LUNAR-LEVEL LIES?
TO OUTMATCH the Soviet Union, NASA led the first crew of astronauts to the Moon in 1969.
However, conspiracy theorists doubt that the monumental event actually happened.
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Was the moon landing fake?
Since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people ever to set foot on the moon, sleuths speculated that the entire thing never happened.
In an effort to prove the moon landing was a hoax, eagle-eyed theorists pointed to images from the day of the first entry.
Why does the American flag from the moon landing have ripples in it?
In a photo from that day, the second man on the moon, Aldrin, is pictured with the American flag on the moon's surface.
In that image, detractors pointed out that the flag that Aldrin planted is flapping in the wind.
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The flapping flag might seem hard to explain because, scientifically speaking, the moon does not have any sort of weather.
The moon's gravitational force does not allow it to retain any gases from when it first formed, which explains the lack of climate.
Due to this reason, theorists argue that the flag should not be blowing.
This argument has been debunked because scientists have explained that the flag isn't actually blowing.
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In fact, it was not a typical prop that could be bought.
If the flag were a regular one sold in stores, the item would have fallen to the ground or lost its balance when the astronauts attempted to plant it.
The one pictured with Aldrin is manufactured specifically by NASA for their expedition teams to take with them.
The NASA-crafted flags in the photo had ripples in them because the atypical horizontal rod made it difficult for the Apollo 11 astronauts to extend the item fully.
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Why are there no stars from the moon landing photos?
The photos of the Apollo 11 crew members were taken during the daytime.
At the time, the moon's surface was illuminated by sunlight.
The white space suits worn by the expedition team were heavily reflective, which caused the light to concentrate on the suits rather than the background.
Plus, the exposure from the cameras used that day did not last long enough to capture any surrounding stars.
Why are the shadows off-balance in the moon landing footage?
Sleuths have pointed out that objects that should be covered by shadows are still highly visible in the pictures from the event.
Theorists argue that if the Sun is the only light in space, then those objects should not be visible.
This contributes to the skepticism about the historical occurrence as people claim the objects that should not be seen are exposed because of Hollywood lighting.
The sunlight reflects off of the moon's surface and the resulting illumination causes the ground to light up, proving this theory false as well.
What is the Stanley Kubrick theory?
Skeptics and moviegoers have even gone as far as to say the moon landing was a hoax directed by The Shining filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.
The theories emerged when detractors began comparing footage from the event to the fictional depiction of space seen in Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The seemingly-realistic visuals from the movie caused viewers to wonder if the US government hired Kubrick to direct the moon landing on a Hollywood soundstage.
The fact that the motion picture's release date proceeded the occurrence by a year only fueled rumors further.
On December 10, 2015, moon landing deniers appeared to get the validation they were searching for when supposed leaked footage of a lost interview was published by T Patrick Murray.
In the audio, a Kubrick-like figure says to Murray: "I perpetrated a huge fraud on the American public, which I am now about to detail, involving the United States government and NASA,
"The moon landings were faked, that the moon landings all were faked and that I was the person who filmed it.
"I'm serious. Dead serious. Yes, it was fake. 2001 was very ambitious.
"That's not to say that faking the moon landing was not ambitious. But I learned things from making 2001, and that's why I got this gig in the first place."
The person in the audio has been proven to be an imitation of the late director and the interview has since been debunked.
Although Murray insists that it was the real Kubrick, his claims that the interview was conducted in May 1999 worked against him.
That would be impossible since Kubrick died in March of that year.
When was the moon landing?
Thanks to the Apollo 11 expedition, NASA's first moon landing occurred on July 20, 1969.
In the following order, crew members Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins went down in history as the first three people on the moon.
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Between 1969 to 1972, there were six more US journeys to Earth's only satellite.
The last mission was conducted between December 7 through December 19, 1972.