Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph beside the deployed United States flag during an Apollo 11 Extravehicular Activity (EVA) on the lunar surface. The Lunar Module (LM) is on the left, and the footprints of the astronauts are clearly visible in the soil of the Moon. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, took this picture with a 70mm Hasselblad lunar surface camera.

Almost from the point of the first Apollo missions, a small group of Americans denied that they had taken place at all. They argued that the missions had been faked in Hollywood by the federal government for purposes ranging from embezzlement of the public treasury to complex conspiracy theories involving international intrigue and murderous criminality. Why, they wondered, was the flag flying in the photos from the Moon when there is no wind? They tapped into a rich vein of distrust of government. At the time of the first landings, opinion polls showed that overall less than five percent, among some communities larger percentages, “doubted the Moon voyage had taken place.” Fueled by conspiracy theorists of all stripes, this number has grown over time. In a 2004 poll, while overall numbers remained about the same, among Americans between 18 and 24 years old “27 percent expressed doubts that NASA went to the Moon,” according to pollster Mary Lynne Dittmar. Doubt is different from denial, but it was a trend that seemed to be growing over time among those who did not witness the events.

How, and most importantly, why has this questioning of the Moon landings taken place? What does it say about our culture? How might we discern the truth; what critical thinking skills help to understand and assess evidence concerning the Moon landings?  Curator Roger Launius discusses the rise of this phenomenon in modern America.  Find out why it looks like the flag is blowing in the wind.

The mother ship model used for the 1977 film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.

Even before the much-debated incident at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, in which a supposed alien craft was allegedly recovered by the military, people have wondered and speculated about aliens and UFOs (unidentified flying objects).  In recent years, debate about UFOs has flourished online and been reflected in American popular culture.  Why have these stories of aliens landing in foreign craft on Earth taken hold so strongly?  What do these conspiracies reveal about our collective fears, rooted in a particular historical time and place?

Curators Roger Launius and Margaret Weitekamp discuss UFOs in “fact” and fiction.  How has the debate about UFOs flourished in American culture, on television, in films, and online?  In a wide-ranging discussion, the curators will address topics including everything from “the Roswell incident” to the “X-Files” and a host of alien/UFO movies.  Most important, the curators examine the social, cultural, political, and technological contexts that have fostered interest in UFOs and aliens.

Are there little green men coming to Earth in flying saucers?  Probably not, but the fact that this question has been asked repeatedly and persistently offers us a rich topic for discussing critical thinking skills and historical context.

USS Maryland (BB-46) alongside the capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37). USS West Virginia (BB-48) is burning in the background.

December 7, 1941, a date which [h1] will live in infamy.  On this quiet Sunday morning almost 70 years ago, six carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy launched 353 dive bombers, torpedoes, and fighter aircraft against the American naval and military bases in Hawaii, destroying elements of the U.S. Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor.  Before the day was over, four battleships were sunk, three crippled, and one was run aground.  Over 300 aircraft were damaged or destroyed.  A total of 2,402 naval and military personnel and civilians were killed.  America was stunned and immediately declared war against Japan.  Despite months of warnings and increased hostilities between the two countries, the American forces were caught completely by surprise.  How could this have happened?  Was it bad luck, incompetence, or a well-executed plan of attack as most historians have agreed, or was it more?  Some believe that President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew of the impending attack and did nothing to stop it in order to force America into war. 

Curator Robert van der Linden from the National Air and Space Museum and Sarandis (“Randy”) Papadopoulos, Secretariat Historian at the Department of the Navy, discuss the events of Pearl Harbor and the role of conspiracies in the heart of American culture through the use of objective analysis of primary sources and critical thinking.

Amelia Earhart posing on the fuselage of her Lockheed 5B Vega amidst a crowd of people at Culmore, North Ireland after her historic solo flight across the Atlantic from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, c. May 21, 1932.

The disappearance of Amelia Earhart during her around-the-world flight attempt in July 1937 provides a “teachable moment” about critical thinking and the historical method. Despite an exhaustive search, no signs of Earhart were found. The comprehensiveness of the search should have put the matter to rest. Instead, its inconclusiveness created a longstanding mystery accompanied by outlandish speculation.

Mythologizing about Earhart’s disappearance began in earnest with the appearance of Flight for Freedom (1943) a popular film that starred Rosalind Russell. Its heroine, a famous woman pilot, sacrifices herself on a trans-Pacific spying mission for the U.S. government. Later, books like Paul Briand’s Daughter of the Sky (1960) and Fred Goerner’s, The Search for Amelia Earhart  (1966) contributed to the idea that the government had conspired to deceive the public about Earhart’s disappearance. Since then suggestions of a conspiracy have spread to the Internet.

Curators Tom Crouch and Dorothy Cochrane discuss the circumstances of Earhart’s disappearance and the use of critical thinking and the historical method. Students learn how historians work and learn to distinguish between historical fact and historical fancy.