Were you impressed with the Mythbuster's moon landing program?

Question

I haven't seen it yet... was it well done? Did it introduce any new evidence, or is it just points we've been telling people on here for a while? What conspiracy theories did it cover? Like I said, I haven't seen it yet.

Answer 1

You've already had a lot of good answers.

The busted everything they tackled.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable show.

And like one of the other answers said - it was nice to see all those hoax claims busted on screen even if I didn't believe the hoax claims in the first place.

My personal favorite was the waving flag experiment. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of Newton's laws could have predicted what would happen, but it was fun to see...

Now I need to find out how much it costs to go on the zero g/moon g plane - that would be awesome...

Answer 2

I liked the episode.  I had already read Phil Plait's discussion about it on his web site (www.badastronomy.com) and in his book, so I already knew about these.  But actually seeing them being busted is more impressive.  I especially liked the simulation of the astronauts walking on the moon (the Hoaxers say it was just slowed down film, the Mythbusters repeated the walk in a Vomit Comet)

I just wish they had more time to bust more of the Hoaxers claims, like the "There are no stars in the photos" argument

Answer 3

I haven't seen it yet either, but I would like to. Hopefully there will be a video available on the Internet at some point.

Answer 4

Totally brilliant! Probably their best show ever.

They even went on a jetliner converted to allow people to experience zero "g", except they only did it at 1/6 so as to record the gait of someone walking with a space suit, so as to compare it with films from the moon missions, to slowed down normal gravity footage they made and to one where Adam Savage was connected to a rig that lifted him so that his ground pressure was only 1/6 of normal.

The real neat thing is that, henceforth, anyone who will again bring up these moon hoax arguments on Yahoo Answers could be rebutted by being asked to just watch the show. In fact, that episode should be made available, in its entirety and perpetually, on some free to access website so anyone could be directed to it, thereby putting an end to all this nonsense.

Myth totally busted!

Got that moon hoax proponents? THEY WENT TO THE MOON !

Answer 5

Good question and good answers (so far) a star for you!   I sure do hope that a lot of those fools see this and learn something.  

Answer 6

I thought it was very good.  It covered five "hoax claims":

1. The "waving flag" issue.

2. The well-defined bootprint (a new one for me.  The argument is that only moist soil (impossible in a vacuum) can hold a well-defined print).

3. The "non-parallel shadows" issue.

4. The "well illuminated astronaut in the LM's shadow" issue.

5. The 1/6 gravity issue (addressed the claim that the video was shot at high speed and then slowed down; and/or that the astronauts were suspended by cables.)

To top it off, the mythbusters went to an observatory in Arizona and shot a laser at the retro-reflector left by the Apollo 15 crew, and got a reflection back.

I have a new-found respect for this show.  They actually built the equipment and did the experiments (something that seems beyond the comprehension of the conspiracists).  It's a classic episode.

Answer 7

I didn't see it on TV but I saw segments of it on the web.  I can't find the site now!  I'll be back later to give you the link.

They went to great pains to make the most credible demonstrations possible.  I really have to commend them.  Regarding the non-parallel shadows, I wish they had used a number of outdoor shots just so people could see non-parallel shadows in real sunlight.  

I figure time was limited so they had to decide just what claims they would tackle, but I would have liked seeing just a few seconds busting the "no stars" myth.  That could be a quickie, as they could have shown a rapid series of NASA photos from earth orbit with no stars.  Maybe if they do this topic again, they can set up a brightly lit foreground outside at night somewhere and take pictures of varying exposures with the lights on and with the lights off.  That should make it pretty clear why we can't see stars in any of the photos.

Your true HBs will watch this and figure that it's just as hoaxed as they believe the moon landings were.  This will demonstrate again just how boneheaded and arrogant some people can be.

Answer 8

They approached it very much like any other episode. They didn't treat the entire hoax claim as a single myth to be busted / confirmed, but treated individual claims used to support the whole idea as individual myths.

e.g. Myth: The pictures of the 'moon landing' prove they had multiple light sources. They busted this myth by reproducing the non-parallel shadows and illuminated astronauts in shadows while using only one light source.

In all, it's nothing new to a front-line warrior in the battle of the Apollo hoax, but it's nice to see what we've been telling folks put on screen in a way that would be more convincing to a layperson than simply reading some "geek's" reasons why such-and-such is/isn't true.

My wish list: debunk the myth that the Earth shown out the CM window was a forgery.

debunk the Van Allen Belts myth - that's the one that most people find compelling, simply by not understanding how radiation works.

They did mention in the show that they'd done more but didn't have time in one show to present them all, but that they were making these "additional myth bustings" available on their website.

(come to think of it - I need to go check those out!)

Edit: The other experiment they performed was to recreate the famous hammer and feather drop from Apollo 15. That's what you'll find if you go to the website. Very nice.

EDIT 2:

Hey, I just finally decoded your name. It's kind of hard to make out with the mouse-over, but I got it. I'll use the decoded form in some future question, though. ;)

Answer 9

I think there are more conspiracy theory's than they covered in the show...like the one about..."Who took the picture when Neil Armstrong first stepped off the lander".....but...all in all ..it was just as Rick described.

I've always liked that show because these guys are very thorough...and do a pretty complete job of busting or confirming all the myths...afterall...that's the premise of the whole show...busting myths....whodathunkit??

The moonlanding conspiracy  episode was about what I expected of it...as far as..confirming what I already knew was true about the landings anyway.

Just be watching for repeats of the show...because ..I'm sure they'll play that one again.

If they don't..then..they do have it online.