World War 2 had already ended and the Cold War was just beginning. The two most powerful countries, America and the Soviet Union, were unofficially at war. They both knew that if they officially went to war then the whole world would be in trouble with nuclear missiles and radiation all over, it would have become a deadly mess with millions dead. The US and Soviet Union decided to have a competition and they were both reaching for the stars. After John F. Kennedy’s speech said his goal was to race the Soviet Union to the moon and win to fight communism. The Space race had begun and a newly formed NASA was ready to start going to the moon.
The events of the space race had allowed for a new conspiracy theory to emerge. The conspiracy theory was that America had staged the landing on the moon to scare off the Soviet Union. People believe this because the technology wasn’t as advanced as it is now. During the 1960s a computer would be the size of a whole room and would have to be kept in the cold because it would heat up easily. Another point people believe is that at the beginning of the space race America was behind the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had already set animals into space and the first person into space so how could the US possibly keep up. The US felt like there was no hope to beat the Soviet Union and decided to stage the moon landing to make the Soviet Union believe that America had landed on the moon first. However, this is just a conspiracy theory about the space race and the possible reasons why people believe the moon landing was staged.
The moon landing being staged simply isn’t true because of the evidence against the theory. First off when a rocket would take off many people would go to the site and watch it. The take-off would even be aired on the television so many people were eager to find out about the space race and would stop what they were doing to listen to the astronauts. The actual pods in which the astronauts were in are in museums if you wanted to see them in person. While it is true the Soviet Union was ahead of America in the beginning, it only inspired astronauts and people working in NASA to work harder and push themselves even though that led to failures and the lives of the Apollo one crew dying because of a fire. There are countless interviews with the astronauts both before and after landing in space so there is a lot of information to support that the moon landing did happen. Lastly, the astronauts would come back with rocks and dust from the moon to give to NASA so tests could be run on the substances.
The moon landing did happen and was not staged by America to make the Soviet Union believe America had landed on the moon first. The moon landing being staged is an interesting theory, but it is just that, a theory. The theory has a lot of loose ends that could have been explained with facts we know about the space race or interviews with the astronauts. The idea of landing on the moon despite many challenges astonishes people and gives way for skepticism from others. Overall it shows how the whole world came together for this monumental accomplishment. The story shows the efforts of all the women and men in NASA who came together to get the job done and learned from their previous mistakes.
Jazmin Olaguez – Deerfield Academy – DMSF