It’s 1969. America and the Soviet Union have been raging in their imperial competition for over 19 years now. The fight began with the goal to have one be superior over the other, and to be the most powerful superpower in the world, and this rivalry will not end until it is achieved.

The United States created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA with the purpose of making sure they responsibly secured the U.S. space program. All we wanted to do was get to the moon first, since our most hated enemy orbited Earth first.

We eventually did get there…or did we?

Many theories claim that America didn’t land on the moon in 1969.  Instead, the government staged the unprecedented event on a Hollywood movie set in order to claim they made it to the moon before any other country. If this is the case, then our our American hero, Neil Armstrong, and the rest of his space buddies, are just actors.

The U.S. government knew they didn’t have the proper technology yet to land on the moon. Instead of achieving the impossible, the government decided to produce a film rather than the real thing they couldn’t accomplish.

When asked how badly the U.S. wanted to get to the moon, History teacher Mr. Jay said, “Very badly. John Kennedy made it a 10 year goal after the USSR  launched sputnik. [We] put in a lot of resources.” Between 1961 and 1964, government spending on NASA increased by 500%.             

This is where Mr. Mulroy, the Science teacher at the NYC iSchool, comes into play. In addition to teaching Earth Science, Mr. Mulroy teaches a module called Astrobiology that teaches students about space.

One piece of evidence is that there was a stage prop left on the floor of the “moon landing” with its label left upwards for everyone to see. As you can see from the picture on the side, the photo is blown up and can just be photoshopped, which was the first point made by Mr. Mulroy.

The second piece of evidence is that in Armstrong’s helmet, you can see a spotlight. Due to the 60’s poor technology compared to 21st century technology, movie makers at the time couldn’t blur the reflection. This was the evidence that caught Mr. Mulroy off guard. After he recollected himself, he said that it could just be a smudge on his helmet.

Freshmen at the NYC iSchool, Alliyah Logan and Carla Gaveglia talked about their perspectives on the theory. The evidence that I shared with Mr. Mulroy, I also shared with these students.

“I don’t know if I believe it. I think I need more credible resources,” Alliyah told me while laughing. “I have no reason to believe it. But there needs to be more facts and evidence to see if the theory is real or not.”

There are many more reasons that make the conspiracy more lively. Examples of videos where wires are exposed due to reflections of spotlights. There is also the waving of the flag that once it is put into the moon’s surface, it waves as if there is gravity moving it from side to side.

I introduced this evidence to Carla who was a little more open minded about the subject and seemed interested in the conspiracy. “I mean, it’s very controversial. With all the evidence it seems pretty believable that they staged it.” As of now, Carla believes the moon was staged.

Jared Ninyo, a sophomore at the NYC iSchool, also shared his opinion about the conspiracy. He took the Astrobiology module with Mr. Mulroy, and it seemed to influence his view of the subject.

“I don’t think it was staged,” he responded quickly. “What reason does the government have to lie to us about it? It’s believable because of the space race.” He then discussed with me different conspiracy theories that he’s heard that led me to believe that his spoken opinion is different from his internal, true opinion.

The question for you is, what do you believe? There is evidence of wires, weird craters, no stars, and the unexplainable shadows of the sun itself, but how far do we take it? Do we trust the government because they are trustworthy? Or do we question their motives dated back to nearly 50 years ago? The choice is yours.