Man on the Moon

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the incredible feat that rocked the world. Above is a photo of Buzz Aldrin as taken by Neil Armstrong, both standing on the moon! This event marked a culmination of a fierce space race between the Russians and the Americans. Russia sent the first man into space, Yuri Gargarin, but the USA could redeem themselves by getting to the moon first. Every Gemini space flight had been a near disaster, and it was quite miraculous how the technology and good fortune came together to pull off this amazing feat.
I remember the day well. There had been mounting excitement over the possibility that this just might happen, but so many factors had to come together. As today, weather was key to when the rockets could lift off. At last the flight was under way, and then the tension mounted as first the space craft had to get out of the earth's gravitaional pull. Then it had to orbit the moon, while the lunar lander had to swoop down to the moon's surface and actually pull off a landing. The 'Eagle' was manually flown when the landing sight looked too rugged and with only 16 seconds of fuel left, a suitable bench of land was selected. Touchdown, and then the first step of a man on the moon was incredible history in the making.
I remember being with a friend that night as we pulled off the road and turned off the headlights. We were out in the country and there was no light pollution as we gazed at the moon, visible above the horizon, and marvelled that we were looking at men on the moon, but could not see them. If man could acheive this astounding feat, what was next?
And yet today, there are many who believe the whole thing was shot in a NASA movie studio. A recent poll in both Russia and Great Britain shows that fully 25% of people do not think the moon mission was real. There have been people dedicating their lives to debunk the feat. The astronauts themselves have been stalked and hassled many times. In the near future, NASA is sending a lunar orbiter that will take very high resolution photos and hope to capture the lunar lander 'on film'. But this will not satisfy the detractors, as they will say that the photos will have been manipulated, and of course this is very possible.
So you be the judge. Personally, I believe it, not because I can prove it, but because I want to.