Can humans really travel into outer space?

Is it possible to leave the planet? The doubts that persist 50 years later

Nine crewed trips to the Moon, six landings and zero deaths on mission. And yet, since 1972 no human being has set foot on our satellite again. Questions about whether travelling into outer space is really possible — or whether it ever peine at all — keep growing, fuelled by technical data that clashes with the official narrative. The scepticism focuses on four key points: cosmic radiation, the Van Allen belts, atmospheric re-entry at 3000°C and the rigidity of spacesuits.

The technical challenges: radiation, temperature and vacuum
A spacesuit is an inflatable mini-spacecraft that must maintain pressure, temperature and oxygen. The internal pressure makes it rigid, and with no convection in the vacuum, body heat builds up. Alexei Leonov nearly suffocated from overheating in 1965. Moreover, cosmic radiation and the Van Allen belts pose a theoretical barrier: a plastic layer on the visor is not enough to filter out lethal particles. Re-entry generates temperatures of 3000°C — enough to disintegrate any material — and yet the Apollo capsules showed no signs of heat when they hit the water, nor any steam. Only three people have descended to the Mariana Trench, an extreme environment but less hostile than space.

The scepticism that denies the reality of space
Alternative-thinking currents hold that outer space does not exist as we know it. They appeal to Operation Fishbowl, to a supposed dome that bounds the sky, and to the lack of reliable live broadcasts in the 1960s. For them, the Apollo images are a Hollywood set. President Nixon's call to the Moon — with no delay or interference — is presented as proof of a staged event, given that transoceanic communications at the time constantly failed.

The technical defence and NASA's documents
Against the doubts, there is detailed technical documentation on the Apollo suits and missions. It is stressed that the suits were designed by engineers to precise specifications — available in NASA PDFs — and that the Apollo programme achieved 9 trips and 6 landings without a single fatal accident. The reason for not returning is not technical but a matter of cost: keeping the programme going was unsustainable after the end of the Cold War. Meanwhile, China is planning a Moon landing, and NASA is focusing on less ambitious projects such as the ISS, which orbits at just 400 km, still inside Earth's magnetic shield.

The answer to whether it is possible to leave the planet depends on whom you ask. The physical data invite doubt, but so do the historical documents. Perhaps the strongest sign that something does not add up is that, half a century later, the debate is still open.

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