Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists . A recent TV program resurfaced old questions about whether NASA really sent astronauts to the moon between 1969 and 1972. Airing Thursday on the Fox Network, the sensational show advanced the idea that the United States did not have the ability to go the moon but staged the landings to one-up the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Reputable scientists dismiss the claim outright.
The theorists point to supposed oddities in NASA moon shots to boost their claim. Camera crosshairs should not be behind lunar features in the distance. Stars should be in the background. Plait and other scientists dismiss such notions. Flags can ripple in a vacuum and the U.S. one is doing so because an astronaut is moving the pole to which it is attached.