Moon Landing Hoax Essay

It was July 16, 1969; the United States had been battling the USSR in what is known as the Cold War: a race between the two countries to see who could develop better technology and get to the moon first. The USSR captured the first major successes in space travel with successfully sending a man into orbit, and then orbiting around the entire earth. The United States had some catching up to do. Was the U.S. really capable of not only catching the USSR but fearlessly rocketing past them and landing on the moon? Was NASA responsible for sending the first man to the moon in what will always be remembered in U.S. history? Or was young Billy Wagner deceived along with the rest of the country by fraudulent pictures and happenings that were staged and never really happened? Here we are going to discuss the argument on the moon landing hoax and why Neil Armstrong is a household name for his steps on the moon that may have actually just been steps on a T.V. set. First, we most consider what was used as evidence to compile these moon landings and to obscure the public into believing it…pictures. Most anyone will believe what they
physically see to be true, especially if they are pictures directly from NASA, the respected association of space travel. Billy Wagner had no reason to think that the moon landing was a hoax, he had hope just like every other American to believe, and therefore were all easily deceived with no logical questioning. The public viewed pictures of the moon landing, and so they believed them to be true. However, there are several discrepancies with these so-called moon landing pictures. There are no stars in the background of any of the pictures. (Plait, 1) Stars would be effectively more visible from the moon in outer space. Secondly, the pictures containing the flag show it rippling in the wind. (Plait, 1) It doesn't take rocket science to prove that there is no wind on the moon, and so what should the vivid U.S. flag really appear like on the moon? It should appear motionless. How could these pictures have been forged and released to the public as truth? NASA had complete control over everything related to the Apollo missions; all of the pictures, all of the videotapes, and all of the information regarding the moon missions. This is how the public's beliefs could be controlled and contained with regards to the space race. NASA had complete control with no questioning or data checkups by another source. They easily had the power to produce whatever kind of results they wished. Results stating that the USSR steamed ahead of the U.S. in the space race proved far too detrimental to release to the public. NASA and everyone involved in this hoax had enough motivations to make this moon landing happen, whether it was staged or for real.
First off, the pride of the United States hung upon on this Cold War and deemed unacceptable to be beaten by the USSR in a technology race. The men involved in this hoax grasped the importance of the Cold War and were willing to do whatever necessary to get the results they needed. Secondly, several millions of dollars drained into the Cold War and the development of these space shuttles and Apollo missions. (Apollo, 1) At least that is where the millions of dollars supposedly went, but it could have intensified the motivation the men responsible had to falsify the evidence. These men possibly created a moon landing that never took place, and ran with a sizeable sum of money to pocket as
well.
Lastly, the men were motivated to deceive history because of the importance of the Cold War and its influence it swallowed of the public. (Apollo, 1) The Vietnam War was currently taking place. The last thing the government wanted the media to be seasoned with was news of the horrifying war in Vietnam and the deaths of thousands overseas. This Cold War proposed a distraction and a hope in the United States and its supremacy. In conclusion, there are several logical explanations to why the moon landing and outcome of the Space Race is forged information of events that never took place. Little Billy Wagner along with millions of others were deceived. Why? NASA had the control of information, the several motivations, and the distraction of a nation. They needed nothing more to commit this travesty in our nation's history. Consequently, if NASA really did send Neil Armstrong on his small steps on the moon, then why haven't they sent anyone else in the past 37 years?