The Moon under cross-examination.
Black skies, a rigid flag and a belt of trapped radiation. The suspicious details become more useful when the camera settings and flight path enter the record.
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THE VIEW FROM HERE IS NOT THE WHOLE PICTURE.Stars need 250× more light than an exposure set for sunlit lunar ground allows, a gap of 7.97 stops. Set the aperture, shutter and film speed yourself.
How much more light would a longer exposure collect?
02A radio signal takes 1.282 s to reach the Moon and 2.564 s for the round trip; an answering pause puts the reply at 3.064 s. Change the distance.
Time the lunar reply
03Gravity at station altitude is 8.69 m/s², still 88.53% of the surface value, pulling 695.5 N on the example mass. Floating is free fall, not absence.
How much gravity remains at this altitude?
The lunar surface is brightly lit while the sky in many Apollo photographs is black.
02The flag in lunar photographs stands away from its pole instead of hanging straight down.
03Earth is surrounded by regions of trapped energetic particles that pose a real hazard to spacecraft.
The lunar surface is brightly lit while the sky in many Apollo photographs is black.
The empty sky exposes a studio backdrop.
Exposures set for sunlit ground and spacesuits were too short to register faint stars. The camera recorded the bright foreground; it did not inventory the sky.
Read the full investigationThe flag in lunar photographs stands away from its pole instead of hanging straight down.
Its waving appearance proves there was air on the set.
A horizontal metal rod held the cloth out in the airless environment. Folds gave it a rippled appearance. The shape was built into the flag assembly.
Earth is surrounded by regions of trapped energetic particles that pose a real hazard to spacecraft.
The Van Allen belts made a lunar journey impossible.
Exposure depends on the route, time spent crossing and protection around the crew. Apollo crossed the belts; the hazard required planning rather than making passage impossible.