Did astronauts leave footprints on the moon?

Question

Our Young-Earth Creationist physics teacher stated that he does not believe that man actually stepped on the moon. That topic has been well covered here.

One of his arguments, however, was that gravity on the moon was not strong enough for astronauts to leave their footprints there.

Is this true?

Please use the comments to discuss how to help improve the question. — Sklivvz, Jan 28 '15 at 23:43
I have re-opened this question, now that it is focussed on one claim. However, I remain borderline on re-closing it, because I can't see any other answer than "Experimental evidence trumps all theory. The evidence is that when astronauts did step on the moon, they did leave footprints." — Oddthinking, Jan 29 '15 at 02:44
I've removed 2 theoretical answers. Answers that do not acknowledge that we have been on the moon and do not acknowledge that we actually *tried this* are very likely to be theoretical. — Sklivvz, Jan 29 '15 at 08:45
"Gravity on the moon was not strong enough for astronauts to leave footprints" sounds like a claim that could be better passed on to [physics.se](http://physics.stackexchange.com/). Let *them* have a field day explaining why Moe's teacher is an idiot that shouldn't be teaching physics. — Shadur, Jan 29 '15 at 09:16
Did the teacher say that moon dust would be dry, and therefore incapable of holding its shape? — Andrew Grimm, Jan 29 '15 at 13:13
Your physics teacher doesn't know that pressure is a function of both mass and surface area? Even if he wasn't a young earth creationist he'd be unfit to teach physics as far as I'm concerned. — GordonM, Dec 13 '16 at 10:04
What the hell is a *"Young-Earth Creationist physics teacher"* ? — Evargalo, Jun 22 '18 at 07:38
@Evargalo A physics teacher that believes the Earth was created less than 10,000 years ago, by God. — Dennis, Jun 23 '18 at 14:10
@Dennis thanks, I'm glad the weird mythology-relative epithet refers to the teacher and not to the matter he is teaching. So I imagine he is supposed to teach real-world physics. — Evargalo, Jun 23 '18 at 15:25
@Caleth It's mass as well, if you jump. In earth gravity, I can jump up one foot and leave a footprint while landing. In moon gravity, I could jump up six feet and leave the exact same footprint because I have the exact same kinetic energy when landing. — gnasher729, Jun 23 '18 at 23:32
@Evargalo: whatever he teaches, he's in the wrong place. This guy is either teaching a screwed up, invented physics, or he's badly teaching a physic he doesn't believe into, which is probably even worst. — motoDrizzt, Jun 25 '18 at 18:06
@motoDrizzt : I agree with you, but I prefer that rather than him being in the right place, i.e. a place where people are teaching 'Young Earth Creationist physics', whatever that would be. — Evargalo, Jun 25 '18 at 19:58
Surely someone has tried stepping into a box of regolith analog on a vomit comet flight just to demonstrate the absurdity of the claim. — Lee Daniel Crocker, Jun 25 '18 at 22:13
@gnasher729, That's only because the launching force of your jump is the same, and due to the fact your downward acceleration is constant due to gravity, your impact force will be the same as takeoff, on the Earth or Moon... tl;dr, you're exerting the same force by jumping, your mass has nothing to do with it. — Fifth_H0r5eman, Jun 26 '18 at 08:53

score 30 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:41

30

People have stepped on the Moon when they went there and left footprints, so we've plenty of photographic evidence of their footsteps on the Moon.

In fact, it turns out that people do leave footprint in dust, even if they weigh less, like a child leaves footprints on Earth while weighing as much as a man on the Moon.

Pictures taken from the Moon itself

The Wikipedia page on Buzz Aldrin has plenty of pictures of his footprints on the moon.

^{Buzz Aldrin's footstep}

^{Aldrin walks on the surface of the Moon during Apollo 11}

Pictures taken with a telescope

This pictures were taken by a satellite (LRO) with a telescope, from On the Moon, Flags & Footprints of Apollo Astronauts Won't Last Forever

^{Apollo 12 landing site}

^{Apollo 14 landing site}

edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:41

Community

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answered Jan 29 '15 at 10:08

Sklivvz

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To play Devil's advocate: if we're already doubting NASA's pictures, we should also doubt telescope pictures. And the weight of a person on Earth does not have anything to do with the gravity effects on the Moon, [everything falls at the same speed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDp1tiUsZw8). You need more explanation of how the gravity effects work. – ike Jan 29 '15 at 15:02
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Weight is a force. The weight that a man exerts on dust on the moon is the same weight (number and direction) that a child exerts on dust on Earth. Maybe you are confusing mass and weight? The comment about NASA has nothing to do with the quality of the evidence, only with the bias of a denier. NASA is a reputable source and in this matter it is *the* most reputable source. – Sklivvz Jan 29 '15 at 15:26
Then your answer should just say "NASA says there were footprints, here are pictures." My point was that the telescope pics add nothing over the NASA pics. – ike Jan 29 '15 at 15:35
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They are different pictures, taken at different time, by different teams, etc. Saying "NASA says..." is ridiculous, as "Scientists say...". It's evidence, not people, nor an organization. – Sklivvz Jan 29 '15 at 15:37
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Looking up the LRO, it is [run by NASA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter), so your point fails. If you trust NASA, no other evidence is needed, but there's no additional gain by mentioning the telescope over the pictures taken on the Moon itself. – ike Jan 29 '15 at 15:42
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I did not say it was not from NASA. I said it's from different teams. While I understand your points, I disagree they would make the answer better. If you think this makes my answer poor, it's OK to downvote, or you can add your own answer with the evidence you find qualitative. I for one would like to keep all evidence I presented, I hope this is OK with you. – Sklivvz Jan 29 '15 at 15:57
The lander does not really prove a manned mission. NASA could have just sent unmanned probes to put up the landers, flags, etc. Would be technically difficult, but could still be easier than a manned mission. – D J Sims Mar 10 '16 at 17:57
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@Mustang well, but that wasn't the question posed here. For the answer to the question whether it was a manned mission, you should have a look at the following [question](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/1128/16700). – drat Mar 11 '16 at 05:40
I was wondering why there are no stars in the second picture (with some guy walking on the moon) but then I found the [reason](http://www.skywise711.com/Skeptic/MoonPics/MoonPics.html) for the black background. – Apr 23 '16 at 16:55
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It's obvious that there are no footprints on the moon! Just look--those are boot prints! We don't have the technology to let an astronaut survive barefoot on the moon! – Loren Pechtel Dec 10 '16 at 21:41
One important thing to remember is that the lunar astronauts were carrying around their own weight in life-support equipment. That bootprint isn't from 1/6 of an adult's weight, but around 1/3. – Mark Jun 25 '18 at 05:45

score 9 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 29 '15 at 16:30

From Apollo 11 Moon landing: conspiracy theories debunked

The following reasons have all been offered as proof that the Moon landings which began with Apollo 11's touchdown on July 20 1969 were faked.

...

5) The footprints in the fine lunar dust, with no moisture or atmosphere or strong gravity, are unexpectedly well preserved, as if made in wet sand.

The lack of wind on the moon means the footprints in fine, dry lunar dust aren’t blown away in the way they would be if made in a similar substance on Earth.

From Mythbusterresults.com:

A clear footprint cannot be made in vacuum because there is no moisture to hold its shape.

BUSTED

The Build Team first tested whether dry or wet sand made a more distinguishable footprint by stepping in them with an astronaut boot. It was clear that the wet footprint had more detail than the dry footprint. They then placed sand similar in composition to the Moon’s soil in a vacuum chamber and stepped on it with an astronaut boot, which made a clear print. The reason provided for this was that the unique composition of lunar soil allows it to behave differently than terrestrial soil.

It's also listed in Wikipedia under Moon landing conspiracy theories.

Unfortunately, I'm not totally happy with the quality of the sources. The Telegraph is a general purpose newspaper, and the person who wrote the article doesn't seem to be scientist. Likewise, the Mythbusters are not expert scientists. Similarly with Wikipedia...

The Mythbusters performed a scientific experiment. Let us discuss the value of the experiment and the level of rigor applied to arrive at the data, not the titles they held at the time. — Moby Disk, Jun 22 '18 at 17:20
@MobyDisk https://skeptics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/450/is-mythbusters-ancedotal-evidence — Andrew Grimm, Jun 24 '18 at 01:10

Did astronauts leave footprints on the moon?

2 Answers2

Pictures taken from the Moon itself

Pictures taken with a telescope