This is a rerun of a post from Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub, originally posted in 2006 – with explicit permission of the author.  For Ms. Luna.

In a classroom discussion of “how do we know what we know” about history, another student brought up the allegations that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) faked the manned Moon landings. That makes about a dozen times this year a kid has mentioned this claim (who thinks to start counting these things?). The kid was pretty unshakable in his convictions — after all, he said, how can a flag wave in a vacuum?

Astronaut from Apollo 14, on the Moon with U.S. flag - NASA photo via Wikimedia

I usually mention a couple of things that the fake claimers leave out — that dozens, if not hundreds, of amateur astronomers tracked the astronauts on their way to the Moon, that many people intercepted the radio transmissions from the Moon, that one mission retrieved debris from an earlier unmanned landing, etc. Younger students who lack experience in serious critical thinking have difficulty with these concepts. They also lack the historic background — the last manned Moon landing occurred when their parents were kids, perhaps. They didn’t grow up with NASA launches on television, and the whole world holding its breath to see what wonders would be found in space.

Phil Plait runs a fine blog called Bad Astronomy. Five years ago he got fed up with the Fox Television program claiming the Moon landings were hoaxes, and he made a significant reply that should be in some hall of fame for debunking hoaxes. Since the claim that the Moon landings were hoaxes is, itself, a hoax, I have titled this “Debunking the Moon landing hoax hoax.”

In any case, if you’re wondering about whether the Moon landings were hoaxes, you need to see Phil Plait’s post. Phil writes:

From the very first moment to the very last, the program is loaded with bad thinking, ridiculous suppositions and utterly wrong science. I was able to get a copy of the show in advance, and although I was expecting it to be bad, I was still surprised and how awful it was. I took four pages of notes. I won’t subject you to all of that here; it would take hours to write. I’ll only go over some of the major points of the show, and explain briefly why they are wrong.

Also, consider these chunks of evidence, which Phil does not mention so far as I know:

First, the first Moon landing left a mirror on the surface, off of which Earth-bound astronomers may bounce laser transmissions in order to measure exactly the distance from the Earth to the Moon. The American Institute of Physics has radio stories about the research results. Those who claim the landings were hoaxes have never been able to explain this mirror to my satisfaction — ask them how it got there if it wasn’t delivered by Apollo astronauts.

Second, Apollo 12 astronauts retrieved parts of the unmanned lunar probe Surveyor 3, which had landed on the Moon in 1967. That would be impractical to fake. It’s possible, I suppose, that someone could have conceived of the hoax a decade before it was necessary, and made a duplicate probe — but it defies all logic and history to claim that NASA undertook Surveyor 3 solely to provide physical evidence to claim a lunar landing that didn’t happen. A simpler explanation is that the Apollo 12 astronauts really landed and really retrieved the parts from Surveyor 3. A side note: My recollection is that a mold was found inside a camera recovered, indicating that molds can survive trips through the vacuum of space, and the temperature extremes for at least three years on the Moon. I’m not sure a hoax inventor could have conceived of that little bit — it’s too fantastic, and as Twain noted, in fiction one must stick to the possibilities.

NASA itself has a fine article debunking the hoax claims.

Jim Scotti’s site refutes the claims of hoax.

Photo above from Apollo 14, Alan Shepard’s “golf shot” trip.

History can be understood better, generally, when students understand that some forces and currents in history almost always stay the same.  Especially for the critical thinking high school students are expected to learn to do, history will be better understood when students answer 13 “big questions” about a civilization or period of history.

What are the 13 questions?

Here they are, categorized in geography, history, and economics and technology:

GEOGRAPHIC UNDERSTANDINGS

1.   Where do people settle?

• Historically, settlements are founded near fertile river valleys, accessible coastlines, major transportation/trade routes AND develop as a result of migrations, industrialization, and economic partnerships.  People need fresh water to drink, a way to get food (either grow it or import it), and an economic reason to live there.

2.   What happens when people change their environment?

• Human modification of the environment produces great economic change.

3.   What prevents people from moving from place to place?

• Human movement has been restricted by physical barriers (mountains, deserts, walls), government actions (embargoes, internments), and ideas (religions).

4.   How does geography influence a nation’s destiny?

• Control of major water and land routes (called choke points) provide nations advantages in commerce and war.
• Physical geography influences political, economic, and social activity of cultures.

HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDINGS

5.   How do societies interact?

• Societies interact through migrations, wars, trade/exchange, inventions, and ideas.

6.   What happens when societies interact?

• When societies interact, culture changes, diseases spread and cultural/religious differences produce instability.

7.   Why do wars occur?

• Wars are caused when nations compete over natural resources and/or individuals demand greater political and economic freedom.

8.   How do wars change nations?

• Wars change political boundaries and population distribution.

9.   Why do people move from place to place?

• Historically, people migrate for pull factors (opportunity in new places) and push factors (negative
  conditions at home).

ECONOMICS AND SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

10.  What is an economic system?

• Today, a nation’s economic system can be classified as either traditional (subsistence agriculture), command, free-market, or mixed.

11.  What separates a developed nation from a developing country?

• Developed countries practice free-enterprise, and have higher per capita incomes (standard of living), than developing nations that are adopting a market system and underdeveloped nations that lack political and economic stability.

12.  What are the economic benefits of science and technology?

• Historically, technological innovations make the production of goods more efficient, the cost of goods cheaper, and creates greater access to more efficient travel.

13.  What are the drawbacks of science and technology?

• Historically, technological innovations disrupt the workforce by making some jobs obsolete and disrupt the environment in search of natural resources.  Almost all technologies can be used for bad reasons as well as good ones, for evil or good.