[Jack]

Pictures of Apollo astronauts erecting a US flag on the Moon show the flag bending and rippling. How can that be? After all, there's no breeze on the Moon.... Not every waving flag needs a breeze -- at least not in space. When astronauts were planting the flagpole they rotated it back and forth to better penetrate the lunar soil (anyone who's set a blunt tent-post will know how this works). So of course the flag waved! Unfurling a piece of rolled-up cloth with stored angular momentum will naturally result in waves and ripples -- no breeze required! The Fox documentary went on with plenty more specious points. You can find detailed rebuttals to each of them at BadAstronomy.com and the Moon Hoax web page. (These are independent sites, not sponsored by NASA.) The best rebuttal to allegations of a "Moon Hoax," however, is common sense. Evidence that the Apollo program really happened is compelling: A dozen astronauts (laden with cameras) walked on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. Nine of them are still alive and can testify to their experience. They didn't return from the Moon empty-handed, either. Just as Columbus carried a few hundred natives back to Spain as evidence of his trip to the New World, Apollo astronauts brought 841 pounds of Moon rock home to Earth. "Moon rocks are absolutely unique," says Dr. David McKay, Chief Scientist for Planetary Science and Exploration at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC). McKay is a member of the group that oversees the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility at JSC where most of the Moon rocks are stored. "They differ from Earth rocks in many respects," he added.

The Great Moon Hoax

The flag does in fact appear to be waving in the still picture below; there is no contesting that point. Skeptics automatically assume that this is sound proof that the flag was being planted on Earth and not the Moon. However, there is one aspect of this photograph that is important to note. Both Armstrong and Aldrin are touching the flag in the process of planting it into the moons surface (which, as I have previously stated, is covered in a layer of dust). Skeptics have ignored two important facts in this instance, but we will return to those in a moment. Most would agree that NASAs' scientists are among the most brilliant people in the world. It is, therefore, natural to ask why anyone would assume that these men (and women, today) would be so ignorant as to ignore the fact that a flag would flutter being planted on Earth (on a windy day that is), but would not when being planted on the Moon because it has no atmosphere? There is a simple answer to this question; they would not. NASA's scientists are, and were, aware that there is no atmosphere on the moon. As such, they were more than prepared for this fact when they sent a flag with Apollo 11 and made sure that the flag would be constructed in such as way that would allow onlookers to see all of the stars and stripes. On the Earth, flags are usually hung from a pole or rod. On the Moon the flag was hung in the same fashion, but with a second rod protruding parallel with the Moons surface from the first rod. It is from this rod that the flag hung, forcing it to stick straight out and be visible. For appearance purposes this rod was slightly shorter than the flag itself, giving it that rippled effect (that is, after all, how we are all use to viewing the flag). Furthermore, when NASAs' scientists sent Apollo 11 to the moon, they had public policy in mind. When it comes to viewing the flag on the moon, which would make for a better presentation: a limp, dreary flag, or a flag standing proud in its nation's namesake? I think the response is obvious. The fact is the U.S. flag appears to have ripples in it in photographs on the moon because NASAs' scientist intended it to. Careful observation of the Apollo 11 flag in these pictures reveals that not only can you easily see the bar which sun.(sic) For example, near the edges of the flag not supported by a pole, the flag "flutters" one direction and then back the opposite direction. This type of uniformity could not be accomplished if the flag were fluttering due to a breeze.

hoax flag