Could NASA Have Faked The Astronaut Footage? | MythBusters

Añadido: 2026-05-12

[00:00:08]So, do you like buy a new costume for every myth we do?

[00:00:12]>> Sometimes, but in this case, I had my own space suit in my personal collection. Just brought it out cuz it was appropriate.

[00:00:19]>> Of course you did. Well, um, let me guess. We're doing what? Moon landing myths.

[00:00:24]>> We are. Perhaps one of the biggest myths of all is that NASA faked the moon landing and perpetrated a hoax on the American people. So pervasive is this myth that 20% of Americans today still believe it and we're taking it on. Well, how are we going to do that? The number of claims are massive. I mean, they range from photographs to heat signatures to footprints.

[00:00:47]>> I know there's a lot of them. I think what we should do is cherrypick the most common ones and piece the truth together as best we can. Like a jigsaw puzzle.

[00:00:56]>> Exactly.

[00:00:59]>> This is launch control. We passed the 6-minute mark in our countdown for Apollo 11, the flight to land at the first men on the moon. Good luck and God speed. 10 9 ignition sequence start.

[00:01:13]>> On July the 16th, 1969.

[00:01:16]>> Liftoff. The world watched, wondered, and worried as three brave astronauts headed for the moon.

[00:01:25]>> Houston thrusters go. All engines, you're looking good.

[00:01:28]>> Then 5 days later came that extraordinary moment in time.

[00:01:33]>> When Neil Armstrong took those first tentative extraterrestrial steps.

[00:01:38]>> That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

[00:01:46]11 men followed in Armstrong's footsteps. Each stride filling the earthbound audience with pride and confidence in scientific endeavor.

[00:01:55]>> What a view, ain't it, John?

[00:01:57]>> It's absolutely unreal.

[00:01:59]>> But did we really leap into the future or were we pushed into believing a giant PR stunt? Did NASA pull off the greatest cover up in human history?

[00:02:14]>> Oh, yeah. Perfect. Growl like a tiger.

[00:02:18]Mu like a kitten.

[00:02:20]Guess what? Our first myth is >> still photography.

[00:02:25]>> Yes. Most of the alleged evidence that NASA faked the moon lending comes from NASA's own photography, which theorists claim shows clear evidence the moon lending was faked in the studio and could not have been filmed on the moon.

[00:02:38]>> Say hoax.

[00:02:39]>> Hoax. So, these are the photos the guys will focus on. According to Apollo hoax advocates, this shot was taken in a studio because the shadows are not parallel. Supposedly, that's something that could only happen with multiple light sources. Then there's this image of an artfully lit astronaut. Conspiracy cheerleaders claim if he really was standing in the shadow of the moon module, you wouldn't be able to see him so clearly.

[00:03:07]>> You know what? Let's do parallel shadows first.

[00:03:10]>> How do you want to test it? Oh, I think we should do a large miniature cuz we can test the placement of all the various elements. It's kind of a complex thing.

[00:03:18]>> Yeah, we need a lot of control over those elements.

[00:03:20]>> Exactly.

[00:03:21]>> All right, let's do it.

[00:03:22]>> So, first up, the guys need a single super sized light source to stand in for the sun.

[00:03:28]>> Amy, I'd like to introduce you to your son.

[00:03:32]>> And Bright Spark Adam has found a monster studio light >> that's pretty bright >> to illuminate the experiment. Here I look like one of the aliens in Close Encounters.

[00:03:45]>> That's the solar. Now for the lunar. Cue the build montage because Jamie's making a moon. I've got a good first start on my lunar set. It's just spandex and um let's see, Portland cement with a little bone black, which is basically black powder. As luck would have it, we just happen to have one of these sitting around the shop and it's perfect for our miniature set. It's 176th scale.

[00:04:10]>> H, that could not be better.

[00:04:12]>> What do you say we turn on the lights and uh see what our shadows look like?

[00:04:15]>> Yeah, let's see the light. Let's turn it around. I'm spinning around. Watch your eyes.

[00:04:22]>> What do you think?

[00:04:24]>> Works for me.

[00:04:24]>> We've had the lights and there's been plenty of action. So, where's the This is the camera that we're going to use.

[00:04:31]It's a Hasselblad that's very similar to the one that was used on the moon, except that we put a digital feed out the back. so that we can look at the images in real time on a monitor and make comparisons to the original shots.

[00:04:43]>> All right, with our sun in place, man, in addition to looking totally freaking awesome, it's pretty clear here with the ship and the rocks both on a flat surface that their shadows are totally parallel.

[00:04:54]>> And that is what the myth proponents say the NASA photo should look like.

[00:04:58]Instead, you can see the rock and landing module shadows are in different planes. Now, we need to figure out what it would take to make them not parallel.

[00:05:07]>> Yeah, let's play with the topography underneath it and see what we can get.

[00:05:09]Conspiracy theorists say there's only one explanation for this. Two light sources. And since there's only one light source on the moon, and that's the sun, >> that's really kicking it forward.

[00:05:19]>> This has to be shot in a studio. We're positing that it's the topography of the moon causing these shadows of the rocks to look like they're not parallel when in fact they are. And that's what we're trying to imitate here. It's all just about adjusting this directly to the light. What Adam and Jamie have done is simply give the miniature lunar landscape some realistic contours and imperfections. That's perfect.

[00:05:41]>> Is it?

[00:05:42]>> Yeah.

[00:05:45]And the shadows appear to move out of their parallel path. And Adam happy.

[00:05:52]Dude, your setup looks perfect. Takes a snap. Taking the shot so I can hear what you're saying. You're saying, "But you guys replicated the moonshot on a set and you're special effects artisans. In fact, you're exactly the guys they would have hired to do this kind of thing in the first place." That's not the point. The point is we're addressing the specific claim by conspiracy theorists that this photo has only one explanation, and that's two light sources. We've demonstrated here two shadows which are parallel from a single light source, which we've made look far off parallel using only the topography that they're sitting on. And I guess that means it's busted.

[00:06:30]>> Totally busted. You can achieve shadows that do not look parallel from a single light source.

[00:06:44]Across the web, there's a host of hoax theories claiming NASA faked this footage.

[00:06:48]>> Look at the size of that rock.

[00:06:50]>> And a ton of TV covering the conspiracy claims, but no one has actually taken the time to test them until now. We'd like to dedicate the first step of Apollo 17 to all those who made it possible.

[00:07:06]>> The next task in our moon mythbusting is this photo here. What conspiracy theorists say is that he's too well lit.

[00:07:13]You can see him clearly, yet he's in this black black shadow of the limb.

[00:07:19]There's only one light source on the moon. That's the sun. Conspiracy theorists claim there must be a second one making him visible. And we're going to find out.

[00:07:27]>> And to do just that, the guys are going to shine a substitute sun on the very model of a modern miniature landing module. Oh, and a surprisingly talkative toy astronaut. This is my 16th scale model of Neil Armstrong. I can tell it's Neil because he's got the red commander of the mission stripes on his suit.

[00:07:45]What's that, Neil? We really went to the moon. I know. But the thing is is that in order to prove that, we got to take some photographs. And to take some accurate photographs, I got to make a ship for you, a home for you. Okay. So, these rolls of paper behind me are actually a lunar landing module in Potentia, which I'm about to slap together. And courtesy of what's known in the editing biz as a few jump cuts.

[00:08:08]Here it is.

[00:08:11]>> Conspiracy theorists are saying that the shot had to have been faked using a field light. Personally, I think it's because the moon's surface is reflective. And when you think about it, you look at the moon on a clear night, it's obviously reflecting light back at you. That's why you see it. The question here is, is it enough to create this shot? To test Jaime's hypothesis that the mythical fill-in light is simply sunlight bouncing back off the moon surface, the guys black out the set.

[00:08:40]Behold our moonlanding set. Because it's all about reflectivity, we put blacks all around the shop, covered the whole set to eliminate any spill, any reflected light that's not coming directly from our moon's surface. That's the landing module, astronaut lights, and camera sorted. Dude, this looks so cool. The only missing component is a moon dust analog that accurately reflects the reflective quality of the real stuff. The dust that covers the moon is called regalith. When the sunlight shines upon the moon, Regalith reflects a certain amount of sunlight back towards Earth, that reflective quality is called its albido. Now, the albido of moon dust is between 7 and 10% according to our sources at NASA.

[00:09:25]>> To make our version of regalith, we use Portland cement and charcoal powder.

[00:09:30]Now, to measure the albido or reflected light coming off of it, we used a light meter and our fake sun.

[00:09:37]>> 8%. Jude, that is perfect.

[00:09:39]>> What we just showed with this test is that our sample regalith has a reflective index of about 8%. Which makes it ideal for us to test with. The best part about working with Jamie is that he doesn't need a dust mask. The reason he's not wearing one is because his mustache provides all the particle filtering he needs. The mockup moon's ready for its closeup, so it's probably time to up the Jeopardy. Cue our resonant drama king.

[00:10:03]>> This is the moment of truth. We've got an accurately shaped and textured moonlander, and we've concocted an accurate moon surface that has the same reflectivity index as the actual moon.

[00:10:15]If the myth is to be believed, our astronaut on the dark side in the shadow of the lander is going to just fade to total black when we try and take a picture of him. All right. You ready?

[00:10:26]>> I'm set.

[00:10:27]>> All right. Here we go. Taking the photo.

[00:10:31]>> Let's see. There it is.

[00:10:33]>> Oh, there you go. He's standing full on in the shadow. And you'd think you wouldn't be able to see him. He'd be dark. But he's not. He's in bright as day.

[00:10:40]>> The myth here is that you would not be able to see this astronaut this clearly unless there was a secondary fill light illuminating him. Because he's in the shadow and there's only one light source on the moon. He would by definition be black. Our photo here proves just the opposite. That with a single light source with the surface of the same reflectivity as the moon, our astronaut is clearly visible. Busting that myth.

[00:11:05]Well, I think we have enough evidence to wrap up the photography portion of our moon myth testing.

[00:11:10]>> I agree. I mean, the conspiracy theorists had a lot of interesting ideas, but by the time you boil away all the hocus pocus, the explanation is really simple. And in our experience, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

[00:11:24]>> Exactly. Busted.

[00:11:26]>> Busted.

[00:11:37]You know, one of the other ways that conspiracy theorists claim NASA botched up their faking of the moon landing is evident, they say, in the movie footage of the astronauts jumping around in the moon's gravitational force. They say it was all done with camera trickery, >> like messing around with the frame rates and stuff.

[00:11:52]>> Yeah. Which falls into the category of special effects, which should be a cinch for us to test.

[00:11:57]>> I agree.

[00:11:58]>> Let's do it.

[00:12:00]>> The myth states that this famous footage was faked by slowing it down. The astronauts are simply skipping around on a film set in slow motion. So, are these iconic images full speed fact or slow motion fake?

[00:12:19]Specifically, what are the conspiracy guys saying?

[00:12:22]>> Well, they're claiming that when you look at the footage of the astronauts hopping around slowly in the moon's gravitational field, which is 16th that of Earth, that that movement was achieved not by going to the moon, but by using a special camera, which filmed the astronauts at a higher speed than normal, so that when it was projected back at a normal frame rate, the astronaut's movements were slowed down, imitating the way it would look on the moon. Well, we should do exactly that and see what it looks like.

[00:12:48]>> That's exactly what I was thinking.

[00:12:50]Let's do it.

[00:12:51]>> And to recreate their very own moonwalk, they're back at the Alamita Naval Base and building 24.

[00:12:58]>> You ready?

[00:12:59]>> Ready as I'm going to be.

[00:13:00]>> Here they've been wet and wild running in the rain.

[00:13:05]>> Well, I got to tell you, I'm pretty happy about this thing right now.

[00:13:07]>> They've gone up like a lead balloon.

[00:13:09]>> It's time to burn for science.

[00:13:12]>> And blazed a burning trail. But this time they're shooting for the moon. So, welcome to Mythion Control.

[00:13:19]>> Here at Command Central, we're going to take as our jumping off point in testing this myth, NASA's actual footage of the moon landing.

[00:13:28]Um, we're going to try and replicate several of the gestures we see the astronauts doing on the moon. And the three we've narrowed it down to are jumping straight up into the air.

[00:13:37]>> Come on out here and give me a salute.

[00:13:40]Big Navy salute.

[00:13:42]off the ground off the floor.

[00:13:44]>> Skipping, which is a kind of a two-legg hop. Notice he puts both feet on the ground at the same time with each jump.

[00:13:50]And it looks like it's a really efficient way to move around. The third is just a straight leg overle run. We're going to match the camera angle and match the technique supposedly used to fake it and see what we get.

[00:14:01]>> With those three actions and camera angles in mind, we can begin phase one of the test. As point of comparison, Adam will simply recreate the myth in full costume. He'll run, jump, and skip as if he's bounding around on the moon.

[00:14:15]And then we'll slow down the tape and take a look.

[00:14:18]>> This is called the Snoopy Cap.

[00:14:20]>> It's the Mythbuster motto. If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.

[00:14:34]Let me take you on a little tour of what I'm wearing. This is, in fact, a wedding present from my crew a few years ago.

[00:14:40]But when I got it, it was lovely, but not quite accurate enough. So, I redid the gloves. I added my label. I did a wrist checklist. I did the correct watch. I added all the hardware attachments, all the labeling on the front pack and the backpack. I decided to make myself the mission captain with the red stripes. And this is the first time I've ever gotten to wear it all at once.

[00:15:00]>> I've got a lot of tools and gadgets and stuff. Adam has spaceuits.

[00:15:05]>> By the way, I should point out this is not a real spacuit. It's just my wear around town space suit.

[00:15:16]>> Come on out here and give me a salute.

[00:15:22]>> We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy but because they are hard.

[00:15:30]>> John F. Kennedy started the race to the moon in a speech he gave in 1961, famously challenging the nation's finest minds to shoot for another world. Less than a decade later, they succeeded. And eventually, 12 astronauts left their mark on the moon's surface.

[00:15:48]Or did they? To find out, Adam and Jamie are testing the myth that to fake the footage, NASA filmed it in a studio and then slowed it down.

[00:15:58]>> Now, I've seen the movement. I'm going to try and practice jump here.

[00:16:01]>> And to test that claim, Adam and Jamie will do exactly the same. By recording at 48 frames per second and playing back the tape at the regular 24, you get beautifully smooth slow motion. All right, do the run. With this effect, Adam's movements do have a certain weightless quality. But to be sure if it's the technique NASA used, we have to simulate one sixth gravity, repeat the three actions, and then compare the footage. Now, it's time to break out the gravity rig. And this was put together for us, purpose-built by Trapeze World.

[00:16:36]>> With years of experience in designing gravitydefying circus rigs, Trapeze World are the perfect guys for this job.

[00:16:42]>> So, Graeme, you got the rig all set up.

[00:16:44]How's it work? Well, we'll have Adam in a harness which is attached to a set of bunggees which is then attached to a tracking system that allows us to move him forward and back.

[00:16:59]>> Okay. Well, I can see it works. Let's get Adam in it.

[00:17:02]>> The gravity rig is designed to give me total freedom of motion while making me weigh exactly what an astronaut on the moon would weigh. That is 16th of what that fully loaded astronaut would have weighed on Earth. Well, the only thing left is to put on the suit and really try this. Now, I know before you write to complain that this suit's a replica, that it's not pressurized, that I'm not doing this in a vacuum or with real moon dust around. I know what we are trying to look at here is purely about the movement and gesture of the astronauts.

[00:17:32]We know that Neil Armstrong in all of his gear weighed about 350 360 lbs.

[00:17:38]Which means if I'm going to be correctly weighted for our moon, I'm going to need to weigh just about 60 lb.

[00:17:47]62. That's close enough for me, man.

[00:17:49]Let's do it.

[00:17:50]>> So, under lunar-like gravitational conditions, Adam gets to repeat his moonwalk exercises. But the difference between Adam and Armstrong is NASA's rigorous training regime.

[00:18:02]>> It's a thing to wear a rig like this. It takes a lot of stamina. It's also making me quite sore in some very private places.

[00:18:09]>> Adam is discovering being in one sixth gravity makes it simpler to moonwalk.

[00:18:16]It's a lot easier in this rig to match what the kind of movements we see the astronauts make in the NASA footage. I mean, it really kind of lends itself to the weird center of gravity that happens when you weigh less. How much little movements make a big difference in how you go. I feel like this is looking really close to what NASA shows on the moon.

[00:18:34]>> Adam's right. On first viewing, it does appear to be a closer match, but at myion control, the evidence is far from clearcut. If you take a close look at the slow motion skip, Adam's efforts to get the correct height and distance means his helmet is jerking around in a distinctly earthlike fashion. But it's equally clear the gravity rig doesn't quite work either. Adam's weight might be technically correct, but he lacks that smooth, lowgravity look.

[00:19:05]>> Check it out.

[00:19:06]>> Oh, actually, you know what? Can we review this in the blooper room? I got to get out of this rig. I'm exhausted.

[00:19:11]>> Okay, big baby.

[00:19:17]>> Back at HQ, the guys settled in to review the footage in detail.

[00:19:22]>> The lower right is much better, but it's not even close. But just like Sir Mick, they still can't get no satisfaction.

[00:19:29]>> Well, the slowed down frame rate doesn't match the NASA footage.

[00:19:33]>> No, >> the gravity rig, it's better, but I'd still have to say it doesn't nail it.

[00:19:40]>> Yeah, neither of them are there. I wish that we could somehow get ourselves into a moon's gravity environment. Then I'd feel comfortable calling this one.

[00:19:48]>> That can be arranged.

[00:19:49]>> Really?

[00:19:50]>> Yeah. There's a company called ZeroG which offers the only FAA approved weightless experience and uh they do moon gravity as well. That is fantastic.

[00:20:00]Let's suit up and get out there.

[00:20:02]>> Okay, >> Adam and Jamie have already seen that NASA didn't slow down the film to fake the Apollo mission moonwalks. But to conclusively confirm that the footage was shot in 16th gravity, they decided they had to experience the real thing.

[00:20:26]And here at Zerog in Florida, they get to do just that. Well, in order for us to do this accurately, we need to be properly weighted. Since Zerog is providing us with the moon's gravity, 16th Earth's gravity, I need to have the exact amount of equipment weight on me that the original Apollo astronauts had on the moon. And that's about 180 pounds of stuff.

[00:20:48]>> And it's uncomfortable.

[00:20:50]>> Adam struggling with the excess baggage.

[00:20:52]This >> This is unpleasant.

[00:20:54]>> Jamie, on the other hand, >> Oh, yeah.

[00:20:57]>> is keen to display his alpha male status.

[00:21:03]>> A status damaged after being forced to join Adam playing dressups.

[00:21:08]>> I never thought I'd see the day. With the weigh-in complete, it's time for the pre-flight briefing with in-flight info from Zerog's Elizabeth Underwood.

[00:21:18]>> Elizabeth, now that we're just about to go on, I want to know how good a simulation of zero gravity is this.

[00:21:22]>> It's not a simulation at all. It is the real deal. It's the exact same technique that NASA's been using to train their astronauts for the last 50 years.

[00:21:30]>> And it works like this. A series of parabolic arcs will give the passengers the physical sensation of weightlessness. And just for us, the pilot will adjust the angle of the parabola, making the microgravity in the cabin an exact match to the moon's gravitational pull, which just leaves the guys to step up, strap in, take off, and suit up.

[00:21:52]>> I look good, right?

[00:21:54]>> Good.

[00:21:54]>> I look damn good. So, right now, I'm loaded up with an extra 180 lbs on my body. In a few minutes, we're going to actually get to try this out in Moon's gravity. And I got to tell you, I can't wait.

[00:22:07]This is a heavy suit.

[00:22:09]>> Adam doesn't have to wait long because the guides soon have everyone into position for the first pass. And as GeForce One gently arcs into its dive, >> a feels cool, >> Adam and Jamie.

[00:22:22]>> Oh, here it comes.

[00:22:25]>> Know what it feels like to walk on the moon.

[00:22:28]>> Wa!

[00:22:29]>> Wow!

[00:22:34]That That's 100% wacky right there.

[00:22:37]>> Calibrated to match the moon's gravitational pull, the guys just get time to take it all in before >> the call goes out to hit the deck.

[00:22:47]Because as the plane begins to pull out of the dive, the G-forces go into the positive. There is a cost to being weightless. The other end of the roller coaster, you've got almost twice Earth's gravity. That's kind of terrifying at first, isn't it?

[00:23:03]>> Yeah, it is.

[00:23:04]>> I've never experienced anything like that. It is really disconcerting to first weigh double your weight and then sixth your weight. In fact, at 16th my weight, I felt pretty much weightless. I felt like I could jump 10 ft in the air.

[00:23:17]>> This is at first even for me.

[00:23:19]>> Now that the guys have their bearings, the testing can begin.

[00:23:23]>> Ready?

[00:23:26]>> Adam copies the same run and skip as before.

[00:23:34]Good job.

[00:23:35]>> This time leaving out the jump because of height restrictions in the cabin.

[00:23:42]The movement felt totally natural as soon as I started doing it. And all the NASA footage makes sense to me now. The skipping they did is a totally efficient way to move in that gravitational pole.

[00:23:53]I couldn't think of a better confirmation for the NASA footage than trying this myself. When Adam was walking or running, he was experiencing the exact same thing that Neil Armstrong would have on the moon. It was6 Earth's gravity. Adam did a great job with the bungee cords. It looked pretty convincing, but being here on this plane in microgravity and watching him, it's totally different.

[00:24:22]Nothing really compares to what we saw here on this plane. So, as far as I'm concerned, they went to the moon.

[00:24:30]>> Dude, that was awesome. We have been very thorough here.

[00:24:35]>> Yeah, you can't get much tidier than that.

[00:24:37]>> I mean, not only did we start out by replicating precisely the circumstances that theorists say were used to fake the moon footage, >> but we also put ourselves in a calibrated moon gravity environment.

[00:24:48]>> The theory that it's faked, busted.

[00:24:51]>> Busted.

[00:25:01]When the team began their lunar lunacy jigsaw puzzle, >> say hoax.

[00:25:06]>> Hoax.

[00:25:07]>> They knew they couldn't cover every conspiracy cheerleaders claim.

[00:25:11]>> This is the moment of truth.

[00:25:13]>> But the few pieces they have put in place, >> that means it's busted.

[00:25:16]>> Totally busted. Tell the same story.

[00:25:18]>> In your face, conspiracy theorist. With the fat lady waiting impatiently in the wings, there's time for just one final test. And not just any old test, but the ultimate proof of man's moon mission. To really put the final nail in the coffin, we should build our own rocket, which we've done before, and go to the moon, collect some of the Apollo hardware that was left there, and come back, and we'll prove that man actually was on the moon.

[00:25:46]>> I wish we could do that. I have, however, the next best thing. What's this?

[00:25:51]>> A reflector.

[00:25:52]>> In fact, it's called a retroreflector.

[00:25:54]Made up of many tiny prisms just like this. And did you further know that the Apollo astronauts were nice enough when they visited the moon to leave several of these on the surface so that Earthbound scientists could point lasers at it and gather information about the moon? So what you're saying is that uh we get a really big laser and point it at the reflector on the moon and if we get a signal back that means that we were in fact there precisely. Okay. It breaks down like this. A retroreflector bounces light back at the light source regardless of the angle. This differs from a mirror where the angle of incidence has to be perpendicular. So, if there was a retroreflector on the moon and we knew its exact location and we had a powerful enough laser, >> we could detect the reflection and prove there is man-made equipment on the moon.

[00:26:46]>> What are we supposed to be doing?

[00:26:47]>> Uh, technically we're supposed to have a conversation about where we are.

[00:26:51]>> Oh, you mean like the Apache Point Observatory? This thing right here is the Apache Point Observatory.

[00:27:00]What a view. And these guys have the tools that we need to put the final nail in the coffin on the moon landing hoax.

[00:27:07]>> Yep. Up here in the Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico, Adam and Jamie meet one of the observatories top docks, Russet McMillan.

[00:27:16]>> How can I help you today?

[00:27:17]>> Well, it seems that there are some people that do not believe that man has actually been to the moon.

[00:27:24]>> I've met some of them.

[00:27:26]>> What do you think?

[00:27:27]>> I think they're crazy.

[00:27:28]>> A bold statement, but Dr. McMillan has the hardware to back it up.

[00:27:32]>> Here's the thing. This little laser pointer is about 10 mill. That's great, but it's not going to make it to the moon and back. That thing, however, peaks at 1 gawatt. That's 100 billion times more powerful than this is. That's what you got to have to make it to the moon and back.

[00:27:49]>> So, this whole exercise is you shine the laser beam at the moon. It gets reflected back and you measure the timing of the release to the return. So, how long does that journey take? about 2.5 seconds depending on the orbit of the moon.

[00:28:02]>> Cool.

[00:28:03]>> The meet and greet complete. All that's left to do is wait until midnight. Space command has given us a 1-hour window when the night skies from here to the moon are clear of satellites. While they wait, here's Adam trying unsuccessfully to keep the lid on his inner geek. This is actually not a bad imitation of exactly what's on the moon that we're shining the laser into. In fact, the specific one we're shining into was left there by the Apollo 15 crew. Now, we're firing on the order of 200 quadrillion photons per laser pulse at that reflector, and we're getting between one and three photons back per pulse if we're lucky. That's not something that you can see with a naked eye. In fact, it's something that can only be picked up by the most sensitive of collectors.

[00:28:50]And hopefully, when we get that photon back, we'll see a spike like that on the screen.

[00:28:56]I am sloowing the telescope to the lunar highlands.

[00:28:58]>> Slooh away.

[00:29:00]>> Test number one, shining our laser at a portion of the moon surface devoid of all man-made objects, including retroreflectors, known to locals as the lunar highlights.

[00:29:11]>> There's the moon. You can see the craters.

[00:29:14]>> Wow. With the laser pointed at a random location on the moon surface, >> initiating laser, >> Dr. McMillan pulses 200 quadrillion photons into the night sky.

[00:29:26]>> So, we're shining the laser on the lunar highlands now and we're getting nothing back except background light.

[00:29:32]>> As expected, the lunar regulith with its reflectivity index or albido of approximately 8% simply scatters the beam and the sensors back here at the observatory detect no reflected light.

[00:29:44]>> Now, I'm going to move to Apollo 15.

[00:29:48]Apollo 15 crewed by Scott Irwin and Warden sat down at the base of the lunar aenine mountains which is where they placed the retro reflector.

[00:29:58]>> Wow.

[00:29:59]>> That's the location where Apollo 15 landed on the moon.

[00:30:02]>> That is so cool.

[00:30:04]>> Initiating laser on retroreflector from Apollo 15.

[00:30:10]And there's a spike beginning to stand out.

[00:30:14]>> Is that it? That's the return from Apollo 15. Light returning from the laser retroreflector at exactly the wavelength and distance that we were expecting.

[00:30:24]>> That is so cool. I know you do this like 100 times a year, but it's really thrilling to watch it happen in in right in front of us.

[00:30:33]>> Not just thrilling, but conclusive.

[00:30:35]Look, I'd love to go to the moon, but I can't. At least not right now. So, we did the next best thing. We shined that laser at the moon on the second test and we got a clear spike back. Photons came back to our receptor. Now, the only way that that could happen is if there was a piece of man-made equipment up on the moon to reflect them back. So, get over it. There's no conspiracy here. We've been there. We've done that. So, the team have busted everything before them.

[00:31:05]What's up, Neil? We really went to the moon and compounded those five results with evidence of lunarbound man-made equipment. This moon mystery jigsaw puzzle is complete.

[00:31:23]>> A lot of people ask us when we're going to run out of myths, and the fact is we haven't run out yet. And it's thanks to viewers like you that are logging on to discovery.com/mythbusters and posting your ideas. So if you've got some, post them. We might just use them.