I DON’T agree with much that Steve Halden writes in the Swindon Advertiser but I have to admit I am one of the many sceptical of claims made by the United States that they achieved a moon landing. Your correspondent G Scott asks a perfectly valid question with regard to the subject and suggests that as the Russians did not call ‘foul’ by default the moon landing must have been true. Let’s apply a little of the same logic.

If the Americans really did land on the moon, and take off from its surface without the use of gantries etc, why have they never done it again?

Equally, given the prestige and supposed importance of the event why haven’t the Russians and the Chinese emulated the Americans by landing on the moon? I suspect the answer is that the Americans didn’t go to the moon and the Russians and Chinese know this to be true.

Like all conspiracy theorists I have studied the answers given for the waving US flag, the reflections in the helmet visor, no stars, no impression of the rocket blast following alleged take off, the unerring accuracy of a moon landing on a unknown surface, the multiple shadows and the backlighting for clear photographs, none of them persuade me that the event actually occurred.

If they did land on the moon and if they really did achieve a lift off to return, I would be truly amazed, as technology was not as advanced as it is now. But the burning question is why hasn’t it been achieved again.

Finally, I am of the view that spending billions on space research is a futile exercise designed to expand egos and not to benefit mankind, on a par with spending billions developing nuclear weaponry.

DES MORGAN Caraway Drive Swindon