While claims that the Apollo moon landing was faked are nothing new, a photo is going viral that shows a reflection of an odd figure in an astronaut’s visor many say is a stagehand. This has led to the question: “Where’s the camera?”
Strange figure spotted in Apollo 17 astronaut’s visor
Conspiracy theorists have long claimed that the Apollo 11 moon landing and other subsequent lunar missions were all faked, something was alluded to in the 1978 film Capricorn One.
Now a number of people online are questioning an odd reflection that has been spotted in the visor of an Apollo 17 astronaut.
The photo, which is studied in great detail in this YouTube video, shows the astronaut holding a camera. In the astronaut’s visor, another figure can be seen. Many believe that figure is a stagehand and not an astronaut, the New York Post reported.
Image doesn’t quite add up
There are a number of problems with the reflection that can be seen in the astronaut’s visor.
First is the obvious absence of a core piece of equipment astronauts wear – a backpack. The figure doesn’t appear to be wearing one. The Apollo 15-17 flights used a revised EMU spacesuit design that was modified to carry more oxygen. Thus, wearing a backpack is a must to survive. The person is standing slightly turned, which means at least part of a backpack would be visible if worn. It’s not.
Second, many are asking: “Where’s the camera?” The figure reflected in the astronaut’s visor is not holding anything and has both hands lowered at the sides. How is the astronaut being filmed? The figure doesn’t have a camera.
Apollo 17 facts
For the record, the Apollo 17 mission occurred between December 7-19, 1972, and was the final mission of NASA’s Apollo program and America’s last manned mission to the moon. The crew included Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, who both walked on the Moon. Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above.
It was the longest crewed lunar mission (12 days, 14 hours); the astronauts traveled the greatest distance yet from the spacecraft (4.7 miles) and spent the longest extravehicular activities on the lunar surface (22 hours, 4 minutes). Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon. Astronauts also brought back the largest amount of samples at 254 pounds.
Moon conspiracies
There have been many explanations as to why the world would have been deceived, ranging from the need to guarantee NASA funding to space-based superiority over the then-Soviet Union.
There are equally numerous conspiracies as to why moon missions were “suddenly,” abandoned, such as secret alien bases on the dark side of the moon, but that’s the topic for another article.
