To all those conspiracy theorists out there...
For all those who believe that the moon-landings never happened and it was all a big hoax and cover-up, I have a few questions. We'll steer round the issue of hard evidence, seeing as you don't seem to have any, so let's look at it from a humble human perspective:
1. Why believe in a hoax? What's your motivation?
We are humans, we are not perfect beings. As a species we are capable of doing horrific things: war, murder, crime, destruction etc. But we are also capable of doing some amazing things that elevate us above savage animals: love, music, art, culture, creation, invention, exploration etc. The moon landings and space exploration in general demonstrates the great things we are capable of as a species, and something we as humans can be collectively proud of. Why anyone would want to just deny all that I cannot understand. Do you not believe that you are part of a species that can do such amazing things? Because you are. So if it is just because you don't think you could do it so no-one else should be able to do it either, then I think you need to look at your own self-esteem (or lack thereof) instead of looking for cameras shadows, wires, props, and weird looking cross-hairs on all those moon photographs.
2. Exactly how many space projects didn't really happen?
You say the moon landings didn't happen, they were all faked. That's 6 missions: Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. A tall order to fake 6 missions, but ok. What about the one that went wrong, 13, and what about the missions before that where they didn't land on the moon but rehearsed going there: Apollo 8, 9 and 10, did they not happen either? What about the Mercury and Gemini missions? What about the first men in space: Gagarin, Shepard, did they not go into space after all? Sputnik, Laika the dog, the chimpanzee, did they really not go into space either? And bringing it more up to date, what about all those space shuttle missions? Did the Challenger and Columbia disasters not really happen? Did Atlantis not really take off last week? Do the ISS, Hubble telescope and thousands of TV and GPS satellites up there really not exist?
I think you get my point: You can't deny one type of mission without denying all the others as well. Well you can try but it puts you in a very strange position and suggests a very unlikely scenario when you consider all the other missions:
- Shall we send a satellite into space? Yes, do it!
- Shall we send a dog into space? Yes, do it!
- Shall we send men into space? Yes, do it!
- Shall we send men around the moon? Yes, do it!
- Shall we send men to land on the moon? No, don't bother, we'll just fake it in a studio!
- Shall we send up satellites into orbit using our new Space Shuttle? Yes do it!
- Shall we build Space Stations in orbit? Yes, do it!
Eventually, someone will say...
- Hey boss, we've done all this great stuff, how come we never tried to land on the moon? Clearly we could have done it!
I'd be fascinated to see how you would explain all of this, but here's your chance to explain why you believe what you believe, and why people like me who embrace human progress and believe in science and engineering are so wrong just because you saw a flag wave a bit funny!
The floor is yours...