Here's a breakdown:
* Sunlight: The Moon has no atmosphere to scatter sunlight, so the surface reflects it directly. This creates a very bright environment, especially during the lunar day.
* Camera Settings: The Apollo astronauts needed to adjust their camera settings to capture the lunar landscape properly. This meant exposing for the bright, reflective surface.
* Exposure Time: A short exposure time was needed to freeze the motion of the spacecraft and the astronauts. This short exposure didn't allow enough light to register the faint stars.
Think of it like this: imagine taking a photo of a bright, sunlit landscape. If you adjust the exposure to capture the details of the landscape, the sky will be completely blown out and you won't see any stars.
There's also the issue of film technology: The film used in the Apollo missions wasn't as sensitive as modern digital cameras, making it even harder to capture faint stars in such a bright environment.
However, it is possible to see stars in some Apollo photos and videos:
* Long Exposure: In a few cases, astronauts took long-exposure photos of the Earth, and these photos do show stars in the background.
* Lunar Night: During the lunar night, when the sun isn't directly illuminating the surface, the stars become more visible.
It's important to remember that the primary focus of the Apollo missions was to explore the Moon, not to capture astrophotography. The absence of stars in most of the photos and videos doesn't mean they weren't there; it's just a limitation of the technology and the environment.