Why People Think the Moon Landing Was Faked

Uncovering the Truth About the Moon Landing.

I wanted to know why so many people still believe the moon landing never happened, so I looked into it.

Thank you to the experts we spoke with that helped with our research in this story:
- Dr. Jack Singal — astrophysicist and physics professor at the University of Richmond
- Bill Barry, former chief historian at NASA

Apollo 11 Resources:

-- Video Chapters --
0:00 Intro
4:17 Lead Up
10:56 Skepticism
18:42 Hoax
22:16 Real Evidence
24:39 Credits and Outro

Correction:
8:50 Mission Control was in Houston, TX, while the launch took place in Cape Kennedy, FL

About:
Johnny Harris is an Emmy-winning independent journalist and contributor to the New York Times. Based in Washington, DC, Harris reports on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the globe, publishing to his audience of over 3.5 million on Youtube. Harris produced and hosted the twice Emmy-nominated series Borders for Vox Media. His visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways.

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[Ethan_Coble]

I applaud conspiracy theorists for being naturally skeptical and questioning everything in their life... The issue is they usually throw that same logic out the window when they find something that either confirms their baises or makes them feel "smarter" than everyone else... Shame.

[besmart]

Once you realize that the moon is a GIANT SUN REFLECTOR then you understand why there are no stars in moon photos. To put it more technically, the moon's asphalt-colored lunar dust reflects 12% of sunlight that hits its surface. Imagine pointing your camera at something 12% as bright as the sun. You're not gonna see any stars.

[kaisam]

My teacher in 6th grade (12 years old) showed us the Dark Side of the Moon mockumentary as an exercise in critically examining the information you are presented with. He just played it with no commentary, and then asked our opinions afterward about whether we believed the moon landing was faked. Most of the class were at least a little skeptical. And then he walked us through the lesson on critical though, dissecting what we are presented with, the strategies that can be used to convince viewers to believe the story. And that lesson has stuck with me ever since, to this day. It was such an important lessons about not believing everything you see, and actually critically examining what you are presented with - even before the days of the internet (and disinformation) being common. I've always been grateful for that lesson, I just wish it was something more people had a chance to be taught.

Edit for clarity - the mockumentary Dark Side of the Moon is a film that presents all the conspiracy theory "proof" that the moon landing was faked. The film is trying to convince you that the moon landing never happened. It's an exercise in how convincing disinformation can be, how presenting info in specific ways can make it believable, in how there's always a purpose to media and you have to examine that critically.

[chipking]

Dude, you might be one of the best journalist/YouTube creators I’ve ever watched You can see all the effort and time you put into each video pulling out real and true facts from both sides of an argument and I am grateful that you make these videos

[king_brk]

The biggest problem is that the Soviets would have had to be in on it, and exposing a USA fraud would have been a massive win for them

[MrMEST]

This is weird for many of us who aren't americans. We never doubted the moon landing growing up. Actually I would even say the theory was only recently imported from the USA to other countries and I still didn't meet as single person in my country debating the moon landing. We actually routinely bring it up to emphasize human will an knowledge to motivate our own citizens, our children...

[cosmicspider]

I can dig people not believing back before the internet, especially if they didn't get to watch it live, but there's no excuse now. It's just wilful ignorance.

[gusonken]

The best answer to this question came from my beloved history teacher who said “The best evidence as to that the moon landing was real is that the Soviets stopped their moon landing missions.” If they had ANY doubt of it, ESPECIALLY at the height of the they would have exploited it.

[OshawattIsANinja]

14:55 Aerospace Engineer here! In regards to the astronaut’s movements, another reason that they move so unintuitively is because the suits are pressurized, so moving limbs in the way what we would normally move them on Earth takes a lot more effort than people realize (think of yourself being stuck in a human shaped balloon that is made out of tough fabric instead of the thin rubber balloons are typically made of). Humans are also really good at adapting their movements to take less effort overall as well, so with the Moon being 1/6th of Earth’s gravity, the astronauts naturally took the approach of just hopping and drifting around instead of walking because it was just simply more efficient to move that way.

[BlazeMakesGames]

That one British sketch unironically gave a great reason why it couldn’t be fake:
“So since we’re faking the moon landing we’ll need to build and launch a giant rocket”
“Wait I thought the point was we didn’t have to do that”
“Well yes but when we say we landed on the moon the first thing people will ask is how we got there, so we need to show them we launched that giant rocket”
“Huh, well how much will that cost?”
“Most of our budget, the rocket is pretty much the whole cost, the rest is just catering for a week or so”
“Well in that case, maybe it would be cheaper to just send up a camera with them and film the fake moon landing, on the moon”

[djsgolfer]

Shout out to Alex Kennel! The way y’all craft a narrative, presenting the facts while still keeping a good story is top notch!

[Timothy-xd]

For me it almost always works to ask: What would change your mind? If they can't answer this then it's going to be a complete waste of energy trying to have a dialogue with them.

[acethefiredragon]

The biggest plot hole in conspiracy theories is, if the moon landing is fake, wouldn’t it be the Soviets who would be the first to point that out? You know, since they’ve already been to space, they could probably easily see if a rocket from US headed for the moon or not. Or if the US flag was there or not when the soviets later on landed on the moon.

[williemaxt]

Imagine being a scientist or engineer on one of the biggest projects of your life. Only for people to call your achievements fake. 😢

[macbook]

When they're jumping around in their space suits, their movements and the dust below their feet have different physics. The people float and the dirt falls abruptly.

[narial]

My favorite Moon Landing Hoax joke is that they got Stanley Kubrick to direct the movie, but because he's such a stickler for details, he made them do it on the moon

[CogitoErgoSumFortis]

As Tyson said: Hollywood crews found the technical challenges for the faking so complicated that they decided to shoot on location

[Benloehr]

As someone who has walked in 1/6th gravity, it's hard . You have to retrain your whole way of thinking. You jump super high even if you're trying to walk forward. It's very easy to lose your balance and get off kilter. Oftentimes, you end up jumping in place because you can't move forward. I went to space camp as a kid, so I feel what they felt when walking on the moon. It's a relatable experience that I won't forget.

[fredsalfa]

Regarding conspiracy theorists Einstein said “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

[dionysise]

First time I heard someone argue that it was fake was mid90s. And I'm telling you he sounded like the craziest illusional person. Rest of us sitting with him almost felt sorry for him. That was the situation before social media and everything