Archives
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
NASA still laboring
to refute moon "hoax"
to refute moon "hoax"
Those
who believe the moon landing was faked point to several "flaws" in
this original footage. First, Buzz Aldrin doesn't look "quite right." Second,
there's no sign of actual Apollo logos and stuff. Third, what's that crawler
thingy all about that says "Argentina"? And finally, yeah, there is a pretty
convincing takeoff, but where's the actual landing on the moon? What's up?
this original footage. First, Buzz Aldrin doesn't look "quite right." Second,
there's no sign of actual Apollo logos and stuff. Third, what's that crawler
thingy all about that says "Argentina"? And finally, yeah, there is a pretty
convincing takeoff, but where's the actual landing on the moon? What's up?
TIME OUT FROM THE DESOTO DEBACLE. Most of you know we take our science pretty seriously here at InstaPunk, so we feel obligated to break into the fascinating ongoing display of prevarication by Sonia DeSoto on the floor of the Senate to alert you to what may be a climactic moment in the long-lived controversy about the Apollo moon landings. First, there's this bit of explanation from the New York Times:
Forty years after men first touched the
lifeless dirt of the Moon — and they did. Really. Honest. — polling
consistently suggests that some 6 percent of Americans believe the
landings were faked and could not have happened. The series of
landings, one of the greatest gambles of the human race, was an
elaborate hoax developed to raise national pride, many among them
insist.
They examine photos from the missions for signs of studio fakery, and claim to be able to tell that the American flag was waving in what was supposed to be the vacuum of space. They overstate the health risks of traveling through the radiation belts that girdle our planet; they understate the technological prowess of the American space program; and they cry murder behind every death in the program, linking them to an overall conspiracy.
And while there is no credible evidence to support such views, and the sheer unlikelihood of being able to pull off such an immense plot and keep it secret for four decades staggers the imagination, the deniers continue to amass accusations to this day. They are bolstered by films like a documentary shown on Fox television in 2001 and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon” by Bart Sibrel, a filmmaker in Nashville.
They examine photos from the missions for signs of studio fakery, and claim to be able to tell that the American flag was waving in what was supposed to be the vacuum of space. They overstate the health risks of traveling through the radiation belts that girdle our planet; they understate the technological prowess of the American space program; and they cry murder behind every death in the program, linking them to an overall conspiracy.
And while there is no credible evidence to support such views, and the sheer unlikelihood of being able to pull off such an immense plot and keep it secret for four decades staggers the imagination, the deniers continue to amass accusations to this day. They are bolstered by films like a documentary shown on Fox television in 2001 and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon” by Bart Sibrel, a filmmaker in Nashville.
Of course, those who believe in the hoax theory point out that the New York Times believes the World Trade Center was brought down by commercial airliners under the control of Islamic terrorists (sheesh), and they refuse even to cover such well established conspiracies as the conquest of earth by shapeshifting lizard people (scroll down). In fact, the Times goes out of its way to say nasty, venomous things about the few people who are wise to such crimes against humanity:
Mark Fenster, a professor at the
University of Florida Levin College of Law who has written extensively
on conspiracy theories, said he sees similarities between people who
argue that the Moon landings never happened and those who insist that
the 9/11 attacks were planned by the government and that President
Obama’s birth certificate is fake: at the core, he said, is a
polarization so profound that people end up with an unshakable belief
that those in power “simply can’t be trusted.”
The emergence of the Internet as a communications medium, he noted, makes it possible for once-scattered believers to find one another. “It allows the theory to continue to exist, to continue to be available — it’s not just some old dusty books on the half-price shelf.”
Adam Savage, the co-star of the television show “MythBusters,” spent an episode last year taking apart Moon hoax theories bit by bit, entertainingly and convincingly. The theorists, he noted, never give up. “They’ll say you have to keep an open mind,” he said, “but they reject every single piece of evidence that doesn’t adhere to their thesis.”
The emergence of the Internet as a communications medium, he noted, makes it possible for once-scattered believers to find one another. “It allows the theory to continue to exist, to continue to be available — it’s not just some old dusty books on the half-price shelf.”
Adam Savage, the co-star of the television show “MythBusters,” spent an episode last year taking apart Moon hoax theories bit by bit, entertainingly and convincingly. The theorists, he noted, never give up. “They’ll say you have to keep an open mind,” he said, “but they reject every single piece of evidence that doesn’t adhere to their thesis.”
Lizards, all of them. Starting with that evil extraterrestrial moron-genius George W. Bush, who....
Well, back on topic. This moon landing thing does happen to be wrong and ridiculous, as the Times notes only fifteen or twenty times in passing. And thankfully, NASA has bellied up to the table for once and exerted itself to find the actual, honest-to-goodness real footage of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing that had been suspiciously "lost" for, lo, these many years.
It
looks like NASA has found the missing moon-landing videotapes.
A carefully worded media advisory note issued Monday promised that "greatly improved video imagery from the July 1969 live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk" would be made public Thursday.
Rumors have been flying around the Internet for weeks that NASA, after years of searching, had discovered the original recordings of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's lunar excursion — which the space agency once feared had been accidentally destroyed.
The story, as summarized by Britain's Sunday Express newspaper in late June, was that the tapes had been found in a storage facility in the basement of a building on a university campus in Perth, ArgentinaAustralia.
A carefully worded media advisory note issued Monday promised that "greatly improved video imagery from the July 1969 live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk" would be made public Thursday.
Rumors have been flying around the Internet for weeks that NASA, after years of searching, had discovered the original recordings of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's lunar excursion — which the space agency once feared had been accidentally destroyed.
The story, as summarized by Britain's Sunday Express newspaper in late June, was that the tapes had been found in a storage facility in the basement of a building on a university campus in Perth, ArgentinaAustralia.
Refute this, you moonbats:
Like
a stick in the eye, isn't it? Or a bullet.
Any more questions?
