Do Non-Parallel Shadows in Moon Landing Photos Prove a NASA Hoax?

On 16 July 1969, the Apollo 11 mission launched from Florida bound for the moon. Five days later, Neil Armstrong was the first of 12 NASA astronauts to step on the moon. At least that is the commonly held belief. According to some recent polls, 20% of people believe that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax staged by NASA. In the episode entitled "NASA Moon Landing", the MythBusters team took a look at some of the evidence that the conspiracy theorists put forward as proof that NASA astronauts never made it to the moon.

One piece of evidence that moon landing conspiracy theorist cite is the shadows in some of the NASA photographs. On the moon, the sun is the only source of light. With the one light source, the conspiracy theorists state that all shadows in the moon photos should run parallel to each other. In some of the NASA photos, the shadows clearly are not parallel to each other. This, according to the conspiracy theorists, is proof that the photos were shot on a stage with multiple light sources and not on the moon.

Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage take a look at this conspiracy theory. NASA photo A514-68-9487 is one of the photos that shows shadows that are not parallel. In this photo, the shadow from the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) goes off in a different direction than the shadows of some rocks in the foreground. Jamie and Adam are going to try to recreate the photo using a single light source and a scale model of the LEM on a simulated moonscape.

Jamie and Adam recreate the scene from the NASA photo. They use a spotlight as the single light source in place of the sun. To recreate the lunar surface, Jamie uses a spandex surface that he sprinkles with a mixture of Portland cement and bone black powder. They place a model of the LEM with a couple of rocks in the foreground just like in the picture. In order to see how this will photograph, they use a camera that is very similar to the type used by the astronauts and add a digital adapter in order to get a live feed.

On the first test with a flat surface and the single light source, they get a picture showing parallel shadows. Adam believes that the non-parallel lines in the NASA picture are probably caused by the uneven topography of the moon. To test this theory, they build up contours and imperfections similar to the landscape shown in the picture. With these features the single light source picture comes out with non-parallel shadows just like the NASA photo. The uneven topography does cause the shadows to shift out of line.

While this experiment was done on a stage just like the conspiracy theorists claim, their hoax claim is still busted. As Adam explained, the conspiracy theorists are saying that the non-parallel shadows prove that these photos were taken on a stage. MythBusters showed that the NASA photos are consistent with being taken on the moon.

Myth: Non-parallel shadows in NASA moon landing photographs show that these photographs were a hoax.

Status: Busted

Episode: MythBusters' NASA Moon Landing

Air Date: 27 August, 2008