Editor, Times-Union: I had to write a response to Luis Duenas regarding his disbelieve that the United States sent men to the moon. It is sad that some conspiracy theorists still don’t believe that we were able to send a man to the moon and back, not once, but six different times, with one failed attempt during Apollo 13.
It is important for the youth in our society to understand and appreciate that this was one of the greatest accomplishments of our generation. It is as historically significant as Christopher Columbus discovering American, or Ferdinand Magellan navigating the globe. It will be one of the events that our grandchildren’s grandchildren will be learning about long after we are all gone.
Conspiracy theorists like to talk about the way the photos look, and Mr. Duenas points to several “supposed” fakes that prove we did not land on the moon. Almost everyone of his arguments can be busted by reading the report from National Geographic, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/photogalleries/apollo-moon-landing-hoax-pictures/
If that is not good enough why not look at science? “Buzz” Aldrin and several other astronauts placed seismographs on the moon that allows any country in the world to point their antennas at the moon and receive signals back.
Need more proof? Recently, NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to map the surface of the moon, and it also captured images of the landing sites for Apollo 12, 14 and 17, where you can actually see some of the equipment left behind as well as the tracks left by the lunar rover. You can view this report at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/apollo-sites.html
I personally met three of the moonwalkers, Alan Bean (Apollo 12), Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14) and Charlie Duke (Apollo 16), and I listened to them tell stories of their time on the moon. These men are heroes and should be remembered as such.
