# Skeptics about the lunar landing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964 "2006-08-23T23:24:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/81 "2006-09-01T13:53:34Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] That’s pretty simple; teflon was a spin-off from the space program, and it’s main use is _frying things_. 😉 [/QUOTE] yet another giant hoax perpetrated on an innocent public by the devious gov’t! 😃 Seriously, teflon was “invented” in 1938 ( [Spectrum.net](http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/teflon/index.html) ) and made practical in the mid-50’s. The space program commercialized it and improved the manufacturability of it, but certainly didn’t invent it any more than they invented Tang. Helps sell the product though. 🙂 As to the OP, I give up. Like evolution or global warming, doubts about the moon landing are political not factual. Science is not a democratic method, and if a few or many people choose to ignore reality that doesn’t change the truth. Let em go. they will slide off the edge of the earth someday and no longer be a problem. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/82 "2006-09-01T14:12:32Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] I don’t doubt the rocket technology. Hell, maybe a German V2 from 1941 could have made it. But the guidance, the life support, the lunar lander, the return, all that worked. They were either extremely driven, ingenious, and lucky, or it was faked. [/QUOTE] And you know this because of your extensive background in aerospace engineering? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/83 "2006-09-01T14:50:01Z")
I’m always impressed by the irony of the moon landing hoax theories. The Apollo Program, and NASA more generally, are close to the only instances in which the Federal Government is entirely honest and straightforward. We not only know exactly what NASA does, but exactly how much money they spend and where and how they spend it. The same can’t be said for countless other departments, where concealing actions and budgets through secrecy or hiding behind massively complicated documentation are the norm. Worry about the U. S. military inventing Saddam’s chemical weapons, or about budget projections based on bogus assumptions about future tax revenues, or about incorrect counting of deaths caused by obesity. But if you truly need an astronomy-related conspiracy fix, you can always start believing the [theory](http://www.revisionism.nl/Moon/The-Mad-Revisionist.htm) that the moon is a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/84 "2006-09-01T16:04:46Z")
I’m amazed that people doubt the Moon landings: we have plenty of visible proof, lots of artifacts, plus the Moon rocks. Could anything be clearer? Yet, we have thousands of people who belive that the earth is visited by aliens in flying saucers-with no proof whatsoever? Take the whole "Area 51’ nonsense: yes, it is a secret base. but i have yet to see anything that proves that area 51 harbors alien corpses. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/85 "2006-09-01T16:59:57Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] I’m amazed that people doubt the Moon landings: we have plenty of visible proof, lots of artifacts, plus the Moon rocks. Could anything be clearer? Yet, we have thousands of people who belive that the earth is visited by aliens in flying saucers-with no proof whatsoever? Take the whole "Area 51’ nonsense: yes, it is a secret base. but i have yet to see anything that proves that area 51 harbors alien corpses. [/QUOTE] I believe that we landed on the moon, but lets look at this from a skeptical perspective. What do the supposed moon rocks prove? They’re fucking _rocks_. They could have come from anywhere. As for Area 51, I suppose the UFO speculation is fueled by the fact that there were, in fact, Unidentified Flying Objects seen around the base until recently. They were probably prototypes for spy planes, but they were most definitely unidentified as far as the public knew 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/86 "2006-09-01T17:19:32Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] I believe that we landed on the moon, but lets look at this from a skeptical perspective. What do the supposed moon rocks prove? They’re fucking _rocks_. They could have come from anywhere. [/QUOTE] No, they couldn’t. They are very distinct from Earth rocks, having been formed on a body with a very different composition, under very different conditions than found on Earth, and exposed to a vacuum for billions of years. Moondust is also quite strikingly unlike anything on Earth. None of this is obvious to the lay observer, I’ll grant you, but they have been examined by geologists from around the world—who could all be lying about them, I suppose. But they are Yet Another Reason why no one with a lick of scientific training (that sunk in, anyway) doubts that the lunar landings took place. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/87 "2006-09-01T21:33:28Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] They’re fucking _rocks_. [/QUOTE] Jeez, calm down. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/88 "2006-09-01T21:37:27Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Jeez, calm down. [/QUOTE] Must be a full moon. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/89 "2006-09-02T00:16:50Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Cite? [/QUOTE] _My Life_, paperback version, page 240. You can find it on the [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) search. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/90 "2006-09-02T00:26:38Z")
[QUOTE=JRDelirious] I don’t think that’s what that quote means. It’s not saying that he now believes the old guy, he’s saying that seeing how inside-the-beltway works he now can understand how **people** can come to that sort of conclusion. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > The old carpenter asked me if I really believed it had happened. I said sure, I saw it on television. He disagreed; he said that he didn’t believe it for a minute, that “them television fellers” could make things look real that weren’t. Back then, I thought he was a crank. **During my eight years in Washington** , I saw some things on TV that made me wonder if he wasn’t ahead of his time. Not alot of \*\*people \*\* can say that they were **President of the United States**. So what exactly did Bill see on the ‘plasma screen in the Sitution Room’ of the White House that made him re-think what that old conspiracy nutter said? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/91 "2006-09-02T00:30:39Z")
What Clinton wrote has been misunderstood in this thread. The quote, from his autobi9ography: > [@](#): > > Just a month before, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had left their colleague, Michael Collins, aboard spaceship Columbia and walked on the moon, beating by five months President Kennedy’s goal of putting a man on the moon before the decade was out. The old carpenter asked me if I really believed it happened. I said sure, I saw it in television. He disagreed; he said that he didn’t believe it for a minute, that “them television fellers” could make things look real that weren’t. Back then, I thought he was a crank. During my eight years in Washington, I saw some things on TV that made me wonder if he wasn’t ahead of his time. Clinton is not giving a personal opinion about man on the moon; he was voicing the age-old complaint of politicians that he was always being misrepresented in the media. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/92 "2006-09-02T00:31:33Z")
By the same token, you would expect that during his 8 years in office as President, he would have seen things that would have convinced him that a moon landing was both possible and factual. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/93 "2006-09-02T00:35:32Z")
No, but the **President of the United States,** having seen exactly how sophisticated the information-manipulation machinery is, can understand exactly how far the wool is pulled over **People** ’s eyes every day on really important things, so he can say _“Y’know those guys who say there’s conspiracies afoot? Well, I can’t blame 'em.”_ ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/94 "2006-09-03T21:33:52Z")
[QUOTE=Podkayne] No, they couldn’t. They are very distinct from Earth rocks, having been formed on a body with a very different composition, under very different conditions than found on Earth, and exposed to a vacuum for billions of years. Moondust is also quite strikingly unlike anything on Earth. [/QUOTE] I have no doubt about that. But how much did we really learn by getting these rocks? That’s an awfully long way to go to get some rocks, and a lot of money too. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/95 "2006-09-04T00:02:53Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] My OP was not so much about if they would or could fake the landing, but whether anyone else has come across educated people who so strongly believe that it was indeed faked–especially people (like Italians) who have no particular reason to suspect fakery. [/QUOTE] Oh, sure. Both my parents, for instance. I’ve met other people, too. It amuses me that Baby Boomers who saw the moon landing don’t believe it really happened, while many of us a generation younger believe it happened but that NASA is a waste of money. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/96 "2006-09-04T02:10:14Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] You can see them both in the vid.), or the rock with a “C” on it.. stuff like that. [/QUOTE] so, you’re saying that the evidence is a c rock? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964/97 "2006-09-04T05:18:22Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] It amuses me that Baby Boomers who saw the moon landing don’t believe it really happened [/QUOTE] In a poll taken by Gallup in July 1999, the overwhelming majority of Americans (89%) do not believe the U.S. government staged or faked the Apollo moon landing. Only 6% of the public believes the landing was faked and another 5% have no opinion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/skeptics-about-the-lunar-landing/369964.md?page=4)