TRIP: Ok, you asked for it.
First, most of the people who try to dispute the landings attempt to do so using 3rd-grade science and less than a day's research. One day they saw something about the moon landing, spent half an hour thinking about it, and decided to spout off about how they didn't believe it. Just for kicks, just because its fashionable today to disbelieve in things, they decide to insult the legions of true scientific pioneers who took us to the Moon. These scientific dilettantes make me sick. And furious.
I have scoured the internet for the source of this quote and come up empty, but I think it was some famous philosopher who said "The moment you realize you know nothing, Is the moment you truly begin to learn." It is an act of utter hubris to imagine that an hour, a day, or a week of sniffing through websites qualifies you to pass judgment on the greatest scientific accomplishment of all time.
Not everyone approaches their 'disbelief' that 'dash-of-bad-science' way, but enough do. Every single one of their 'scientific' attacks - with absolutely no exceptions however small - can be punctured by proper research. There is zero scientific foundation for assailing the truth of the Apollo program.
I'd also like to point out that it is only fairly recently, in this age where extreme cynicism has become chic and cool, that there has been any real widespread debate over the ironclad truth of the program. There have been disbelievers before, but nobody took them seriously.
This brings me to the second reason. For you, Apollo is history. Hell, you were born the year I graduated high school. It's easy for YOU to disbelieve, it's just writing on a history book page. It was different for those of us who lived through it. At the tender age of 1 year, I watched the Apollo 11 landing on TV. I don't remember that specific night too clearly, but of course, the Apollo program continued for several years after 1969, and I do recall the later missions clearly. What I recall most vividly is the excitement, the wonder, the thrill. Forget Santa Claus, forget Christmas presents, the easter bunny, my birthday - THIS was the greatest thing I had ever heard about or seen -- and furthermore, it was REAL. There was never a later, reluctant admission from my parents that it was all a pretty fiction made up to thrill people - it ACTUALLY happened. For visceral, emotional thrill, nothing, absolutely nothing has ever come close.
That's why I take it very, very personally.
And I'm not the only one. Most of the Apollo astronauts, Armstrong included, are still alive - but they are old men with NO motive to keep up a sham. They no longer work for the government. They have nothing to lose. Yet not only do they NOT refute the Apollo program, most of them freely donate their time to promoting the US space program - MANNED space program. Also, they often gladly help writers, filmmakers, etc. create works about Apollo.
Why would they do that? Can you imagine the money any one of them could make if instead, they fed the media a story about how the whole thing was crap? Imagine! And don't feed me some BS about them keeping up the fiction out of fear: what's the government going to do, have them 'hit' ? That'd look a bit fishy, eh? "Armstrong says moon mission faked, dies mysteriously next day."
And the astronauts themselves are only the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands of Apollo veterans, from engineers, to Mission Control personnel, geologists, and literal "rocket scientists" who are still very much alive and are living proof of the program. Not one of them has come forward to 'debunk' the program.
The science is all there; the math all works out. If Apollo is scientifically unsound, then you'd better not get on another plane, or cross another suspension bridge. The same physics that keeps our world running did - **DID** take us to the moon.
Before you take on giants (meaning the actual scientists, not me) make sure you have more than a ball of fluff in your sling.
