TIL most people misread the moon landing footage frame rates

Honestly, I kept seeing people argue that the flag waving in the moon landing footage proves it was faked. But last week I actually dug into the specs and realized almost everyone gets the frame rate wrong. They assume it was shot at 24 frames per second like a movie, but NASA used a modified 16mm camera running at variable speeds. I spent three hours matching timestamps from the Apollo 11 mission logs to the video and the 'waving' lines up perfectly with the astronauts bumping the pole. It's not some smoking gun, it's just people not understanding the equipment. Why does no one ever check the actual camera manuals before making these claims?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wyatt1mo ago

Right? It drives me crazy how many people just parrot that flag waving thing without looking up the actual camera specs. I did the same deep dive a few months back and found the same thing. The 16mm camera they used was running closer to 12 frames a second sometimes, not 24. So when you see the flag moving, it's this weird slow motion effect plus the astronauts bumping it. I spent a whole weekend cross referencing the mission transcripts with the video timestamps. It lines up too perfectly to be anything else. People just need to actually read the Apollo 11 press kit or the camera manual instead of watching YouTube comments. It's not some grand conspiracy, it's basic physics and a weird camera setup.

maxb461mo ago

Respect that you actually took the time to check the mission logs yourself. I did the same thing a few months back and it was a real eye opener. Most people just see that clip on YouTube and take it at face value without ever cracking open the technical manual. It's exhausting how many arguments are built on zero research. The flag pole bumping theory makes perfect sense once you watch the full sequence and not just the 10 second loop everyone shares. Good on you for digging through the data instead of just repeating what everyone else says.