The coverage of the 40^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing was pretty substantial. The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, and The National Geographic Channel all ran programs highlighting the historic mission. Other cable stations along with the “big three” networks also covered the story and aired interviews with Armstrong, Aldrin, and others involved with the Moon landing. Much of the coverage of this particular anniversary seemed to be linked to the death of Walter Cronkite on July 17^th. If I only had 20 bucks for every time they showed Cronkite’s goofy reaction to the news that Apollo 11 had landed on the Moon.

However, there is a whole other side to this story that has also received coverage; especially from the Cable stations. I’m referring to all of the conspiracy theories which mainly contend that the Apollo 11 landing never occurred, and that the whole thing was a hoax perpetrated by NASA and the Federal Government.

I’m not a “conspiracy buff” by any means, but I don’t automatically discount them either. I try to discount the ridiculous ones! I’m realistic enough to understand that conspiracies take place everyday in our Federal Government where backroom deals are made with little or no input from the public. With all of the wacko theories out there, the concept of conspiracy has turned into a joke. But, there’s no doubt that everyday someone is conspiring with someone else to get away with something!

Most of the conspiracy theories regarding the Apollo 11 Moon landing have to do with the direction of shadows, lighting, the fact that there are no visible stars, and the apparent flapping of the American flag. I have heard all of these points, and I’ve also heard them debunked by scientists, engineers, and other people who have worked for NASA. I tend to accept most if not all of the debunker’s arguments.

I do however have some questions of my own.

Most of my skepticism has to do with technology; more specifically the technology that was available in 1969 as compared to today. It seems that everytime the NASA Space Shuttle is launched, and then has to return to earth, all the people at NASA are holding their breath and keeping all the fingers on their hands and toes on their feet crossed. There have already been two Space Shuttle disasters, with the latest one coming in 2003 when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated while reentering the Earth’s atmosphere. The tragic accident was said to have been caused by damage sustained during the launch to a piece of foam insulation.

In the first Space Shuttle disaster in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up 73 seconds after launch due to a faulty O-Ring in the solid rocket booster.

As opposed to the Apollo program, the Space Shuttle program doesn’t venture out into deep space. The Moon is approximately anywhere from 221 to 251 thousand miles from the earth at a given time. The Space Shuttle is limited to delivering payloads to the International Space Station, which is approx. 220 miles from Earth and performing repairs and maintenance on various satellites and the Hubble Space Telescope, which is approx. 330 miles from Earth.

Could we have had the technology in 1969 to launch the Apollo into deep space, travel between 220 to 250 thousand miles, land on the Moon, walk around a bit, launch off of the Moon’s surface, then travel another 220 to 250 thousand miles to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and safely splash-down in the Pacific Ocean?

I’m not drawing any conclusions - it’s just a question.

Not only did Apollo 11 land on the Moon in July 1969, but it was successfully followed by Apollo 12 in November 1969, Apollo 14 in January 1971, Apollo 15 in July 1971, Apollo 16 in April 1972, and Apollo 17 in December 1972. Apollo 13 was also scheduled for a Moon landing in April of 1970, but the mission was aborted due to technical failure and the crew barely made it back to Earth.

What’s really striking, is that three times we went to the Moon twice in the same year. (1969,1971 & 1972) The first two times were only four months apart! Did NASA even have time to analyze the data from the first mission? Could we have pulled this off 6 times in three years? What was the rush? Is it possible that one of the other later Apollo missions was actually the first on the Moon, and not Apollo 11? Could Apollo 11 have been just a test run?

Again, I don’t know – I’m just asking questions!

Another question that I have is why haven’t the Russians, Chinese, or Japanese followed us to the Moon? These countries surely have technology that surpasses our 1969 technology – don’t they? Why wouldn’t any other country want to join us on landing on the Moon?

In the end, the most valid reason for not believing in the Moon landing conspiracies is the enormous number of people from NASA and the U.S. Government who would probably have to be in on it. We all know how hard it is to keep a secret between only two or three people – much less dozens or even hundreds.

So, I guess that I would have to say that I’m probably a believer – maybe!

Regardless of what really happened, I must admit that I’m kind of surprised and maybe a little bit disappointed that our space technology hasn’t apparently progressed much in the last forty years – perhaps it’s even regressed.

Go figure.