NASA: AS12-49-7278. ANNOTATIONS ADDED BY UNKNOWN PARTY

Note L: A picture taken from a chest camera shouldn't show the subject's head.

See here for an illustrated rebuttal. There's absolutely no reason why a chest camera wouldn't adequately photograph the subject's head.

Note M: The shadows that converge at the annotation are not parallel, as would be the case if they were created by a single light source. Therefore there must be multiple lights.

The conspiracists again rely on a rigidly naive expectation of perfect objects casting perfect shadows on a perfectly smooth, flat surface. The photographer (Pete Conrad) is shooting roughly up-sun, so whatever's casting those shadows should be in the picture. Closely examining the shadows behind Conrad, we see that they also converge because they are the shadows of Conrad's legs. The shadows converge because Conrad's legs converge -- at his hips. Similarly the shadows in question at Note M are being cast by Bean's legs, which also converge at his hips.

Two light sources do not cast such converging shadows. They cast overlapping shadows with two levels of brightness.

With the supposed multiple light sources, we wonder why there's only one highlight on Bean's visor.

Note N: The shaded side of the Special Environmental Sample Container shouldn't be brightly lit. This proves that additional lighting was used in the lunar surface photographs.

UNION CARBIDE

On the right is a diagram of the Special Environmental Sample Container (SESC). The disk-shaped object hanging below the barrel of the device is the lid, shown closed in the diagram. Although it appears suspended from the metal bar, it is actually hanging from the thin wire seen in the diagram. The metal bar is to make it easier to close the lid while wearing space suit gloves.

The photo below on the right is a SESC photgraphed in the laboratory during testing. You can see that the underside of the lid is polished metal and therefore quite reflective. The fastener holding the clamp mechanism and the clamps themselves are clearly reflected in the lid surface.

From the closeup (below left) we see that the lid is hanging at an angle likely to reflect the brightly lit portion of Bean's suit. Conspiracists argue that the disk is being brightly lit by another light source. But there's no corresponding highlight on the cylindrical barrel of the tool, and Bean's glove is clearly lit only from above and behind. Therefore the postulated light source illuminating the SESC lid must be very narrow in order to shine brightly on the lid but completely miss objects only a few inches away.

This is ad hoc reasoning. The conspiracist is drawn toward potential explanations which suggest a hoax, and so makes this argument regardless of whether it's a reasonable or practical thing to do. We struggle to find a reason why a photographer trying to hoax a lunar surface photograph would go to such paintstaking trouble to arrange a light to shine only on a particular piece of equipment. And by doing so he must surely know that he's introducing a detail that would tend to reduce the authenticity of the photograph. Faced with this dilemma, the conspiracist postulates the Whistle-Blower Theory.

NASA: AS12-49-7278

NASA: S88-52666, FROM UNION CARBIDE PHOTO 137774

I've seen a version of this photograph that includes another astronaut in the visor reflection. That's proof it was all done on a soundstage.

That version is a forgery, and not even a very good one.

First, we know who did it and why. David Harland created it as a joke. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

Second, it's very obvious how it was created. The object at the extra astronaut's feet is the disctinctive three-armed magnetometer from the ALSEP. If we search through all the photographs of the ALSEP magnetometer from Apollo 12, we find one of Al Bean that's a perfect match for the extra astronaut in the visor.

ALSJ: DAVID HARLAND

NASA: AS12-46-6813

Compare the image in Bean's visor with the image of Conrad standing next to the magnetometer. It's a perfect match.