Were the Apollo Moon Landings Real?

Every so often I get a student question based on the numerous cable TV “documentaries” purporting to show the Apollo Moon landings were faked. I’m asked, “How can you prove the Apollo astronauts actually went to the Moon?” In fact, I was orbiting Earth in 2001 on space shuttle Atlantis when one of the most famous “We Faked the Moon Landings” shows was aired. I was astounded someone would propose such a hoax–twelve Americans walked on the Moon during Apollo, and I know and knew many of these astronauts personally. They’re not the lying type.

Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan in the valley of Taurus Littrow, Dec. 1972. (NASA)

Nothing would have pleased me more than to fly a Moon mission; unfortunately the shuttle, while marvelous, couldn’t take me there. But I can use the available evidence to lay to rest any fears that NASA somehow faked the Moon landings between 1969 and 1972.

First, the Apollo crews returned about 382 kilograms of rock and soil samples from the Moon. I’ve seen many of them in the lunar sample repository at Johnson Space Center, and you’ve seen many small samples in museums around the globe. These rocks don’t look terrestrial. In fact, measurements confirm they have characteristics that rule out a terrestrial origin:

I took this shot of impressive lunar rocks in the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility at Johnson Space Center in April 2023. The cubes are 1 centimeter on a side. Sample at left is a portion of Apollo 16’s “Big Muley,” an impact breccia named after geologist (and my instructor) Bill Muehlberger. (Tom Jones photo).

The rocks lack the ubiquitous water that is nearly always present in rocks on Earth. The soils contain exotic elements like the isotope Helium-3, implanted on the Moon by the solar wind (that wind does not penetrate our magnetic field and atmosphere). The soils contain scattered grains of metallic iron, deposited by eons of meteorite impacts on the Moon.

When lunar samples were sent to laboratories around the globe after Apollo 11, Soviet scientists analyzed these samples, too. Our Cold War rivals didn’t send back a press release denouncing the American-provided rocks as fakes. Instead, they sent a message: “Congratulations!”

Second, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, circling the Moon since 2009 has photographed all six Apollo landing sites in sharp detail, revealing the lunar module descent stages, rover tracks, the instruments emplaced by the astronauts, and even their footprints creating trails across the lunar landscape.

The Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquility. The Eagle lunar module casts a shadow to the right, at center of image (LRO image, 2009, NASA)

Close up of the Apollo 11 landing site, showing the descent stage, astronaut bootprint trails, and the lunar ranging retroreflector. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

Third, several of those emplaced instruments were laser retroreflectors–they reflect laser pulses from Earth back to us so scientists can precisely measure the distance from Earth to Moon. These reflectors still function today, and we have the photos showing the astronauts putting them in place.

Apollo 11’s laser ranging retroreflector, emplaced on the Sea of Tranquility. Note the astronaut bootprints in the soil. (NASA)

Charlie Duke, lunar module pilot on Apollo 16. He walked the Descartes Highlands with John Young, commander of the mission. (US Mint)

Finally, Charlie Duke, the Apollo 16 lunar module pilot and moonwalker, once responded to the hoax claim. He smiled and said, “We might have been able to fake a moon landing once. But why would we fake it NINE times?” (the number of times an Apollo crew blasted off for the Moon, with Apollo 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17). More attempts would just increase the chances NASA’s cover would be blown. Instead, those launches and the six landings stand as huge milestones in human history, as homo sapiens finally left its Earthly cradle.

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