Reply #61: Heh. That "tinfoil" is one of the miracles of modern invention.

[sofa king]

The Lunar Module is covered in miraculously thin and light sheets of biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate, better known to most of us as Mylar.

It was developed in the 1950s and became one of the dozens of "miracle materials" that NASA identified as necessary for a moon shot. Most of those materials were already in existence, but it was NASA's backing that perfected mass-production techniques and improved their properties to the level NASA required. Also included on the list are Kevlar, Tyvek, cyanoacrylate adhesives, PTFE, and so on.

Mylar is highly reflective through a huge proportion of the electromagnetic spectrum. It can also act as a gas barrier and an electrical insulator. On the LEM, Mylar was used in both directions, a layer facing out to reflect sunlight and solar wind away from the interior of the LEM, and also facing in to prevent heat loss on the shaded side of the craft. It was so thin, light, and durable that it was practically the only material NASA could use in lavish amounts. They actually used a fancy version of Scotch tape to hold it in place, and it can still clearly be seen on the LEM in the Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Today Mylar is everywhere, from shiny party balloons to gift wrap to snack food bags to emergency blankets to reflective wall surfaces for indoor marijuana grow-rooms. But prior to the moon shot, the stuff was worth far more than its weight in gold and wasn't produced in amounts that were useful to anyone.

But as long as there are people who can't tell the difference between Mylar and tinfoil, there will be people who can't understand how humans actually got to the Moon.