The Moon Hoax; Did we really go?

It's a legitimate question: If we actually went to the moon, why aren’t we still there? The sad fact is, we can't go anymore. Not without starting from scratch and spending a lot more money. The infrastucture and tooling is gone, destroyed or decayed, all the brilliant young engineers now retired or dead. The 'can-do' attitude has been replaced with caution, bureacracy, and bean-counters. If we can go to the moon, why can't we go to the moon? ask many space activists.

Most of the hoaxers' arguments concern the photos taken on the moon. Why are there no stars? Why are the shadows sometimes askew? Where is the mysterious backlighting coming from? These questions show an incomplete knowledge of science, physics, astronomy and photography; not surprising coming from those with little technical background.

No stars? It's daytime! Yes, the sky is black, but there's a blazing sun, and the landscape is lit up in all directions. Earth is four times as large as the moon and many times brighter. Photographing astronauts in white spacesuits is an impossible exposure problem for any camera to see dim starlight. Try snapping a picture of Earth's sky, even on a moonless night. Unless you leave the shutter open for awhile, your film will be black.

Non-parallel shadows? Uneven terrain. Backlighting? Surface reflection and Earthlight. Every single argument has a logical, sometimes elementary explanation. Many are explained by the truly alien physics of a hard vacuum, proving that we were there. Even the Russians know we went to the moon. They tracked us.

Computer graphics? In the 1960's? The Star Wars generation may believe it was always so, but in fact, the Apollo astronauts navigated to the moon with star measurements, like Columbus and Magellan, and verified the results on state-of-the-art computers less powerful than a cell phone.

The hoaxers will inevitably be proven wrong. Someday, mankind will return to the moon. New lunar voyagers will see the decades-old hardware left behind by 12 brave Americans. Footprints, rover tracks, flags and surroundings exactly matching the photos, undisturbed in the vacuum of space. The hoax talk will cease.

By then the dozen men who walked on another world for the first time will be gone, along with the cast of thousands who worked to put them there. The faithless will be alone to ponder the dishonor and doubt they cast on their country, family, and species. There'll be no one left to apologize to.