Is the earth flat? Are aliens real? Is corona virus a manmade disease to control the global population? These are some conundrums which we find difficult to answer. The fact that earth is a sphere may seem obvious but there is a considerable amount of people who believe otherwise. Hence, they are called conspiracy theories and can be much of an interesting subject, especially if you are a science geek.Google images

“Did Neil Armstrong truly land on the moon?” The moon landing is one of the most often debated conspiracies. Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969, carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Aldrin. This was a mission to land on the moon initiated by the US government in the early 1960s.

Landing on the moon marked a victory for the USA during the cold war with the Soviet Union in the space race to achieve superior spaceflight capability. This is one of the main reasons why people claim that the moon landing was faked.

The main theory brought up by non-believers is the fact that the shadows cast by Neil Armstrong and other objects not being parallel. It can be argued that the shadows cast by each object should be parallel if the sun is the only light source.

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The lack of stars in the photographs is another factor used to argue against the certainty of the Apollo 11 mission. The explanation of the experts is that the moon’s surface reflects sunlight so, it would have been impossible to detect stars. In addition, the astronauts have used rapid exposure settings to capture their lunar experiences which would have restricted incoming background light.

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The American flag appears to be flapping as if in a breeze in the videos and photographs supposedly taken from the airless lunar surface. This has caused controversy as well. It is said that the flag had a horizontal rod inside to make it stick out from the flagpole and the flag appears to be moving because of the inertia when they let it go.

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Some sceptics point out that Armstrong does not appear to be holding a camera, implying that the photo was taken by someone else, making it another point to prove that landing on the moon was staged. It was later revealed that the camera he used was mounted to the front of his suit, which is why his hands are in the reflection.

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Creating so many controversies and having them debunked, it is surprising how many people still believe in the mission to be fake. A July 1970 poll found 30% of Americans declining the authenticity of the Apollo 11 mission and it has gone down to 20% in the early 2000s.

Considering the proof of experts, it is safe to say that the moon landing was not staged after all. Anyway, it is not for us to argue because people are entitled to have their own opinions though it is much interesting to investigate these controversies and skeptical views. In a way, these controversies create curiosity and encourage us to find out the rationale behind these observations.