As a GeekDad who also works in the space program, I often think about all of the myths and conspiracies associated with space exploration and how I will ensure that my Geekling will be brought up with the ability to separate the sand from the moon dust. With the current celebration of the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, I thought it would be a great time to arm other Geek parents with the ammunition they need to address the moon-landing hoax theories.

One of the best resources out there is the Bad Astronomy blog, written by Phil Plait. Mr. Plait works very hard at separating the truth from the various myths people take as the truth. In 2001, he wrote an extensive rebuttal to the Fox program "Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?" It addresses, point-for-point, the inaccurate conspiracy theories, which Fox presented with an eye toward sensationalism rather than journalistic integrity. He continues to write to keep the public informed of the truth at Bad Astronomy.

I am sure many of our readers watch MythBusters on the Discovery Channel. Last summer, a MythBusters episode addressed some of the big theories of why the moon landing was faked, as well as some things that are true but people commonly believe are a myth. Actually, one of the things they proved to be true isn’t very controversial. They showed that a feather and a hammer fall at the same rate in a vacuum. Generally no controversy there, but who doesn’t love to see Newton in action? The team had the support of NASA in making this show and was able to utilize resources at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. They also had the support of the Zero G Corporation and the Apache Point Observatory. A Wikipedia entry sums up the myths and the show results. Of course the real fun is watching the show and seeing the wonderful team Myth Busters team do their thing.

Very recently, the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured the best images yet of the Apollo landing sites since the astronauts walked on the surface. I enjoyed these images as I had the pleasure of watching the process of LRO being assembled in a cleanroom at the Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA has released those images for the world to see. My favorite image released is of the Apollo 14 landing site, where you can actually see the trail of footprints from the landing site out to the location where some of the scientific experiments were performed.

Astronaut at the LEM

There are many other good websites that fight against the conspiracies with solid information and can be found through some simple web searches. The greatest injustice of all in these myths remaining out there is the way in which they diminish the great work done by the brave astronauts who went to the moon and the men and women who supported the development of the program and the missions. Thank you to all of you who made the moon landings possible. Thank you to all of those who worked the predecessor missions of Mercury and Gemini that blazed a trail to the moon. Finally, thank you to the astronauts who made the trek to the moon and helped mankind make that one giant leap.