Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin deploy the U.S. flag on the Moon on July 20, 1969. (See text for a description of how this photo was taken.) Click on image for full size (50K JPEG) Image courtesy of NASA

The flag looks like it is waving in the breeze. But, that's kind of fishy since there is no air and no wind on the Moon. Does this mean that the photo is a fake? Absolutely not!

The flag had a special bar sown into the top of it so it would stand out instead of hanging limp. When the flag was planted, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had a little trouble getting the bar to extend fully, and so it ended up being a little shorter than it should have been. As a result, the flag was bunched up a little bit and looked like it was actually "waving in the breeze."

In the Apollo 11 mission, two astronauts got to land on the Moon while one astronaut stayed in the command module orbiting the Moon (the Space Shuttle wasn't around yet). So, there was noone else around to take a picture of the two astronauts on the Moon. An automatic camera took their picture. The camera was mounted on the Lunar module which had brought Armstrong and Aldrin to the Moon.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin deploy the U.S. flag on the Moon on July 20, 1969. (See text for a description of how this photo was taken.) Click on image for full size (50K JPEG) Image courtesy of NASA

People that say that NASA faked the Moon landings say that proof can be found in some of the photos taken by NASA of astronauts on the Moon. They say that there are mistakes in these photos that show that the photos were faked, and therefore the whole Moon landings were probably faked. An example of this so-called "proof" is in the photo at left, in which the American flag appears to be "waving in the breeze" on the surface of the Moon. There is no air, and therefore no wind, on the Moon. Does this mean that the photo is a fake? Absolutely not.

On July 20, 1969, two Apollo 11 astronauts planted an American flag on the surface of the moon. The flag was a standard 3-foot-by-5-foot nylon flag that was altered by sewing a hem along the top. A telescoping crossbar, hinged to the flagpole, was extended through this hem so that when the flag was planted on the Moon, it would stand out instead of hanging limp against the flagpole (as it would normally do, since there is no wind on the Moon). When the flag was planted, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had a little trouble getting the telescoping crossbar to extend to its full length, and so it ended up being a little shorter than it should have been. As a result, the flag was bunched up slightly and looked like it was actually "waving in the breeze."

The flag "waving in the breeze" on the Moon is just one example of the sort of evidence that some people have used to cast doubt over whether NASA actually sent men to the Moon. More information about this subject, as well as more detailed explanations of all the evidence showing that NASA astronauts did in fact land on the Moon, can be found at The Great Moon Hoax, BadAstronomy.com, and The Moon Hoax.

Some of our users have written in and asked a good question: if there were three astronauts on the Apollo missions, and two were on the Moon and the other was in the command module orbiting the Moon (a slight correction to the question at the top of this page, since the Space Shuttle wasn't developed at the time of the Apollo missions), then who took the picture shown on this page? The photos of the two astronauts doing their work on the Moon's surface were taken by an automatic 16 mm Data Acquisition Camera (DAC), which was mounted on the Lunar module which had brought Armstrong and Aldrin to the Moon.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin deploy the U.S. flag on the Moon on July 20, 1969. (See text for a description of how this photo was taken.) Click on image for full size (50K JPEG) Image courtesy of NASA

This proof that NASA perpetrated a giant hoax on the world is supposedly found in mistakes that NASA made in producing evidence of the Moon landing. These mistakes supposedly show that instead of being actual photos or evidence of a Moon landing, the photos of astronauts on the Moon and other pieces of evidence in support of Moon landings are badly produced fakes. An example of this is in the photo at left, in which the American flag appears to be "waving in the breeze" on the surface of the Moon. There is no air, and therefore no wind, on the Moon. Does this mean that NASA has made a collossal mistake in faking evidence of a Moon landing? Absolutely not.

On July 20, 1969, two Apollo 11 astronauts planted an American flag on the surface of the moon. The flag was a standard 3-foot-by-5-foot nylon flag that was altered by sewing a hem along the top. A telescoping crossbar, hinged to the flagpole, was extended through this hem so that when the flag was planted on the Moon, it would stand out instead of hanging limp against the flagpole (as it would normally do, since there is no wind on the Moon). When the flag was planted, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had a little trouble getting the telescoping crossbar to extend to its full length, and so it ended up being a little shorter than it should have been. As a result, the flag was bunched up slightly and looked like it was actually "waving in the breeze."

The flag "waving in the breeze" on the Moon is just one example of the sort of evidence that some people have used to cast doubt over whether NASA actually sent men to the Moon. More information about this subject, as well as more detailed rebuttals to the objection voiced by the FOX TV special and other groups can be found at The Great Moon Hoax, BadAstronomy.com, and The Moon Hoax.

Some of our users have written in and asked a good question: if there were three astronauts on the Apollo missions, and two were on the Moon and the other was in the command module orbiting the Moon (a slight correction to the question at the top of this page, since the Space Shuttle wasn't developed at the time of the Apollo missions), then who took the picture shown on this page? The photos of the two astronauts doing their work on the Moon's surface were taken by an automatic 16 mm Data Acquisition Camera (DAC), which was mounted on the Lunar module which had brought Armstrong and Aldrin to the Moon.