One Giant Leap Backwards For Space Exploration

This month the Space Shuttle Program has come to an end. The final flight of the large gliders is over, and now we are left to wonder what the next logical step will be in the exploration of space. I have never written a column about the space program, but if ever there was a time, this is it. I have a lot of questions about the whole NASA thing, dating back 50 years.
After successfully sending rockets, men, and dune buggies to the Moon during the 1970s, one would think that our next logical step would be to visit Mars or Venus. Instead, we inexplicably took one giant step backwards. The space shuttle was not rocketry, and had little to do with space. It was an aeronautical program – winged flight. Yes, it flew higher than any previous glider – but never entered “outer space”. With all of the advances in technology during the computer age, why would our space program regress to what is nothing more than a large glider? Something is wrong with that picture.
What is wrong is something I hate to say deep in the pit of my stomach: We never set foot on the moon. It was a staged production. I believe the main goal was to fool the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Remember that NASA is first and foremost a military establishment. Up until the first Apollo landing, the Soviet Union had led the way in space exploration. The Space Race had been initiated more than 10 years earlier as the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik I, Earth’s first artificial satellite, on October 4th, 1957. The unanticipated announcement shocked America.
The man who created the Saturn V rocket used by the Apollo missions was former NAZI rocket scientist Werner Von Braun. Von Braun said in his book ‘Conquest To The Moon’ (published in 1953) that it would be impossible to send anyone to the Moon because of the sheer size of craft needed to make the trip. In fact, taking Von Braun’s calculations into consideration, a spaceship that needed to travel that distance would have had to be 266 times larger than the Saturn 5.
Let’s play 20 questions:
1) Why are hardly any stars visible on Apollo films taken from the Moon?
2) There should have been a substantial crater blasted out under the Lunar Module’s 10,000 pound thrust rocket. Why is there no impact of any kind in the NASA films and photos?
3) Why does official NASA footage show flames coming from the exhaust of an Apollo lander? Remember, flames cannot be produced in space.
4) Footprints are the result of weight displacing air or moisture from between particles of dirt, dust, or sand. The astronauts left distinct footprints all over the place. How could they do so with no air or moisture on the Moon?
6) Why did one of the rocks in the NASA moon photos have a clear capital letter “C” on it, with a corresponding letter “C” on the ground next to it? Was it a stage prop?
7) Instead of being able to jump at least ten feet high in “one sixth” gravity, the highest jump was about nineteen inches. Why?
8) Why did the astronauts travel no further between steps than they would have on Earth? In the reduced gravity, their steps should have easily covered more than twice the distance.
9) Why is it that when you speed up the moon video footage to 2x, the astronauts appear to be moving exactly as they would in Earth gravity?
10) If the moon rover had actually been moving in one-sixth gravity, then it would have required a twenty foot width in order not to have flipped over on nearly every turn. The Rover had the same width as ordinary small cars. Why didn’t it flip over?
11) Why has NASA only recently started a project to test lunar radiation levels and what their effects would be on the human body, if they have sent 12 men there already?
12) The astronauts in their “pressurized” suits were easily able to bend their fingers, wrists, elbows, and knees at 5 psi, and yet a boxer’s 4 psi speed bag is unbendable. How did they do it?
13) During the Apollo 14 flag setup ceremony footage, why is the flag clearly seen waving?
14) Why did NASA not even try to send an unmanned craft to the surface of the moon before risking human lives there?
15) If man really went to the Moon, why did NASA drop the successful Saturn V launch rocket after the last Apollo mission? The shuttle weighs 75% more than the Saturn 5 Rocket, puts only 1/6th of the cargo weight into orbit and costs 3 times as much to launch. The shuttle is basically a glider with no escape for the crew if things go wrong (as we all know they do). Why scrap a rocket that can allegedly outperform its newer model?
16) During Project Apollo, six highly complex manned craft allegedly landed on the Moon, took off, and returned to Earth using a relatively low level of technology. An 86% success rate. Since Apollo, twenty five simple, unmanned craft with increasingly higher levels of technology have attempted to fulfil their missions to Mars. Only seven have succeeded (28%). All of these weighed less than 200 lbs. How could we have such an astonishing success rate with the huge payloads and complicated logistics of Apollo, them fail so miserably with tiny space probes?
17) What about all of those shadows in the moon photos going in conflicting directions, as if illuminated by studio lighting?
18) Who took the photo of the two spacemen on the surface of the moon? They were the only ones there, and neither of them was the photographer. How was it possible?
19) How did the lunar module land and take off flawlessly every time, when it was never tested successfully on Earth, and in fact crashed the only time they tried?
And, most importantly…
20) If we did it 42 years ago, why do we not have the technology to do it today?
Consider the recent announcement from NASA that it would take scientists 15 years from now to design and build a craft to go back to the Moon. How can this be?
All of the underlying technologies have improved vastly since 1969. Computers are infinitely better. The chip that controls my Christmas lights is twice as powerful as the best computer NASA owned in 1969. There have been significant advances in the fields of miniaturization, engineering, navigation, electronics, and communication since then.
And yet we are not capable today of doing that which we allegedly did 42 years ago. In fact, There is nothing we could do in 1969 that we can’t do today, except for going to the moon.
So it is with great sadness that I must conclude that it was faked. The guys orbited around the Earth in their capsule. Films, photos, and baked moon rocks were created to bolster the story. Less than 100 people needed to know the truth. Maybe that’s why Neil Armstrong has never granted a single interview about his trip to the moon.

This entry was posted in Latest, Local. Bookmark the permalink.