NASA's Moon Mission - Mythbusters - S05 EP02 - Science Documentary

In this episode of Mythbusters, the

moon

landing was a host. Yes, the team is tackling the tallest story of all. Did NASA fake the Apollo lunar

mission

? That's 100 times weird. Adam and Jamie focus on the photos first. Here is our

moon

landing set. Do these frames prove it? Neil Armstrong took his small step into a studio, took the photo, then they investigate the myth that to fabricate the classic look of the moon landings, NASA simply slowed down the film and finally Carrie Grant and Tori, oh my God, all of these They are empty. Chambers takes on claims that in a vacuum Flags don't fly and feet don't print on your face conspiracy theories you know what was lurking in your basement Adam Savage the best cooking show of all time and Jamie Heinemann is that beautiful or whatever between them over 30 years of special effects experience join them Grant Imahara crazy Carrie Byron come on and Tory Bellici because this is as disturbing as I think it is, they don't just say it, they put it to the test, so do you like to buy a new costume for each myth we do sometimes? but in this case I had my own space suit in my personal collection, I pulled it out because it was appropriate, of course you did it right, let me guess, what myths are we making about the moon landing, perhaps one of the biggest myths of all is that NASA He faked the moon landing and carried it out.

The deception of the American people is so widespread that this myth is so pervasive that 20 of Americans still believe it today and we are taking it well, how are we going to make the number of claims huge? I mean, they range from photographs to heat signatures to fingerprints. I know there are many of them. I think what we should do is select the most common ones and piece together the truth as best we can, like a puzzle, at exactly the six-minute mark in our countdown to Apollo 11 flights to land the first men on the moon. good luck speed ten nine stars ignition sequence on July 16, 1969 the world watched in amazement and concern as three brave astronauts headed for the moon and five days later came that extraordinary moment in time when Neil Armstrong took those first tentative extraterrestrial steps . 11 men followed in Armstrong's footsteps every step, filling the Earth audience with pride and confidence in the scientific endeavor.

It's absolutely unrealistic, but did we really jump into the future or were we pushed to believe that some giant PR stunt was pulled by NASA? of the biggest cover-up in human history oh you're a perfect meal like a child guess what i first met this still photograph yeah yeah most of the supposed evidence that

nasa

faked the moon landings comes from NASA's own photograph that, according to theorists, shows clear evidence. that moon landing was faked in the studio and couldn't have been filmed on the moon let's say hoax hoax so these are the photos the guys will focus on according to the Apollo hoax advocates this shot was taken in a studio because the Shadows are not parallels supposedly that's something that could only happen with multiple light sources, then there's this image of an ingeniously lit astronaut, conspiracy cheerleaders claim that if he were really standing in the shadow of the lunar module, you wouldn't be able to see him as clearly, since You know what we do in parallel.

Shadows first, how do you want to test it? I think we should make a big thumbnail because we can test the placement of all the elements, it's a complex thing, yes, we need a lot of control over those elements, exactly, okay, let's do it. First, kids need a single, large light source to replace the Sun. I'd like to introduce you to your son and the bright spark. Adam has found a monstrous study light that is bright enough to illuminate the experiment. I mean, here. He looks like one of the aliens in Close Encounters. That's the solar now for the lunar sign.

Montage because Jamie is making a moon. I had a good first start on my moon set. It's just spandex and let's see Portland cement with a little bit of bone. black, which is basically black powder, luckily we just happen to have one of these shipped to the store and it's perfect for a miniature game, it's 176 scale, ah, that couldn't be better, what do you say? We turn on the lights and see. What our shadows look like, yeah let's see the light, let's turn it around, I'm turning around, look at your eyes, what do you think works for me?

We've had the lights on and there's been a lot of action, so where is this is the camera we use? We're going to use a Hasselblad which is very similar to the one used on the moon except we put a digital feed on the back so we can look at the images in real time on a monitor and make comparisons with the original shots. Okay, with our sun in place, man, besides looking incredibly awesome, it's pretty clear here, but the ship and the rocks are on a flat surface and their shadows are totally parallel and that's how the proponents of the myth say that You should see the NASA photo. instead, you can see the Rock and Landing module.

The shadows are on different planes. Now we need to figure out what it would take to make them parallel. Yeah, let's play with the topography below and see what we can get. Conspiracy theorists say there is only one explanation for. "These two light sources and since there is only one light source on the moon and that is the sun that actually drives it forward, this has to be filmed in a studio, we are sure that it is the topography of the moon that makes these rocks look like this." They are not parallel when in fact they are and that is what we are trying to imitate here.

It's just a matter of adjusting this directly to the light. What Adam and Jamie have done is simply give the miniature moonscape some realistic contours and imperfections. That's perfect. yes, and the Shadows seem to go off their parallel path and Adam, happy friend, you said he looks perfect, take his snapshot in the session so he can hear what you're saying, you're saying he's replicated the moonshot, honest, do this kind of First of all, that's not the point, the point is that we are addressing the conspiracy theorists' specific claim that this photo has only one explanation and it is two light sources that we have demonstrated here, two Shadows that are parallel to a single light source that We've made them look very parallel using just the topography they're sitting on and I'm guessing that means it's completely broken.

You can achieve Shadows that don't look parallel from a single light source in a vacuum. It remains inflated. Not the astronaut. stay inflated for too long that's what happens to you in space if you don't have a spacesuit oh, it's like a pass as much as I love bursting the vacuum chamber what does the marshmallow astronaut have to do with the moon? We know that the surface of the Moon is a vacuum and some of the conspiracy theories hold that the images of the moon landing are fake because some of the things they did are impossible to do in a vacuum.

That's right, there is a theory about the flag that many times people think that it now looks like Flappy in the wind. That would be impossible in a vacuum because without air there is no wind. In fact, someone told me something good about footprints. The idea is that astronauts couldn't leave such distinct footprints on the Moon because there is no moisture in a vacuum and moisture is what holds the footprint together, so how are we going to test this? I think we're going to need a big vacuum and a lot more marshmallows. These vacuum theories are some of the most compelling in the world. conspiracy Canada after all it seems logical that the breeze that waved the flag simply couldn't be on the moon and anyone who has taken a walk on the beach knows that only wet sand leaves a definite imprint, so without moisture on the moon then These images must be fake, okay, so we'll have to replicate the conditions on the Moon as closely as possible here on Earth.

Well, I think the closest we're going to get is the vacuum chambers in Alabama at NASA, yes, but we're not allowed. go to the vacuum chamber, so the experiments we do will have to be operated remotely. Well, I would like to test the flag and build it to the original NASA specifications and then find some way to convert it. It's as if the astronauts had done well. I'm going to deal with the footprint myth. I was wondering if you could help me with an experiment to prove the whole theory behind Smith's voice. The boys don't fight much to get out of M7.

Tori sets up the demonstration with the closest thing she can find to moon dust. I decided to borrow my grandpa for this experiment and uh, I don't think my grandma is mine because well, there's my grandma, it's actually just plain old sand, half of which is Tory. moisten now the conspiracy theorists say that this cleaning of a footprint is impossible because it needs humidity and since there is no humidity on the moon this could not happen now I am going to show you what they are talking about with the sand here I have a dry sand and I have wet sand, we're going to have Carrie put on a motion boot, not a moonwalk, okay, so the answer is no, she'll step in both and we'll see what kind of impression she leaves behind, are you ready, yeah ?

Okay make it wet, wet sand is definitely cleaner than dry sand, yes you have some very good hard lines in wet sand, yes the wet makes a difference without it, the print is indistinct and nothing like the famous Buzz Aldrin's boot print. What we have to do is go, let's try this for real. I'm just kidding, we don't have the budget to the moon. Tori to the Moon. There are a lot of false theories on the web claiming that NASA faked this footage and a ton of television. covering up the conspiracy claims, but no one has taken the time to prove them until now.

The next task in our destruction of the moon myth is this photo here, but conspiracy theorists say it's too well lit, you can see it clearly, but it's in this black black. The shadow of Lem There is only one source of light on the moon, which is the sun. Conspiracy theorists claim that there must be a second source that makes it visible and we are going to find out and have the boys illuminate a surrogate son. the same model of a modern miniature lander. Oh, I had a surprisingly talkative toy astronaut. This is my sixth scale model of Neil Armstrong.

I can tell it's Neil because he has the

mission

commander's red stripes on his suit. What is this Neil to the Moon? I know, but the thing is, to prove that we have to take some pictures and to take some accurate pictures, I have to make a ship for you, a home for you, okay, so these rolls of paper behind me are actually a lunar landing. potential module I'm about to put together and courtesy of what's known in the editing business as some jump cuts here, conspiracy theorists say the shot had to have been faked, I used fill light personally, I think which is because the moon's surface is reflective and when you think about it, you look at the moon on a clear night, it obviously reflects the light back to you, that's why you see it.

The question here is: is creating this shot enough to prove Jaime's hypothesis of the mythical filler? -in the light is simply sunlight bouncing off the surface of the moon, the boys darken the set. Here's our moon landing set because it's all about reflectivity when you put blacks all over the workshop, you cover the whole set to eliminate any spillage, any reflected light that doesn't reach. straight from our lunar surface, that's the lander astronaut. Neat lights and camera, man, this looks so cool that the only mission component is a lunar dust analog that accurately reflects the reflective quality of the real stuff.

The dust that covers the Moon is called regolith when sunlight shines on the moon the regolith reflects a certain amount of sunlight towards the Earth that reflective quality is called Albedo now the Albedo of lunar dust is between seven and ten percent according to our sources at NASA to make our version of the regolith we use Portland cement and coal dust now to measure the Albedo or the reflected light coming out of it we use a photometer and our fake Sun eight percent friend, that's perfect what we just did demonstrate with this test is that our Regal lift sample has a reflective index of approximately eight percent which makes it ideal for us to test.

The best part about working with Jamie is that he doesn't need a dust mask. The reason he doesn't wear one is because this mustache provides all the particle filtering he needs. The model of the moon is ready. for its close-up, so it's probably synchronized with the signal from Jeopardy, our resonant drama King is the Moment of Truth, we have a lunar lander with precise shape and texture and we have crafted a precise lunar surface that has the same index reflectivity than the real one. Moon, if the myth is to be believed, our astronaut on the dark side in the shadow of the lander will simply fade to total black when we try to take a photo of him, okay, you're ready,I'm ready, here we go. taking the photo, let's see, there it is, oh there you go, it's standing completely in shadow and you'd think you wouldn't be able to see it, it would be dark, but it's not.

It's on Brightest Day, the myth here is. that you wouldn't be able to see this astronaut as clearly unless there was a secondary fill light illuminating him because he's in shadow and there's only one light on the moon, by definition he would be black. Our photo here demonstrates the complete opposite that with a single light source with a surface of the same reflectivity as the moon, our astronaut is clearly visible, it does not reveal anything good. I think we have enough evidence to conclude the photographic part of our proof of the moon myth. I agree, I mean, conspiracy theorists had a lot of interesting things going on. ideas, but when you strip away all the Hocus Pocus, the explanation is really simple, and in our experience, the simplest explanation is usually the right one.

Carrie Grant and Tori are taking on the Tales from Moon hoax. Headquarters conspiracy theorists believe that the vacuum in space means these Footprints are fake and that flag shouldn't be flying. This whole idea that conspiracy theorists have is based on the fact that there is no wind or atmosphere in a vacuum, nothing to make the flag fly and they would be right in that fact, the shaft is a little tight in the hole. I think the astronauts moved the flag while planting it on the surface of the Moon and that momentum is actually what they saw as a breeze, so try this.

I'll build a replica of the lunar flag assembly and then we'll put it in a vacuum and I'll build a mechanism to rotate it the same way. The astronauts did it then, we'll see if we get the same flapping motion with the remote control of the flag waiver and the fingerprint generator. The almost complete transport inspired by images of the Apollo 15 mission adds one more test to the agenda. The really cool thing about a vacuum cleaner is that since there's no air resistance, something as light as a feather will fall at the same rate as something as heavy as a hammer, so you should be able to put them in a vacuum and watch them hit the ground at the same time if so out. is a true vacuum Commander David Scott carried out his famous test to test Galileo's hypothesis that all objects are affected equally by gravity without air resistance, they must fall at the same speed so that as a control visually confirm who are working with a vacuum Carrie places a clamp to release them at the same time and with both remote control devices ready to go, the team heads to the George Marshall Space Center in Alabama, oh my god, these are all bad.

Chambers, how its doors allow us to enter and test this myth. That's how sure they are that this is a myth, okay, close the door, let's see if we can get our feelings out, you know, I've heard plates and Saturn V rockets that they turned into a vacuum chamber, they're like us, they recycle. his old stuff and to show us his recycled stuff is NASA vacuum technician Michael Terry so you know how to use this thing oh yeah and you're actually going to let us use it yeah I think we'll just be careful obviously it never will.

I've seen the show before, oh look, it's like they cut off the arms of a space suit and wait, your head went here? Yes incredible. Yes, sticking your hand inside a vacuum cleaner isn't cheap. These are essentially genuine space suit parts. How much do these gloves cost? they're worth about they're worth almost half a million dollars Michael hasn't really seen the show before, be sure I'll try to do my best to get you guys to check your nails by hand, they need to be shortened a little and the trimmed arms are all I'm hoping for, such They may look like some kind of robotic arms, the only drawback is that I have to cut my nails after the mandatory manual inspection and adjustment, the tests can begin in earnest and the first one carries a hammer and a feather platform, it is good enough , it's not.

Like it's rocket

science

, you can say that around here. I guess you're right, the team sealed the chamber, but for this check they don't create a vacuum, atmospheric pressure in three, two, one, first they cool the hip of the hammer, perfect, so the laws of physics still hold. apply I dropped the hammer on the boom at atmospheric pressure at exactly the same time the hammer hit the first boom it slid down and hit the last one, so after the air is removed from the chamber, Carrie is ready to repeat the drop in three, two, one, that's cool, yeah.

When there is no air resistance or drag, all objects are equally affected by gravity and fall at the same rate, so effectively we have a vacuum, well, let's move on to our first test on the moon. Okay, you have your boot, yes, I have my boot. Know? One of the other ways conspiracy theorists claim NASA made a mistake by faking the moon landing is obvious. They say that in the movie images of the astronauts jumping in the gravitational force of the Moon. They say everything was done with camera tricks, like playing games. I agree, let's do it.

The myth says that this famous footage was faked by slowing it down. The astronauts are just jumping. a movie set in slow motion, so are these iconic images real in full speed or fake in slow motion, specifically foreign, what do the conspiracy guys say? Well, they claim that when you look at the images of the astronauts slowly jumping in the gravitational field of the moon, which is 1 6 that of the Earth that that movement was achieved not by going to the moon but by using a special camera that filmed the astronauts at a higher speed than normal, so when projected backwards at a normal frame rate, the astronauts' movements slowed down. down imitating the way it would look on the moon, well we should do exactly that and see what it looks like, that's exactly what I was thinking, let's do it and to recreate your own moonwalk, they are back at the Alameda naval base and in building 24., you're ready, ready, here they been wet and wild while running in the rain, right now they have risen like a lead balloon, it's time to burn for

science

and they opened a burning trail, but this Maybe they're aiming for the moon, so.

Welcome to Mythic Control here at Command Central, let's take our starting point to test this myth. Real images of the NASA moon landing. We are going to try to replicate several of the gestures that we see the astronauts make in it. moon and the three that we have reduced are jumping up in the air, they come out here jumping, which is a kind of two-legged jump. Notice that he puts both feet on the ground at the same time with each jump and it looks like it's a really efficient way to move, the third one is just a straight running leg over leg, we'll match the camera angle and combine the technique supposedly used to fake it and we'll see what we get with those three actions and camera angles in mind.

We can start phase one of the test as a point of comparison. Adam will just recreate the myth in full costume, run, jump and jump like he's jumping over the moon and then we'll slow down the tape and take a look. It's called a Snoopy cap, it's the

mythbusters

motto, if it's worth doing, it's worth exaggerating, let me take a little tour of what I'm wearing. It's actually a wedding gift my team gave me a few years ago, but when I received it it was lovely. but not precise enough, so I redid the gloves. I added my tag.

I made a doll checklist. I made the right watch. I added all the hardware accessories, all the labels on the front pack and on the backpack. I decided to become the Mission Captain with the red stripes and this is the first time I've used it all at once. I have a lot of tools and devices and things. Adam has spacesuits, by the way. I should point out that this is not a real spacesuit, it's just me wearing a spacesuit in the city, okay, come here, give me a shout out Carrie Grant and Tori are addressing false moon landing theories involving a vacuum some of the first words uttered from the surface of the Moon answered the simple but powerful question, how did it feel?

Footprints of my uh but Buzz Aldrin really made such an impression on the moon to find out if moon boots make boot prints The conservatives borrowed the real deal look what I have a real moon boot wow Isn't that cool it looks like atoms yeah ? this real item, yes, now all we have to do is put it in the moon plug, crush it with a little powder and see if it leaves a print. This conspiracy theory is quite interesting. They say that because there is a vacuum on the moon and there is no water vapor. Looks Good?

You feel your toe there. You can't leave a clear print on your boot like they did in the moon landing photos. I'm not so sure about that with only 840 pounds of lunar material returned to Earth from all of Apollo. There isn't much for everyone on missions, so for this test NASA has given us a lunar regolith simulator. It is a device made to prove that it goes to the Moon. It is very similar to lunar dust and the fact that every particle is very sharp dirt. The Earth has been eroded so it is very soft, so it is as close to lunar dust as we can get.

That's probably the key to this myth. A comparison of the physical properties of sand and lunar regolith below. A footprint in dry sand collapses because the eroded particles can't stick together without water, but on the Moon there are other bonding agents at work, one of which The irregular, jagged shapes of lunar dust could cause them to stick in those famous boot prints in the irregular shape of the lunar regolith. together with the vacuum cleaner results in a clean boot print and breaks the myth, so this is MythBusters' first step on the moon, so it's a giant leap for humanity, oh yeah, I think we just took 20 steps back, try it, okay?

The platform is ready to take its step on one leg and the vacuum chamber has been vacuumed. Start stop. Here we go in three two one. Yes, good conspiracy theories. Yes, it really works. Moon landing. A zero conspiracy theorist. So it looks like you can do a cleanup. stable footprint in a vacuum look we made a footprint inside a vacuum and there was no water vapor, which is what this conspiracy theory is about. Well, gravity is six times stronger on Earth than on the Moon, so we made up a print here we're definitely making one on the moon, so I guess this conspiracy theory is busted, busted, busted.

NASA will let us leave here abroad, not because they are easy but because they are difficult. John F. Kennedy began the race to the moon in a speech he gave in 1961 challenging the best minds in the country to shoot towards another world. Less than a decade later they succeeded and, finally, 12 astronauts left their mark on the surface. of the moon or discovered that Adam and Jamie are testing the myth that Fake the footage that NASA filmed in a studio and then slowed it down. I have seen the movement. I'm going to try to practice the jump here and to prove that claim, Adam and Jamie will do the exact same thing recording at 48 frames per second. and playing the tape at the normal 24 gives wonderfully smooth slow motion.

Do the run with this effect. Adam's movements have a certain weightless quality, but to be sure if it is the technique NASA used, you must simulate 1 6 gravity, repeat all three. actions and then compare the images now it's time to break the gravity crash and this was created for us specifically built by trapeze world with years of experience designing gravity defined circus platforms trapeze world are the perfect guys for this job So Graham, I have the computer set up. How does it work? Well, we'll have Adam in a harness that's connected to a set of bungee cords that then connects to a tracking system that allows us to move them back and forth.

Well, I can see that it works. Let's go to a minute. The gravity ring is designed to give me complete freedom of movement while making me weigh exactly what an astronaut on the Moon would weigh, which is one-sixth of what that fully loaded astronaut would have weighed on Earth. Well, the other thing remains. just put this on too and really try this now. Before I write to complain, I know that this fits a replica that is not pressurized. I'm not doing this in a vacuum or with real moon dust around. I know what we were trying to see.

Here it is only the movement and gesture of the foreign astronauts. Armstrong with all his equipment weighed about 3,360 pounds. I will properly wait until our moon. I'm going to have to wait around 60 pounds ah 62. let's close. That's enough for me, man, let's do it under lunar-like gravitational conditions. Adam can repeat his moonwalk exercises, but the difference between Adam and Armstrong is NASA's rigorous training regimen. It's one thing to use a platform like this. HEIt needs a lot of stamina. It hurts quite a bit in some very private places Adam is finding that being in one-sixth gravity makes it easier to walk on the Moon and much easier on this platform to match the kind of movements we see astronauts doing in Moon images.

POT. to the strange center of gravity that occurs when you weigh less, how many small movements make a big difference in how you go. I feel like this looks a lot like what NASA shows on the moon. Adam's right, at first glance, appears to be a closer match, but myth shouldn't control the evidence is far from clear if you look closely at the jump in slow motion. Adam's efforts to get the height and distance correct mean that his helmet moves in a manner distinctly similar to that of the Earth. fashion is equally clear the gravity pad doesn't quite work either Adam's wake may be technically correct but it's missing that smooth low gravity look check it out oh actually you know what we can review this in a blipper room I have to get out of the spring I'm exhausted, back at HQ, the guy settled in to review the footage in detail, but just like Sir Mick, they still can't get any satisfaction, well the slower frame rate doesn't match the NASA footage, The gravity platform is better, but I still have to say that it is not enough, yes, neither of them are there.

I wish we could somehow get into the gravity environment of a moon, then I would feel comfortable calling this actually fixable, yes, there is a company. called zero gravity, which offers the only FAA approved weightlessness experience and also applies lunar gravity, that's fantastic, let's put on the suit and go out, okay, wow, those are iconic images reproduced countless times around the world. American astronauts planting the stars and stripes in the lands newly conquered by man. neighbor to find out if it really was a PR stunt Carrie Grant and Tori have broken into NASA's Inner Sanctuary now conspiracy theorists think they see some kind of breeze blowing around the flag that you wouldn't get on the moon since you wouldn't there is atmosphere, so I built a replica of the lunar flag set.

We'll put it in a vacuum chamber, pump out all the air, and see if we can move. around like the astronauts would have done by placing it on the moon, see if we see that back and forth motion and to help us get a sense of motion in a vacuum is the oxygen deficiency alarm Donna Severance from NASA, yes, that's it something we should worry about only if it fires, so this is not the usual type of vacuum chamber. This is a clean chamber. We're shower ready, which means no dust or dander. Nothing to contaminate the camera because it is designed to test things. going to space, good time for the flag, the flag assembly is an exact replica of the one used on the Apollo missions, the horizontal rod specifically prevents the flag from collapsing in a windless environment, hey, grant, this one is your first platform in space, I have to go.

The first thing to confirm that the platform in space is working is the most important check, you are ready, yes, okay, this is the check at normal atmospheric pressure and I will simply wave the flag as if I were an astronaut planting it on the surface. of the Moon, okay, ready, astronaut, here we go, three, two, one, okay, it's moving and that's it, as expected, the momentum from the twist and turn quickly dissipates and the flag is stationary soon. Well, I guess we put a vacuum cleaner in it. and let's see what happens, well let's start sucking in the air so the Tech Donna vacuum cleaner will turn on the pumps and with the air removed the guys prepare to plant the stars and stripes, okay here we go, this is a test of waving the flag, go up to the surface of the Moon and stop it very still I'm still moving that's amazing there you go with no drag or air friction the momentum of Grants planting action lasts a surprising amount of time could be mistaken for a breeze, yeah , but comparing it to the control at regular atmospheric pressure illustrates that theory beautifully and, if there was still any doubt, it looks almost identical to the NASA images, so in a vacuum the flag moves, not just a little , it actually moved quite a bit, proving that no wind is needed to move the flag in a vacuum, so unless someone finds a shot of the flag flying without an astronaut manipulating the flagpole, it's a busted myth. .

We've come to Alabama, NASA, to find out once and for all if the flag The conspiracy theorists were right, where are we? We showed that a lunar boot can leave a footprint in lunar dust inside a vacuum, so momentum and momentum alone will keep a flag flying in a vacuum that you don't need anywhere, so NASA 2 Theorists of the zero conspiracy Adam and Jamie have already seen that NASA did not slow down the film to fake the Apollo moonwalks, but to conclusively confirm that the footage was filmed in 1 6 gravity, they decided they had to experience the real thing and here at zero. g in Florida can do just that so we can do this accurately we need to be weighed appropriately as 0g gives us the gravity of the moon 1 6 the gravity of the Earth I need to have the exact amount of weight of the equipment on me that the The original Apollo astronauts had on the moon and that's about 180 pounds of stuff and it's awkward that Adams is struggling with the excess luggage.

This is unpleasant. Jamie, on the other hand, oh yeah, is interested in showing off his alpha male status, a status damaged after being forced to join Adam. playing dress up I never thought I'd see the day this sketchy it's time for the pre-flight briefing with onboard information by Elizabeth Underwood Elizabeth from Zero G now that we're about to continue I want to know what a good zero gravity simulation this is no It is not a simulation at all. It is real. It is exactly the same technique that NASA has been using to train its astronauts for the last 50 years and it works like this.

A series of parabolic arcs will give the passengers the physical sensation of weightlessness and only for us the pilot. will adjust the angle of the parabola by making the microgravity in the cabin exactly match the gravitational pull of the moon, which simply prompts the guys to strap up at takeoff and put on the suit. It looks great so now I am loaded with an extra 180 pounds on my body, in a few minutes we are going to test this in the gravity of the moon and I have to tell you I can't wait, this is heavy. suit Adam doesn't have to wait long because the guides soon have everyone in position for the first pass and as G-Force one gently arches into his dive oh that feels great Adam and Jamie oh here it comes, I know what it feels like to walk on the moon, wow, that's 100 crazy right there, calibrated to match the moon's gravitational pull, the guys just have time to take it all in before the call goes out to hit the deck because when the plane starts to leave the immersion, the g- forces go towards the positive are in weightlessness the roller coaster you have almost double the gravity of the Earth it's a little scary at first isn't it?

I've never experienced anything like this it's really disconcerting that First Way doubles your weight and then I was 160, in fact I was 16. I felt practically weightless. I felt like I could jump 10 feet in the air. This at first is even for me now that the guys have gotten their bearings. Testing can begin. Foreign copies ready, the same race. and Jump as before, this time leaving out the jump due to height restrictions in the capital, the movement felt totally natural as soon as I started doing it and all the national images make sense to me now and they did, it's a way totally efficient to move. that gravitational pull I couldn't think of a better confirmation for the NASA images than to try this myself when Adam was walking or running exactly the same thing Neil Armstrong would have on the moon, it was 1-6 of Earth's gravity Adam made a great work with the bungee cords looked pretty convincing, but being here on this plane in microgravity and seeing it is totally different, nothing really compares to what we saw here on this plane, so as far as I'm concerned, man, that It was amazing, we've been very thorough here, yeah, it doesn't get much neater than that.

I mean, not only do we start by replicating precisely the circumstances that theorists say were used to fake the moon images, but we also put ourselves in a calibrated lunar gravity environment, the theory being that they faked that they were arrested when the team began their puzzle of lunar madness they say deception deception they knew they couldn't cover every conspiracy the cheerleaders claim this is the moment of truth but the few pieces they have placed means it is broken totally broken they tell the same story my face as a theorist of the conspiracy with the fat lady waiting impatiently in the wings there is only time for one final test and not just any old test but the definitive test of man's mission to the moon to really put the final nail in the coffin we must build our own rocket we have done it done before and we go to the Moon, pick up some of the Apollo hardware that was left there and come back and prove that man actually was the thing he most wanted us to be able to do.

However, I have the best option. What is this? In fact, it is called a retroreflector and is made up of many tiny prisms like this one. Did you also know that the Apollo astronauts were nice enough when they visited the moon to leave several of these on the surface so Earth-based scientists could aim lasers? and we collect information about the moon, so what you're saying is we have a really big laser and we point it at the moon's reflector and if we get a signal, that means we were actually there, precisely, well, it breaks down. In this way a retroreflector bounces light off the light source regardless of the angle, this differs from a mirror where the angle of incidence has to be perpendicular, so if there was a retroreflector on the moon and we knew its exact location and If we had a A sufficiently powerful laser detects the reflection and proves that there is man-made equipment on the Moon.

What are we supposed to be doing? Conversation about where we are. Oh, you mean Apache Point Observatory. This thing here is the Apache Point Observatory. these guys have the tools we need to put the final nail in the coffin of the moon landing hoax, yes, here in the mountains of Sacramento, New Mexico, Adam and Jamie meet one of the observatory's top piers, Russet McMillan. How I can? Well, it seems that there are some people who do not believe that man has really been on the Moon. I have met some of them. What do you think? I think they are crazy.

It's a bold claim, but Dr. McMillan has the hardware to back it up. Here's the thing. The little laser pointer weighs about 10 milliwatts, that's cool, but it won't reach the moon and back. However, it maxes out at one gigawatt, which is a hundred billion times more powerful than this. That's what you have to have to get to the moon. and back, so this whole exercise is shining the laser beam towards the Moon, it reflects back if you time it from release to return. So how long is that trip? Approximately 2.5 seconds depending on the Moon's orbit until the midnight window. when the night skies from here to the moon are free of satellites while they wait here's Adam trying unsuccessfully to keep the lid on his inner geek this is actually not a bad imitation of exactly what's on the moon we're focusing on the laser In fact, the Apollo 15 crew left the specific object we're shining on there.

Now we are firing on the order of 200 quadrillion photons per laser pulse at that reflector and we are getting between one and three photons for each pulse we emit. I'm lucky that that's not something you can see with the naked eye; in fact, it's something only the most sensitive collectors can pick up on, and hopefully when we get that photon back we'll see a spike like that on the screen. Slowing the telescope to the lunar highlands test number one. Shine our laser on a part of the Moon's surface devoid of man-made objects, including retroreflectors known to locals as lunar pilots.

There is the Moon, you can see the craters with the laser. points to a random location on the surface of the moon, Dr. McMillan's initiating laser emits 200 quadrillion photons into the night sky, so we're focusing the laser on the lunar highlands now and getting nothing in return except light background, as expected, the lunar regolith with its The reflectivity index or album libido of about eight percent simply disperses the rhythm and then the sensors hereIn the observatory they do not detect reflected light. Now I'm going to move on to Apollo 15. Apollo 15, crewed by Scott Irwin and Wharton, was established at the base of the lunar Apennine Mountains, which is where they placed the retro reflector.

Wow, that's the place where Apollo 15 landed on the moon. It's great to start the laser on the retroreflector of Apollo 15. And there is one peak that starts to stand out, it's the return of Apollo 15. The light returns from the laser retroreflector at exactly the wavelength and distance we expected. It's great. I know you do this about 100 times a year, but it's really exciting to see it happen right in front of us, not alone. An exciting but conclusive look. I would love to go to the Moon, but I can't, at least not right now, so we did the best we could do: aim that laser at the Moon in the second test and we got a clear Spike when the photons arrived.

Back to our receiver now, the only way that could happen is if there was a man-made team on the moon to mirror them, so get over it, there's no conspiracy here, we've been there, we've done that. The team has torn apart everything before them and combined those five results with evidence of man-made equipment bound for the Moon. This mysterious Moon puzzle is completely strange. A lot of people ask us when we're going to run out of myths and the fact is we're not out of them yet and it's thanks to viewers like you who log on to Discovery.com MythBusters and post their ideas so if you have some we could use them, thank you.