Why do I still not believe them???
Did some Googling on where we might find images of earth based telescopes looking at the lunar landing sites for evidense. None found. But then on a discussion board, I found a link to the following revelation by NASA:
LRO Sees Apollo Landing Sites07.17.09
This graphic shows the approximate locations of the Apollo moon landing sites.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has returned its first imagery of the Apollo moon landing sites. The pictures show the Apollo missions' lunar module descent stages sitting on the moon's surface, as long shadows from a low sun angle make the modules' locations evident.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, or LROC, was able to image five of the six Apollo sites, with the remaining Apollo 12 site expected to be photographed in the coming weeks.
The satellite reached lunar orbit June 23 and captured the Apollo sites between July 11 and 15. Though it had been expected that LRO would be able to resolve the remnants of the Apollo mission, these first images came before the spacecraft reached its final mapping orbit. Future LROC images from these sites will have two to three times greater resolution.
All images credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University
Apollo 11 lunar module, Eagle.
Image width: 282 meters (about 925 ft.)
[Larger image of this looks like:]
Apollo 15 lunar module, Falcon.
Image width: 384 meters (about 1,260 ft.)
Apollo 16 lunar module, Orion.
Image width: 256 meters (about 840 ft.)
Apollo 17 lunar module, Challenger.
Image width: 359 meters (about 1,178 ft.)
Apollo 14 lunar module, Antares.
Image width: 538 meters (about 1,765 ft.)
"The LROC team anxiously awaited each image," said LROC principal investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University. "We were very interested in getting our first peek at the lunar module descent stages just for the thrill -- and to see how well the cameras had come into focus. Indeed, the images are fantastic and so is the focus."
Although these pictures provide a reminder of past NASA exploration, LRO's primary focus is on paving the way for the future. By returning detailed lunar data, the mission will help NASA identify safe landing sites for future explorers, locate potential resources, describe the moon's radiation environment and demonstrate new technologies.
"Not only do these images reveal the great accomplishments of Apollo, they also show us that lunar exploration continues," said LRO project scientist Richard Vondrak of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "They demonstrate how LRO will be used to identify the best destinations for the next journeys to the moon."
The spacecraft's current elliptical orbit resulted in image resolutions that were slightly different for each site but were all around four feet per pixel. Because the deck of the descent stage is about 12 feet in diameter, the Apollo relics themselves
fill an area of about nine pixels. However, because the sun was low to the horizon when the images were made, even subtle variations in topography create long shadows. Standing slightly more than ten feet above the surface, each Apollo descent stage creates a distinct shadow that fills roughly 20 pixels.
Sniphttp://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/apollosites.html Now we have Spy Satellites that can focus on a cigarete pack on the surface of the earth and read the brand.
So why these crappy images from the moon? Suppose it is the same answer as the reason there are no stars in NASA photography, but the Russians have no problem showing stars in their images of space and the moon...