Question: how did they slow down in space?

[Abaddon]

Thinking that the LM would pass through its own exhaust is the same thing as thinking you can shoot yourself simply by firing a bullet in the same direction as you are traveling.

Yep. It is no different than being in the back of a plane and firing a gun forward. Will the bullet simply hover? That is one of those rare occasions where "common sense" is correct. Of course it will not.

Somehow, the claimants are unable to figure this out. 

[ka9q]

Thinking that the LM would pass through its own exhaust is the same thing as thinking you can shoot yourself simply by firing a bullet in the same direction as you are traveling.

Well, you could if you were facing a very strong wind. Like if you were sitting on the nose of the space shuttle during early launch.

I remember grimacing when I heard, during a live Columbia post-accident press conference, one of the mission managers claim that a piece of mere foam was much too light to possibly damage the orbiter during launch. Even engineers who should know better can suffer failures of intuition.

[nomuse]

Thinking that the LM would pass through its own exhaust is the same thing as thinking you can shoot yourself simply by firing a bullet in the same direction as you are traveling.

Well, you could if you were facing a very strong wind. Like if you were sitting on the nose of the space shuttle during early launch.

I remember grimacing when I heard, during a live Columbia post-accident press conference, one of the mission managers claim that a piece of mere foam was much too light to possibly damage the orbiter during launch. Even engineers who should know better can suffer failures of intuition.

One of the amusements of seat-of-pants mission design in Kerbal Space Program is trying too hard to get over the altitude/attitude hump. Stick too many SRB's on your first stage and you have the excitement of finding yourself reaching orbital velocity whilst still in atmosphere. It rarely ends well.

[sts60]

Thinking that the LM would pass through its own exhaust is the same thing as thinking you can shoot yourself simply by firing a bullet in the same direction as you are traveling.

Well, you could if you were facing a very strong wind. Like if you were sitting on the nose of the space shuttle during early launch.

I remember grimacing when I heard, during a live Columbia post-accident press conference, one of the mission managers claim that a piece of mere foam was much too light to possibly damage the orbiter during launch. Even engineers who should know better can suffer failures of intuition.

Yeah. I've seen Columbia's reconstructed left wing, and undergone the case study training.  It's often referred to as a "failure of imagination", although a host of organizational factors were part of it.

[12oh2alarm]

Thinking that the LM would pass through its own exhaust is the same thing as thinking you can shoot yourself simply by firing a bullet in the same direction as you are traveling.

Yep. It is no different than being in the back of a plane and firing a gun forward. Will the bullet simply hover? That is one of those rare occasions where "common sense" is correct. Of course it will not.

Somehow, the claimants are unable to figure this out.

Their confusion becomes understandable (to me at least) when you take an atmosphere into consideration and lower speeds to every-day level: suppose you stick your head out of the window of a driving car and spit in the forward direction...
And then there's the result of peeing against the wind, which as a child you are told to avoid. To not run into your exhaust