	Sign In Sign-Up

Radiation

Space is full of nasty radiation. Most of this radiation never reaches us on the Earth's surface because of its magnetic field that creates the 'Van Allen Belt' around the planet and diverts the radiation. Anyone going to the moon must go beyond this belt. There's no way the thin shell of the Apollo crafts could shield the astronauts from this and and they would be irradiated by the cosmic rays out there. This proves astronauts never went to the moon.

Just when you thought there was no hope from them, our hoax geek actually come up with something! Well, let's be up front with this one.

Yes, space is full of nasty radiation that we fortunately don't get down on earth. Actually, if we weren't shielded from this radiation, which mostly comes from the sun, we wouldn't be here at all to even consider it fortunate. But that's beside the point.
Yes, if you go beyond the Van Allen Belt you are going to get zapped.
Yes, there is no way that the Apollo crafts could shield their occupants from this.

So, you're wondering, how did NASA protect their astronauts? There's a very easy answer: they didn't.

What you have to realize that the radiation involved isn't the same kind or intensity as you might get from a nuclear bomb. You don't fall sick and your hair doesn't all fall out. It's been calculated that travelling at speed through the Van Allen belt would result in exposure of 1 rem. Radiation sickness symptoms don't start to show until you get around 25. Once you reach 100 you're going to be ill. 500 and you're probably dead. So the exposure the astronauts received is pretty mild. But that isn't to say either that it can't do you any harm. Had there been a solar flare at the time it could have been lethal. Frankly, at the time no-one knew for sure until the astronauts actually went out there.

Alpha Radiation

Once they returned they reported seeing occasional mysterious flashes in their eyes. Analysis of the astronauts' helmets also revealed that they were full of holes at an atomic level, probably caused by high speed helium nuclei (otherwise known as alpha radiation). These high energy particles are much more penetrative than alpha radiation from radioactive material as found on Earth. All the time they had been out there the astronauts had had these particles punching tiny bore holes through them. But this was entirely painless and the only symptom they experienced was when the protons caused reactions within their eye retinas, hence the flashes.

But isn't all this still kind of dangerous? You bet it is. You don't have to be a medical expert to imagine the damage this could do to living cell structure and, yes, cause cancer. No-one was sure about this at the time, but the astronauts risked it, and indeed are still living with the possible consequences.

Makes you think they're even more worthy of your admiration.