Sunday, June 28, 2009
What really occurred in July '69? A moon landing
John Goss
John Goss is chairman of the Mid-East Region of the Astronomical League and a former president of the Roanoke Valley Astronomical Society.
Recent columns
- When were the stars born?
- Moon, Venus, Jupiter in a predictable dance
- Look far beyond the stars of the Milky Way
- The planets lead nomadic existences
Blog
Ask people what is our nation's most impressive technological achievement, and many of them, especially those older than 50, would likely say the Apollo moon program. At 10:56 p.m. July 20, 40 years will have passed since Neil Armstrong first stepped on the lunar surface.
It is bizarre that today some people believe the moon landings never happened, that they were faked by NASA. Why would someone maintain such a notion knowing the entire Apollo 11 mission was constantly in the world's eye from liftoff on July 16, 1969, at Cape Kennedy until splashdown in the Pacific eight days later?
Let's examine a few questions that have been raised by proponents of the so-called "moon landing hoax." Always keep in mind that the moon is not like the Earth. Many of our experiences learned on our home world cannot be directly applied to the lunar environment.
n Why are there no stars in the photographs taken by the astronauts?
The astronauts really did see stars in the daytime lunar sky. However, their cameras, which were set for daytime exposures, did not reveal any stars just as cameras set for daytime exposures on Earth will not show any stars in our night sky.
n In the photographs, why aren't the shadows jet-black?
The blackness of the lunar sky creates dark shadows while sunlight reflecting off nearby terrain lightens them, allowing details to be seen.
n Why did the U.S. flag sway as if it caught a breeze?
The moon's total lack of atmosphere means there is no wind to sway a flag. Because of the motion of the flag as its pole was planted in the lunar soil, it briefly waved even though it was in a vacuum.
n Why did the astronauts' footprints make sharp impressions in the bone-dry lunar soil?
The moon has no wind and no liquid water, which slowly erode surface features into rounded sand grains. It does experience, though, a nearly continual micrometeorite assault that shatters surface rocks creating a very fine, jagged soil, called regolith. The particle characteristics of the regolith cause it to retain impressions unlike dry beach sand on Earth.
n Why did the astronauts stumble around and walk awkwardly as if they were supported by hidden wires?
The moon's gravity is only one-sixth of what we experience on the Earth, which gives the appearance of the astronauts moving in slow motion in a vertical sense, but not in a horizontal direction. Therefore, their moonwalks sometimes seem to be more of a controlled stumble than of a graceful bounce.
Even though it may be amusing that some of these questions were raised in the first place, what they imply is not amusing. Among other things, they deny credit to those tens of thousands of people who made the moon landings possible. They insinuate the mission was too hard, and all those people were not up to the task of, as President Kennedy challenged, "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
So where did the Apollo 11 craft land 40 years ago? It touched down on the southwest side of a 500-mile wide ancient lava plain called the Sea of Tranquility. Tonight, the first quarter moon will be high in the southwest at sunset. Look about half way along its night-day dividing line. There will be a dark round region just to the right of the line: the Sea of Tranquility. Use binoculars and, if the moon is too bright, wear sunglasses.
Celebrate the Apollo missions by spying the Sea of Tranquility. Still don't believe the landings took place? Consider that 1969 was at the height of the Cold War. If United States astronauts didn't land on the moon, wouldn't the Soviets have said something?
