On July 20, 1969, Commander Armstrong was the first to leave the Apollo 11 lunar module and set foot on the moon with the help of the stairs outside the lunar module. A total of 600 million viewers around the world witnessed Armstrong's landing on the moon and famously uttered the famous phrase: This is a small step for me personally, but a giant leap for all mankind. The Apollo program was once considered the beginning of human landings on extraterrestrial planetsBut after the end of the Apollo program, humans have never set foot on the moon again, why is that?
Armstrong's Footprints].
The Apollo program, one of the most exciting interstellar exploration programs of the last century, is still controversial to this day, and has given rise to a number of popular conspiracy theories that explain why humans have not landed on the moon in the decades since. The first point is that the authenticity of the Apollo program is in doubtSome believe that the entire lunar program was a shrewd** concocted by the United States to induce the Soviet Union to devote resources to its space program, all the images of the moon landing are inThe central desert of the United StatesBuilt in a studio to shoot.
This view later became a well-known case of anti-Americans' criticism of American scientific research fraud, and there are quite a few citizens in the United States who hold this view and criticize the federal government. Of course, objectively speaking, it is untenable to say that the US moon landing was a fraud, because it was during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet UnionIf the Soviet Union can prove that the United States did not go to the moon, it will be of great benefitBut the fact that the United States landed on the moon has never been questioned by Soviet officials, can some conspiracy theorists be more capable of intelligence gathering than the pervasive KGB?
The last step before setting foot on the moon].
Some people may think that mankind could not have the relevant technology to land on the moon at the end of the 60s of the last century, which is actually a lack of understanding of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The all-round confrontation between the two superpowers has a huge benefit, that is, it has promoted the development of science and technologyIn order to land on the moon before the Soviet Union, the United States almost mobilized the whole country to support the Apollo program, and the budget for the entire project accounted for 20% of the country's total scientific research funds. More than 20,000 companies, more than 200 universities and more than 80 research institutions in the United States participated.
NASA member of the Apollo program].
In other words, the United States has put its entire country's top scientific research talents and all its R&D strength into the Apollo program, a project in which so many people participateBut none of the participants in the Apollo program was fake, on the contrary, some unrelated people jumped out to announce the so-called truth. Many people see the Apollo program as impossibleAn industrial miracle, but in fact similar industrial miracles were not uncommon during the Cold War, and Apollo can only be said to be the most dazzling of them.
Another conspiracy theory about the Apollo program is even more famous, after the Apollo 11 moon landingThere was a 4 minute and 30 second interruption in the live TV signal。While the official response was that the Earth-Moon signal was interrupted and later returned to normal after the overhaul, some conspiracy theorists believe that the 4 minutes and 30 seconds were an unusual occurrence, and one of the pieces of evidence they give is that Armstrong was giving a speech to the moon before the broadcast was interrupted, and his speech was steady and apparently pre-prepared.
But just before the signal was interrupted, Armstrong suddenly pausedThen he added: We are here for peace, and then the live signal is interrupted. This addition is obviously not in the speech, but more like an explanation, some people speculate that there may be more than humans on the moon, Armstrong is showing that he has no ill will to avoid conflict, and the subsequent signal interruption is handled by NASAType 3 contactemergency measures.
What's even more mysterious is that after the end of the Apollo program, some American radio enthusiasts said that they had intercepted the radio conversation between NASA and Armstrong during the interrupted 4 minutes and 30 seconds, and Armstrong reported to the NASA Ground Finger Center in surprise: This guy is right in front of usIt's just too big。Therefore, some people believe that the United States did not have a moon landing program after the Apollo program, and that it reached an agreement with some kind of existence on the moon.
Apollo 11 live footage].
In the past, conspiracy theories about the Apollo program were rampant, mainly because other countries other than the United States did not have the ability to land on the moon, so naturally they could not confirm everything that happened on the moon. But with the rise of a space power like China,The moon is no longer a mystery to other countriesChina's Chang'e-2 has confirmed that there is no extraterrestrial life on the moon, and the Jinghai base where Apollo 11 landed that year is still the same.
Chang'e-2] Since the conspiracy theory is not valid, why did humans not land on the moon after the end of the Apollo program?The first reason is that the cost of the moon landing program is so staggeringAt that time, the United States promoted the Apollo program with the strength of the whole country, and the cost reached an astonishing amountMore than $200 billionBut at that time, after all, it was in the special context of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the Americans spent money just to fight for a breath. If it were placed today, no United States would dare to invest more than $200 billion in space programs.
Saturn 5 launch vehicle].
The United States, as the richest country in the world at that time, could not support the cost of the moon landing program, let alone other countries, and no other space power except the United States at that time did not have such economic strength. What's more, the results brought back by Operation Apollo proved that the Moon was a rocky planetIt is of no use to human beings, since the Americans have eaten crabs for everyone, naturally no country will do this anymoreBuying and selling at a loss
Apollo lunar module blueprint].
The second reason is that the direction of development of aerospace science and technology in various countries has changedFrom exploring deep space to exploring near-Earth spaceInstead of being obsessed with landing on other planets in the solar system, countries are developing more advanced artificial satellites to occupy low-earth orbit and space. Such a change soon gave the countries of the world a taste of sweetness, and the first batch of spy satellites launched by the United States and the Soviet Union directly announced the end of the era of strategic reconnaissance aircraft.
U.S. fifth-generation spy satellite].
However, with the development of the times, countries have rekindled their interest in exploring deep spaceThe Mars landing race has already attracted the participation of several major spacefaring nations in the worldIn recent years, China has accelerated the exploration of the moon, in fact, it is also to prepare for the landing on Mars. In the coming decades, it is very certain that humans will land on Mars, andThe first man on MarsWhether the honor can fall on the Chinese astronauts requires the efforts of China's aerospace efforts.
Source**:1] Charles Murray, Catherine BCox Apollo Journey to the Moon, Shanghai Science and Technology Press, 1992
2] "American Space Pioneer Neil Armstrong" CCTV 2022-12-21
3】neil a. armstrong | nasa．nasa.gov cited 2023-02-09