Moon Landing: Conspiracy or Reality?

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Jessica Hammer

UWS 14B

Emily Bernhard Jackson

May 9th 2003

Moon Landing: Conspiracy or Reality?

        

On July 20th 1969, the Apollo 11 with astronaut Neil Armstrong and his crew, guided by thousands of NASA technicians, supposedly landed in the surface of the moon. Certainly it was the most extraordinary event accomplished by mankind up to that date.  President Nixon (head of State at the time) expressed the feeling with these words:  “This has been the greatest week since Creation; the greatest event since the origin of the universe itself” (NIXON); Neil Armstrong’s first words upon stepping on the moon surface will always be remembered: “A small step for mankind, a giant leap for humanity”.  Ever since then, this achievement has been a matter of discussion by several groups that either believed or disbelieved this huge technological feat.

There are people who believe that the entire moon landing was “The greatest government conspiracy of all time” (Funny). But why would they do it? What would be the reason to fake such an incredible event? The motivation for such an elaborate hoax could be, to a certain extent, self-explanatory in view of the political situation existent at that time.

        In the early 50’s there was increasing tension between the Soviet Union and America, culminating in the Cold War. Both countries began a race to concord space. On October 4th, 1957, the USSR became the first to launch a satellite into space. It was called Sputnik I and a month later, Sputnik II was launched, this time carrying a dog. Over the next three years, the USSR was to be ahead in the space race by launching six more satellites (“Milestones”). The Soviet Union brought back to Earth the first moon rock; they had 500% more space time than the USA (Funny). The continued victories of the USSR over the USA in the space race added to the discomfort and disbelief that existed between the two countries. For the conspiracy believers the idea that the Soviet Union had more chance on conquering for the first time a celestial body, could have been a reason for the government to faked the moon landing

        As a part of this competition between the USA and the Soviet Union, President John F. Kennedy, a man of political, not scientific background, launched a very complex space research program and made a promise to the people that America would land on the moon by the end of the 1960s. The fulfillment of that promise remains a controversy to this day.

        The Apollo 11 started and completed its journey at the same time the USA was fighting in Vietnam. The people did not agree with the policy taken towards the war, most of them thought that the American soldiers were fighting a war that wasn’t theirs; and to get the public’s mind off of all the terrible things that were going on in that country, the US might have faked a moon landing; it was an extraordinary event as well as one of the greatest accomplishments of all times; one fact used by the hoax believers to support this argument is that coincidentally the Apollo missions came to and end around the same time that the war was ending. The peace with Vietnam was established in October 1972, and it was in December of that same year that the last NASA space shuttle, Apollo 17, ended its voyage.

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        Could it be just coincidence that the USA abruptly stopped going to the moon around the same time the Vietnam War ended or was it just part of an ingenious plan; a plan that tried to gain people’s trust in a period were no one agree with the decisions that were been made. 

        By analyzing and understanding the political background existent in the late 60’s, we can find a good answer to the question of why the US would fake an event as important as the first man landing on a celestial body. However, the analysis of the political ...

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