Our nation yesterday rightly treated itself to a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. Vice President Pence summed it up this way: "This may be the only event of the 20th century that will be remembered in the 30th. But it wasn’t celebrated by everybody. Even for an event like this, there are conspiracy theorists. They claim that the Apollo program never happened, that it was all faked by the United States government, as in the movie Capricorn-1. Examples: Some conspiracy theorists talk about the fluttering in the flag planted by Buzz Aldrin. (Explanation: it was vibrations in the wires holding it, after Aldrin pounded it into the regolith.) Others object to the lack of stars in the photos taken from the Moon’s surface (Explanation: the Moon’s surface was so bright, a quick f-stop exposure time on the camera was needed.) Footprints on the moon would require moisture, right? (No, they wouldn’t.)...(Read Full Post)