Moon Hoax

Scott Hardie | July 30, 2001
Did NASA fake the trip to the moon in 1969?

Truth be told, I was planning on mentioning this sometime anyway. The fact that Eddie commented on it (under the July 23rd "Good or Bad?") made me decide to mention it today instead of later.

I love astronomy, and consequently I like astronomy web sites. One of the best sites out there that is run by an individual is Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy (badastronomy.com). The raison d'êtrè of the site is to point out examples of "bad astronomy" in movies, television, and other forms of mass media, though Phil Plait has also put up extensive sections detailing other astronomical information just because he felt like it. He's also very approachable; I wrote him an email correcting one of his errors (he mentioned a mistake in "Red Planet" that wasn't actually a mistake), and he not only wrote me back in under two weeks but also edited his page on the site.

Anyway, his site has become fairly hot lately because he is one of the leading debunkers of the "Moon Hoax" conspiracy theory. There's a theory, currently gaining in popularity, that NASA faked the mission to the moon back in 1969. Plait has become one of the most popular debunkers of this theory because he explains things in layman's terms. He has a very detailed, point-by-point deconstruction of the arguments on this page. The page was created as a response to FOX's airing of a one-hour special about the conspiracy theory. I love this page because it's funny, it's informative, it deals with one of my favorite subjects, and it empowers the layman to be informed about the matter. (It's pitched to the level of the layman, instead of continuing the intellectual debate between professional astronomers and hardcore conspiracy theorists.) I think it makes for an interesting read, and it's a page that I recommend to a lot of people in general, so it was only a matter of time until it made it up here.

Eddie, just because I agree with Phil Plait doesn't mean that I don't want to hear what you have to say. I won't be rude; please comment if you'd like.

Anna Gregoline | July 30, 2001
Scott, may I ask why this sudden interest in the moon landing?