Help! Friend is an idiot!

[sentinel00]

I work with a guy who believes the moon landings were a hoax. I've been trying to put together a little argument/presentation to convince him otherwise.

Any advice on what to present? His main point of contention seems to be with the photography of the Apollo Astronauts on the moon. On other points, he seems to have a stupid answer for all of them, except for the mirrors deposited on the moon by the Apollo missions that can clearly be demonstrated to be there from earth. I've even shown him video (Thanks, Sagan) of researches bouncing a laser beam off of the mirrors. For some strange reason, and without explanation of how they got there, he still doesn't believe we landed on the moon.

I need help. I, for some strange reason (that probably coincides with me having ever posted here at all), I can't let this one go. I don't know why... I have to prove it to him.

[Wounded King]

There are a number of websites which have rebuttals of the common arguments about the Apollo photos being faked, one good one is here (http://iangoddard.net/moon01.htm).

[markfiend]

One argument (from a completely different perspective) I've seen is this:

The USSR was in a very good position to tell whether the moon landings were genuine or not, with their own space program.
The USSR would have a great deal to gain in terms of the USA losing face, had they been able to show (or even suggest) that the moon landings were faked.
The USSR never claimed the moon landings were faked.
Ergo, the moon landings were not faked.

[Jillian]

Phil Plaitt's got a good debunking section over at http://www.badastronomy.com , as well.

[pariah]

Carl Sagan mentions it sometimes, you could look that up too. I don't remember the specifics of his argument, but one key factor was that a coverup would have been extremely difficult.

[sakrilege]

Then there's always Apollo Laser Ranging (http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEhelp/ApolloLaser.html), corner reflectors placed on the moon by the astronauts. The first laser ranging retroreflector was positioned on the Moon in 1969 by the Apollo 11 astronauts. By beaming laser pulses at the reflector from Earth, scientists have been able to determine the round-trip travel time that gives the distance between the two bodies at any time to an accuracy of about 3 centimeters. The laser reflector consists of 100 fused silica half-cubes, called corner cubes, mounted in a 46-centimeter square aluminum panel. Each corner cube is 3.8 centimeters in diameter. Corner cubes reflect a beam of light directly back toward the point of origin.

[Deacon Doubtmonger]

Here's what came up under "moon landing" at James Randi's site:

http://www.google.com/u/JREF?q=%22moon+landing%22

[Wyz_sub10]

Originally posted by Jillian
Phil Plaitt's got a good debunking section over at http://www.badastronomy.com , as well.

I'd recommend this one as well. The topic is a favourite of Plaitt's and he does a great job addressing it.

[Doctor X]

Indeed, another vote for Phil Plait--his book is great also!

--J.D.

[EGGO]

Originally posted by Jillian
Phil Plaitt's got a good debunking section over at http://www.badastronomy.com , as well.

I must say, I have to remember this site. :notworthy