The pinnacle of the project’s success came when Neil Armstrong took his first historic steps on the Moon in 1969. This is the Apollo programme’s lasting legacy. The Apollo Mission remains one of the most important contributors to the technological advancement of humankind.

1. The Apollo mission was the 3rd US human spaceflight programme carried out by NASA

Following Project Mercury and Project Gemini, the Apollo programme was the third human space programme conducted by NASA.

2. The Apollo Programme wasn’t initially planned to land on the Moon

Initially, the Apollo missions were not intended to land on the Moon but to simply launch a three-person spacecraft. It was in fact President Kennedy who set the new goal of landing on the Moon in his address to congress on 25 May 1961.

First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

From this moment on the Apollo programme was committed to this end, firmly putting the Apollo programme on a course to make history.

3. Apollo 1 ended in tragedy

AS-204 was intended to be the Apollo programmes first crewed mission. The objective was a low Earth orbital test of the Service and Command module which was scheduled to launch on 21 February 1967, however, during a rehearsal a fire broke out in the cabin and ignited the pure oxygen environment, killing all three crew members.

The mission was posthumously renamed Apollo 1 in memory of the three astronauts who lost their lives and in recognition of the sacrifice they made.

4. Apollo launched 12 crewed missions, with 6 landing on the Moon

Apollo 7 was the first mission of the Apollo programme to carry a crew into space. This mission, alongside Apollo 8, 9 and 10, paved the way for the success of Apollo 11, when Neil Armstrong made history with his first ‘small step’ and realised Kennedy’s national goal. Apollo 11 was followed by 5 more Moon landings (Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17).

Portrait of the Apollo 1 crew for first manned Apollo space flight. From left to right are: Edward H. White II, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, and Roger B. Chaffee.

Image Credit: NASA / Public Domain

5. The US Government was sued after Apollo 8

When Apollo 8 succeeded in orbiting the Moon for the first time in December 1960, the crew made a live broadcast on Christmas Eve. During the broadcast, the astronauts read from the book of Genesis.

Despite being the most-watched TV programme ever at the time, not everyone was impressed by the inclusion of religion. Prominent activist and atheist Madalynn Murray O’Hair filed a lawsuit against the US government claiming violation of the First Amendment. The lawsuit was eventually thrown out.

6. The Apollo programme cost a total of $25.4 Billion

When adjusted for inflation this figure is now closer to $153 billion dollars. The Apollo programme was the biggest research and development project ever conducted in peacetime, at its peak employing 400,000 people all over the US.

It is unsurprising then that the project proved unsustainable. Political and social turbulence in the US meant both public and political support for the programme began to diminish and NASA struggled to continue to fund missions.

7. The Moon is now an astronaut junkyard

Whilst on the Moon the Apollo astronauts took photographs, set up experiments and collected samples, including 382 kg of Moon rock. But one thing they didn’t do was clean up after themselves. The items left on the Moon range from the sentimental and poignant, to the mundane and quite frankly disgusting.

The most famous of the Moon rocks recovered, the Genesis Rock, returned from Apollo 15.

Limited space on the lunar module meant astronauts had to leave a few things behind including: a camera, tongs, tools, scales, a hammer, empty food bags, insulated blankets, urine containers and defection collection devices.

However, more sentimental objects of significance were also placed on the Moon. During each Moon landing a commemorative plaque was left to mark the mission. The plaque left after the historic Apollo 11 landing read:

Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

Armstrong and Aldrin left a mission patch in memory of the Apollo 1 astronauts who died in 1967. Clearly, the camaraderie and respect among astronauts went beyond borders and transcended cold war politics as medals awarded to deceased Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gargarin and Vladamir Komanov were also left.

View of the plaque to be left at the Taurus-Littrow lunar landing site by the Apollo 17 astronauts. It is attached to the ladder on the landing gear strut on the descent stage of the Apollo 17 Lunar Module “Challenger”.

8. An experiment set up by Apollo 11 is still collecting data

Whilst on the Moon, astronauts set up various experiments to expand our knowledge of space and incredibly, the Lunar Laser Ranging experiment continues to provide important data today.

The experiment which measures the distance from the Earths surface to the Moon has been able to confirm existing theories, like Einsteins theory of relativity, whilst providing new findings:

• The Moon is moving away from Earth at a rate of 3.8 cm/year
• The Moon probably has a liquid core of about 20% of the Moon’s radius
• The universal force of gravity is stable

9. Apollo 13 never made it to the Moon

What was due to be the third Moon landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded, causing severe damage to the service module. Despite several issues including loss of power, loss of cabin heat, a shortage of portable water and the need for makeshift repairs, the crew were able to land safely back to earth, narrowly avoiding another tragedy.

10. Record-breaking Apollo 17 was the last Apollo mission to the Moon

Apollo 17 was the last mission of the Apollo programme. The mission broke several records including the longest Moon landing, the longest Moon walk, the largest lunar sample, the longest time spent in lunar orbit and with 75 rotations, the most orbits around the Moon. 

11. The Apollo missions led to inventions of everyday items

The Apollo missions invested billions of dollars in the development of new technologies. Alongside spacecraft, space suits and rocket launchers, NASA has pioneered more than 6,300 technologies that are now used in everyday life, including the cordless power drill which was initially developed to drill through Moon rock, and computer joysticks which navigated the Apollo Lunar Ranger.

12. The planned Artemis Programme gives hope for more Moon exploration

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the Goddess of the Moon and the sister of Apollo. Consequently, she is a fitting patron for NASA’s current ongoing mission to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024.

The mission aims to explore more of the lunar surface including Tycho, Copernicus and the South Pole. Artemis is an important step in maintaining a sustainable human presence on the Moon and eventually sending humans to Mars.

John Kennedy, young and charismatic, had warned on the election trail about the challenge posed by the Soviet Union.

Cold War

The Second World War had ended 15 years earlier, leaving the World divided between two superpowers: The Soviets and the United States of America.

Previous rivals had contented themselves with dominating the Earth’s land and sea, and the skies above. But now technology had opened up space as a new area of rivalry. And the Soviets were winning.

In 1957 the Soviet Sputnik satellite was successfully put into orbit around the Earth. Americans were shocked, and worse was to come.

Shortly after Kennedy’s election, in April 1961 27-year-old Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was blasted into orbit on spacecraft Vostock 1. The era of human spaceflight had dawned.

Determined that the USA would not cede space to the Soviets President Kennedy announced a massive spending increase for the US space program. And one month after Gagarin’s flight, he told the US Congress that he was committing the nation to landing a man on the Moon before the decade was out.

This was easier said than done.

Dawn of Apollo

Kennedy’s announcement kick-started the greatest burst of innovation and engineering in human history. In early 1960 the US space agency NASA had launched a project to build a rocket that could put three men into space with a view to eventually orbiting, and possibly even landing on, the Moon. It was called Apollo.

The crew of Apollo 11: (from left to right) Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.

Image Credit: NASA Human Space Flight Gallery / Public Domain

Named after the Greek god of light, this project would see humans riding through the heavens like Apollo on his chariot.

At its peak, it would employ 400,000 people, involve over 20,000 companies and universities, and it all cost much much more than the Manhattan Project which had split an atom and created an atomic bomb during World War Two.

Scientists considered various ways to get humans to the Moon, and safely back again. They explored the idea of blasting several rockets into orbit, where they would combine and go to the Moon.

Another idea was a drone rocket would land on the Moon and the astronauts would transfer to it to get home to Earth.

The men who would travel in these spacecraft were healthy, tough, young, test pilots with thousands of hours of flying experience. They would be flying the most complex vehicle in human history in an environment where there was nowhere to crash land.

32 men were chosen. Three were tragically killed when the Command Module interior of Apollo 1 caught fire in January 1967. It was a terrible reminder of the dangers of the project, the vulnerability of the astronauts and their total dependence on a vast army of technicians.

The road to Apollo 11

Following the fire on Apollo 1, there was a delay. Some thought the project was over. But in late 1968 Apollo 7 took three men into an 11 day Earth orbit.

A hugely ambitious Apollo 8 took three men around the Moon.

Apollo 10 saw Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan detach the landing module from the command module and descend to within 15km of the Moon’s surface.

Apollo 11 would take the next step, and land on the Moon.

An event with monumental international significance, Neil Armstrong’s first tentative steps on the Moon on 20 July 1969 would go on to inspire generations, his observation at the time still ringing true.

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

1. It took the men over 4 days to reach the Moon

The Apollo 11 Saturn V lifted off from the Kennedy Space centre at 09:36 on 16 July 1969 carrying three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin. The journey to the Moon would last 4 days, 6 hours and 45 minutes, finally landing on 20 July 1969.

The Apollo 11 Saturn V space vehicle lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.

2. The astronauts encountered some problems before landing

The journey to the Moon was not all plain sailing though. Before landing, a series of alarm messages sounded that none of the astronauts had previously heard.

The alarms were caused by ‘executive overflows’ as a result of the guidance computer not being able to complete all of its tasks and having to postpone some of them. After checking the alarm, computer technicians on the ground reassured the crew that is was safe to land.

However, that was not to be the last of the problems the crew would face. Radio communication loss between the lunar module and mission control meant the mission was close to being aborted. Despite Aldrin adjusting the antenna and ground control attempting to resolve the issue, radio communications continued to fade in and out.

Eagle (lunar module) in lunar orbit, photographed from Columbia (command module).

3. The astronauts did not land at their planned site

No sooner than one problem was resolved, another reared its head. Due to the gravity of the Moon and some extra speed gained, Armstrong and Aldrin had missed the landing site by about 4 miles and were instead faced an unfriendly sight of rough terrain and lorry-sized craters. Armstrong had to find a smooth spot to land, and fast…

A photograph of Armstrong taken by Aldrin. This is one of the few photographs of Armstrong on the lunar surface; most of the time he had the camera.

4. Armstrong had 60 seconds to land the lunar module

Dwindling fuel supplies (just 5% fuel remaining) meant that Armstrong would have a mere 60 seconds to land the lunar module before having to abort the mission, a hard task made worse by the unplanned detour. Armstrong later recalled:

“We heard the call of 60 seconds, and a low-level light came on. That, I’m sure, caused concern in the control centre…They probably normally expected us to land with about two minutes of fuel left. And here we were, still a hundred feet [30 m] above the surface, at 60 seconds.”

Luckily, Armstrong was able to land with only seconds left to spare.

“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, stands on the surface of the Moon. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, mission commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera.

5. Buzz Aldrin took communion on the Moon

Upon landing on the Moon, Aldrin gave thanks for his safety by taking communion. At the time NASA was embroiled in a lawsuit with prominent activist and atheist Madelyn Murray O’Hair. O’Hair objected to the broadcasting of a reading from the Book of Genesis by the Apollo 8 crew. Because of this Aldrin took communion privately, away from the cameras. His communion kit was prepared by the Pastor of his Presbyterian church, who still have the chalice used on the Moon.

Aldrin salutes the United States flag on the lunar surface.

6. The module remained on the Moon’s surface for 21 hours and 36 minutes

Armstrong was the first man to step onto the Moon, followed 20 minutes later by Aldrin. Of the 21 hours and 36 minutes spent on the Moons surface, Armstrong and Aldrin spent 2.5 hours outside the module collecting data, setting up experiments and taking pictures.

They also erected an American flag, a task that proved more difficult than expected as they struggled to jam the pole into the Moons hard surface. Although they managed to plant the pole about 18cm deep, Aldrin stated that the flag was later knocked over by engine exhaust as Apollo 11 lifted off.

Images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2012 showed that at least 5 of the 6 American Flags raised during Apollo missions were still standing. However, scientists think decades’ worth of sunlight have bleached away their colors.

Whilst his co-pilots explored the Moon, Michael Collins was alone in orbit for more than 21 hours, piloting the command module. For 48 minutes of each orbit of the moon, he was out of radio contact with Earth.

Aldrin next to the Passive Seismic Experiment Package with the Eagle in the background.

7. The astronauts splashed down to Earth

On 24 July 1969, the Saturn V splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, 44 hours after leaving lunar orbit.

The craft and its crew were recovered by air craft carrier USS Hornet. Divers then attached an anchor to the craft and passed biological isolation suits to the astronauts before assisting them into a life craft.

Due to the risk of pathological contamination, precautions were taken at every stage of the recovery and the astronauts were kept quarantined for 21 days. This practice continued for two more missions before being deemed unnecessary.

The crew of Apollo 11 in quarantine after returning to Earth, visited by Richard Nixon.

8. An estimated 650 million people tuned in to watch the event on television world wide

An estimated 650 million people watched Armstrong and Aldrin become the first men on the Moon, bearing witness to a historic event that will be remembered for years to come.

From the lunar module on the Moon, Aldrin reflected on the enormity of the occasion:

“This is the [lunar module] pilot. I’d like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.”

In a tumultuous America, torn by racial division, having witnessed the assassination of their president and weary from years of Cold War tension, the Moon landing helped boost national pride.

Ticker tape parade for the Apollo 11 astronauts, in Manhattan, New York City on 13 August 1969. Pictured in the lead car, from the right, are astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.

9. A total of 6 US Missions have landed men on the Moon

In total, 12 men have walked on the Moon in 6 NASA missions. These missions ran over a three year period ending in 1972. Since 1972 no other crewed mission has landed on the Moon, this is largely due to the huge costs involved. The whole Apollo programme cost an estimated $25.4 billion (about $156 billion in 2019 dollars).

China, India, Japan, Russia and the European Space Agency have all either sent probes or landed vehicles on the Moon. However the USA remains the only country to have ever put man on the Moon, demonstrating their world power status.

10. Conspiracy Theorists still insist the Moon landings were faked

Among the anti-vaxxers, 9/11 theorists and Flat Earthers are another group. Those who claim the Moon landings were faked.

The conspiracy theory was first started by Bill Kaysing who in 1979 self-published a pamphlet entitled ‘We Never Went to the Moon: America’s 30 Billion Dollar Swindle’.

The claims soon gained traction, despite hard evidence to the contrary including geological evidence recovered from the Moon and images from reconnaissance aircraft orbiting the earth showing motor tracks and footprints left on the surface of the Moon.

In the age of the internet, where information can be shared at the click of a button, this alternative history has continued to cast doubt in the minds of many. A 2012 YouGov study revealed 1 in 6 Britons believe the Moon landings were staged or faked.

Below is a timeline, highlighting some of the key events from the first moon landing. All times are done in UTC.

14 July

At 21:00 the terminal countdown started at T-28 hours. There would be two scheduled holds of 11 hours and 1 hour 32 minutes.

16 July

At 13:32 the Apollo 11 Saturn V lifted off from the Kennedy Space centre carrying three astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin.

19 July

At 17:21 Apollo 11 entered lunar orbit. Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were now over 240,000 miles away from the nearest humans. For 24 hours they prepared for the final stage.

The crew of Apollo 11. (From left to right) Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edward ‘Buzz’ Aldrin.

20 July

At 12:52 Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong entered the lunar module Eagle in preparation for the descent to the Moon’s surface. Michael Collins remained in the command module.

At 17:44 the Eagle separated from Columbia, the command module. Collins would be on his own in Columbia for over 24 hours – having space just took another level.

At 17:49 computer program alarms start going off inside the Eagle. The guidance computer could not complete all its tasks, and so prioritised the most important. Houston reassured the astronauts that it was safe to continue the descent.

At 20:05 the final critical landing phase of the Apollo 11 mission began.

At 20:10 Armstrong and Aldrin reported a 1202 programme alarm going off inside Eagle. It was a warning that the core processing system had been overloaded. Mission Control decided to continue the mission.

At 20:14 3,000 feet from the Moon’s surface Armstrong and Aldrin were faced with another alarm, this time a 1201 programme alarm. Mission Control reassured them that they could continue the mission.

At 20:15 Mission Control acknowledged another computer alarm code.

Noticing that the computer seemed to be guiding them towards a rocky landing site near a large crater, Armstrong decided to take manual control of Eagle.

At 20:16 available fuel for landing the lunar module reached 5%. Aldrin could now see the module’s shadow on the Moon’s surface, as Armstrong manually guided Eagle towards a clearer landing site.

At 20:17 after a high-pressure final descent, the Eagle landed on the Moon’s surface and Armstrong radioed to Control the now immortalised words: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed”.

They landed roughly 30 seconds before Mission Control would have sounded the ‘Bingo Call’, the moment where the lunar module would have had to land immediately or abort.

21 July

At 02:39 Armstrong and Aldrin opened Eagle’s hatch and prepared to walk on the Moon.

At 02:51 millions of people back on Earth watch as a TV camera on the Eagle recorded Neil Armstrong begin his descent from the module to the surface.

At 02:56 the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived. Armstrong took a foot off the ladder and placed it on the Moon’s surface. ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’.

At 03:15 Buzz Aldrin became the second person to set foot on the Moon when he joined Armstrong on the surface. He described the scene he witnessed simply as ‘Magnificent desolation’.

The Eagle lunar module on the Moon.

At 05:53. after setting up the US flag, taking samples, speaking to President Nixon, erecting an Apollo 1 mission patch and several other actions, Armstrong and Aldrin re-entered the Eagle and prepare for the lunar ascent.

At 17:54 after a period of rest and preparation, fears of being stranded on the surface ended when the Eagle successfully lifted off.

At 21:24 the Eagle successfully rendezvoused with Columbia, docking 11 minutes later and soon after began their return journey to Earth.

24 July

At 16:50 Saturn V splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

War roots

Hampson’s creation of Colonel Dan Dare gripped imaginations and turned thousands of children into becoming future Spaceman, later known as Astronauts.  Dan Dare was based upon those great RAF Pilots of World War Two and was shown as being heroic in every sense of the word.

RAF 303 squadron pilots. L-R: F/O Ferić, F/Lt Lt Kent, F/O Grzeszczak, P/O Radomski, P/O Zumbach, P/O Łokuciewski, F/O Henneberg, Sgt Rogowski, Sgt Szaposznikow, in 1940.

Each week, there was another thrilling episode to take readers into the unknown, land of the Moon and even more distant planets like Mars and Venus.

Dan Dare was called the Pilot of the Future. His crew were the equivalent of today’s NASA: the Interplanetary Space Fleet made sure each flight was meticulously researched. Like the crew of Apollo 11, with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin, Dan Dare had Albert Digby, Sir Hubert Guest and Professor Jocelyn Peabody just to mention a few.

In the Eagle it was not all about future fantasy, but a comic strip which took into account the latest known to science and engineering with the middle pages containing some wonderful cut-away drawings to show everyone how things worked. It was this brilliant work of Frank Hampson and his team at Eagle that did change the world for millions of its readers and made it the best selling comic ever in the UK.

The U.S catches on

10 years after the Eagle had been launched in the UK in America, new readers and TV audiences were being thrilled by the equivalent of Colonel Dan Dare with the new Space adventurer Captain James Kirk of the Enterprise and his crew including the science officer Spock.

Some of the voyages featured in Star Trek have clear similarities with the adventures of Dan Dare, not missed by Gene Roddenberry and his team.

But Dan Dare and his adventures in Space and meeting other life forms was also the inspiration for those in Hollywood. The monster that comes out of John Hurt’s stomach in Alien has parallels with the Mekon and his Treens from the planet Venus. Ridley Scott remains a fan of the Eagle and Dan Dare. In his Alien films, Space Ships and Interplanetary travel are common sights.

Ridley Scott.

Today the Business leader Sir Richard Branson, an enthusiast of Dan Dare and the Eagle, continues his quest to send people into Space, as he pushes both himself and his resources to reach the stars. Sir Elton John also was an enthusiast of Dan Dare – Pilot of the Future.

In the Eagle can also be found a craft in deep space, similar to what George Lucas used in his Star Wars films. Frank Hampson’s comic inspired other visionary’s to follow, to boldly go where no-one has gone before. In the Eagle there was a machine called a “Telesender” which could transport and people from one location to another.

The Eagle has landed

Frank Hampson was probably one of the most distinguished and gifted artists of his time to bring Other Worlds and Aliens to every day young people in Britain, inspiring children to wish to become Spacemen. One has just to see the countless letters of praise that arrived each week at Eagle HQ, from those young fans.

The late Professor Stephen Hawking when asked the  question about Dan Dare replied “Why am I in the study of Cosmology”  Other famous people like Prince Charles, Michel Palin have and will no doubt always remain fans of Dan Dare and his exploits.

Apollo Lunar Module Eagle landed on the Moon on 20 July 1969; the publication of Eagle comic landed 19 years earlier, on 14 April 1950.

Featured image credit: Bronze bust of Dan Dare, situated on the corner of Lord Street and Cambridge Arcade in Southport. Peter Hodge / Commons.

There is no doubt that on 20 July 1969 history was made, but in what way? Whilst the Moon landings have continued to capture the imaginations of many, others believe we never made it to the Moon at all. Instead for these conspiracy theorists, the date marks the day that America pulled off the biggest hoax in history.

The conspiracy

In the late 1970s, long after the dust on the Moon had settled and Saturn V had returned to Earth, Bill Kaysing, a former employee of Rocketdyne, the company that designed the Saturn V, publicised his belief that astronauts did not land on the Moon.

In his 1979 self-published pamphlet entitled ‘We Never Went to the Moon: America’s 30 Billion Dollar Swindle’ Kaysing claims that NASA did not have the capability to put man on the Moon and safely return him. Kaysing also discredited the images shown of the Moon, questioning the lack of stars, the absence of blast craters under the lunar module, among other anomalies.

In an uneasy and distrustful society rocked by the Kennedy’s assassination, an event which birthed its own conspiracy, and the lies exposed about the Vietnam War, the claims soon gained traction.

Most Moon landing conspiracy theories argue the Apollo missions never made it to the Moon, instead scenes enacting the event were filmed in a studio and were broadcast around the world. Many doubters built on Kaysing’s original claims and more elaborate theories emerged

Conspiracy theorists say that the films of the missions were made using sets similar to this training mock up. Armstrong and Aldrin participate in a simulation of deploying and using lunar tools on the surface of the Moon during a training exercise on April 22, 1969. In the background is a Lunar Module mock up.

Myths debunked

One theory is that film director Stanley Kubrik helped NASA film the fake Moon landing footage. Whilst Kubrik’s Moon landing is a movie I am sure film fans everywhere would like to see, unfortunately it does not exists. Hard evidence exists that proves that man did indeed land on the Moon.

Images take from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show motor tracks and footprints left on the surface of the Moon which, due to the nature of Moon dust particles, still remain.  These images have been corroborated by other countries, therefore discrediting claims of image doctoring. Additionally, the 382kg of Moon rock which was bought back from the lunar surface has been shared, studied and validated by scientists all around the world.

The most famous of the Moon rocks recovered, the Genesis Rock, returned from Apollo 15.

There are many facets to the conspiracy theory argument, all of which have been debunked, however the apparent fluttering of the US flag in images and videos of the landing is one of the most prevalent.

If there is one thing Moon landing conspiracy theorist are right about, it’s the airless environment of the Moon. With this in mind, the flags were fitted with a rod in order to ensure it did not flap down. As the astronauts placed the flagpole into to the ground, the fabric of the flag was disturbed and would have remained that way due to the lack of strong gravity on the Moon. The flag was also creased during travel which contributed to the rippling illusion.

In the videos, the flag appears to move back and forth. The astronauts twisted the pole into place causing the fabric to wave like a pendulum. Without air resistance the flag would have continued to swing for some time. In the videos the flag pole is shown to vibrate slightly before remaining still.

An animated photo,showing that though Aldrin moved between takes, the flag is not waving.

Whilst stars would have made for a prettier picture, the lack of them does not disprove the Moon landings despite claims made by doubters. The lack of stars can easily be explained by lack of visibility. The Moon landings were conducted during lunar mornings with the Sun outshining any stars.

Earth and Russian space station Mir in June 1995 – an example of how sunlight can outshine the stars, making them invisible.

Some claims go further, arguing that all space travel would be impossible due to the Van Allen Belts of radiation which surround the Earth. However the speed of the spacecraft travelling through the belts, combined with the protection afforded by its materials, ensured low and safe levels of radiation exposure.

Today

Today the Moon landing conspiracy theory still prevails, nurtured by a post 9/11 climate where distrust in leaders remains high and claims that governments have spread diseases and orchestrated shootings and attacks are not unheard of.  Therefore the prevalence of conspiracy theories may serve to signify greater societal issues, highlighting disillusionment with leadership.

The Moon landing joins a repertoire of conspiracy theories which are easily spread through the internet, a luxury Bill Kaysing did not have when he originally published his theory. A 2012 YouGov study revealed 1 in 6 Britons believe the Moon landings were staged or faked. Whilst 10% of Americans and, perhaps unsurprisingly, 57% of Russians believe the event was a hoax.

The appeal and spread of conspiracy theories may also be helped by a simple love of story telling. Normally the stuff of Hollywood films, conspiracy theories can provide a thrilling alternative narrative to more mundane or distressing news.

Just as elusive is the lasting impact of the Apollo program. That may not be fully realised and appreciated for years to come. But an attempt at understanding how the manned space program began, and why, can provide a starting point.

Combating communism

Most people living today were not alive or old enough to remember the Moon landing, and fewer still experienced the height of the Cold War about a decade earlier. For many Americans, that conflict has become a romanticised background for James Bond movies and John le Carre novels.

Few fully realise how serious the stakes were – the capitalistic and/or democratic nations of the Free World led by the United States vs. the authoritarian communism of the Eastern Bloc, led by the Soviet Union, which had made clear its expansionist aims.

Even more alarming than the threat to democracy’s survival was the very real possibility of all-out nuclear war. The looming spectre of a World War Three leaving tens or even hundreds of millions dead and much of the world in ruins seemed not at all far-fetched.

America entered the Space Race soon after the Soviets’ October 1957 launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik. One goal was national security; for obvious reasons, they couldn’t be allowed to dominate the skies above. But another, more subtle reason may have been just as important: prestige, a code word for a nation’s political strength and reputation – its influence – among the global community.

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space, in 1964.

Prestige

Prestige was a nebulous but very real element of the Cold War; polls in the years immediately following Sputnik and other early Soviet space triumphs showed that the USSR was considered overwhelmingly ahead of the United States in critical areas of science and technology – and some of those polls were in Western Europe, home to some of the United States’ most loyal allies.

After World War Two dozens of less advanced countries, many of them recently created or decolonised, had resisted aligning themselves with either side, refusing to join either NATO or the Warsaw Pact, the two multi-state military alliances formed within a decade of war’s end.

These nations were still undecided as to which side of the ideological rope they would grab onto in this global tug-of-war; in a sense, they were waiting to see which team had the advantage, both to be on the winning side and to choose the system that would benefit them most.

President Kennedy’s “moon speech” of May 1961 – which challenged America to put a man on the moon and return him safely before the decade’s end – in effect moved the Space Race finishing line far downfield, allowing the United States to marshal its deep resources to meet this massive undertaking.

The tables turn

After early Soviet successes – first man in space and in orbit around the Earth, first space walk, first woman in space, and others – the momentum shifted quickly and dramatically as the United States responded. Over a span of twenty months in 1965-66, the Gemini program’s ten missions steadily pulled America abreast of and then ahead of the Soviets.

The successful Apollo program that followed was the decisive blow. (The USSR had its own moon landing project, which was abandoned after several disastrous test launches of their gargantuan rocket booster.)

Can we precisely measure the effect of the Apollo triumph and its technological audacity on America’s international prestige, and on the Cold War? No – such intangibles are impervious to exact assessment. But it clearly made a difference.

Why was the Apollo programme so significant?

The West’s winning of the Cold War resulted in the more or less steady and safe world order that is still in place a half century later, with communism experiencing few advances and a great many setbacks. Surely that was worth the $25.4 billion ($177.2 billion today) spent on the space program through Apollo 17 in 1972.

Or was it? Critics complain that’s a lot of money. Surely we could have spent it more beneficially, to improve some of our nation’s serious social problems. But government spending doesn’t work that way. Just because money isn’t spent in one area doesn’t mean it can or will be transferred to another.

Another misperception is that those billions were shot into space, though every penny was spent here on Earth. For an entire decade, Apollo funding paid the salaries of more than 400,000 Americans involved in getting a man to the Moon and back – from factory workers employed by 20,000 subcontractors to scientists, engineers, and technicians at NASA and many universities and laboratories.

Eugene Cernan aboard the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the first EVA of Apollo 17.

And aside from being the greatest engineering achievement of all time, the Apollo program has yielded myriad benefits. The space effort initiated, pioneered, or inspired tremendous advances and inventions in countless areas, with many of these “spinoffs” directly affecting our lives, every minute of every day, from satellites of every kind and medical instrumentation to digital imaging and, of course, computers – NASA’s early purchase of one million microchips kick-started that nascent industry.

In 1975, just three years after the last Apollo mission, the program’s ROI was estimated at 15:1. By now it’s off the charts. The manned space programme also inspired tens of thousands of young people in America and throughout the world to pursue STEM careers and make the world a better place in countless ways.

“People will go where they can go”

Beyond these achievements, Apollo’s most profound legacy may be its effect on the human spirit. It was our first step – a baby step, but an important one – onto another celestial body, and as such, affirmed our birthright as explorers. We have a yearning, a need, to explore – it’s in our DNA.

Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 command module pilot, once said,

“People will go where they can go.”

Whether it’s over the hill to the next valley, or through space to the next world, they always have. And when one considers the many dire threats facing humanity today, it’s more a case that people must go where they can go. As long as some part of us is human – even thousands or millions of years in the future, when we will almost certainly evolve into beings quite different – we always will.

James Donovan is the author of Shoot for the Moon, The Blood of Heroes, A Terrible Glory, and several other bestselling books. He has been a literary agent since 1993, and lives in Dallas. Shoot for the Moon was published on 15 March 2019 by Amberley Publishing.

Author Photo by Melissa T. Shultz.