a corner reflector exists on the Moon. The Soviet Union, the second-most-powerful entity in the world, and the group with the greatest vested interest in the US not getting to the Moon, offered their congratulations to the US during and after the time of the mission. The conclusion is left as an exercise for the reader. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/11 "2008-11-10T18:36:33Z")
Gee, a moon landing thread, on the same page as a Kennedy assassination thread, and only a week or so after a Holocaust denial thread. Coincidence? I think not… ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/12 "2008-11-10T18:39:00Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Gee, a moon landing thread, on the same page as a Kennedy assassination thread, and only a week or so after a Holocaust denial thread. > > Coincidence? I think not… You mean that it all is a tactic by the Illuminati to keep us occupied and therefore unable to dicuss the truth about Roswell? I knew it! ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/13 "2008-11-10T18:40:46Z")
> [@dehacker](#): > > The best thing to come out of the moon landings? > > Buzz Aldrin at 72, [punching](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo6aHSY8hU) Bart Sibrel for calling him a coward and a liar. Bart is the idiot conspiracy theorist who believes that NASA faked the moon landing. > > The man was already a hero of mine. This moved him directly into Legendary status. > > So in summary – don’t fuck with Buzz. In general, I disapprove of this sort of behavior. However, in this case: hit 'im again, Buzz! ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/14 "2008-11-10T18:41:54Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > You mean that it all is a tactic by the Illuminati to keep us occupied and therefore unable to dicuss the truth about Roswell? > > I knew it! Yes. Now that Sarah Palin is not going to be VP, there needs to be something else to distract us. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/15 "2008-11-10T18:42:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The conclusion is left as an exercise for the reader. Wow, it sure was one big-ass conspiracy! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/16 "2008-11-10T18:47:06Z")
To Chronos’ comments, I add this. Exposing the moon landings as a hoax would be a tremendous coup for any scholar or scientist, and would give him enormous professional prestige. In addition, there would be huge amounts of money to be made from book deals, lecture tours, etc. There would obviously be many people in a position to expose the hoax who would be highly motivated to do so. Moreover, there would be no obvious benefit for the United States in perpetrating such a hoax. Furthermore, it outrages simple common sense. If the United States government couldn’t even cover up Watergate and Abu Ghraib, how could it possibly cover up a hoax this big for more than forty years? ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/17 "2008-11-10T19:26:24Z")
A little spinach, and Buzz could have sent the guy to the Moon himself. Cranky Old Guys Rule! ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/18 "2008-11-10T19:38:45Z")
Yes. That was the easiest “great debate” I’ve ever participated in! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/19 "2008-11-10T19:48:44Z")
You want the truth? You think you can handle the truth? Neil and Buzz really **did** land on the Moon on July 20, 1969. However, all the broadcast footage of the event was pre-recorded, by Buzz and Neil themselves but long before the launch, in a sound studio in Area 51, as a cover for delicate _sub rosa_ diplomatic negotiations with the Selenites. (They wanted lots and lots of Tang; in return, we got Mood Ring and digital-watch technology.) ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069/20 "2008-11-10T20:19:37Z")
> [@Core44](#): > > Did the United States really land on the moon? > [@MEBuckner](#): > > Yes. (Well, I mean, not _all_ of us . . .) > [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > We were _wondering_ where that landmass had buggered off to. One day, everything’s fine and normal, and the next we’re getting angry letters from Canadians who’ve found themselves falling off the side. > [@Mangetout](#): > > No. The cost of sending the entire country turned out a bit high, so they just sent a few people in rockets. - “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing itself on the moon and returning safely to the earth — not because it is easy, but because it is **hard**.” [RIGHT]— John F. Kennedy, 1961 (paraphrased)[/RIGHT] \* [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing/472069.md?page=2)