Did Apollo Happen?

[Evan Burton]

I was re-reading a book and this passage once again struck a chord with me. I thought it deserved recounting, and on this board:

"That we found this to be true of the Apollo Program seems to surprise some people. But what, after all, should one expect? A small group of men were told in 1961 to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. They worked indefatigably for eight years, recruiting thousands of fellow workers along the way. They surmounted obstacles, overcame setbacks, and achieved their goal. Should we be surprised that the people who were able to do this tend to have been talented rather than incompetent, honest rather than venal, cooperative rather than selfish?"

Why indeed.

Yes, Jack, Apollo really did happen.

[Ron Ecker]

Just as the gaping hole in the back of JFK's head is the Rosetta Stone of the JFK assassination (there was a conspiracy), 4.5 billion-year-old rocks are the Rosetta stones of the Apollo mission (it did happen).

[Guest Stephen Turner]

I was re-reading a book and this passage once again struck a chord with me. I thought it deserved recounting, and on this board:

"That we found this to be true of the Apollo Program seems to surprise some people. But what, after all, should one expect? A small group of men were told in 1961 to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. They worked indefatigably for eight years, recruiting thousands of fellow workers along the way. They surmounted obstacles, overcame setbacks, and achieved their goal. Should we be surprised that the people who were able to do this tend to have been talented rather than incompetent, honest rather than venal, cooperative rather than selfish?"

Why indeed.

Yes, Jack, Apollo really did happen.

Its a strange one is moon hoax, I can remember my Aunt, saying almost from the word go that the " Yanks have faked it" and right up to her death, a few years ago, she held firm to her belief.

[Guest]

Its a strange one is moon hoax, I can remember my Aunt, saying almost from the word go that the " Yanks have faked it" and right up to her death, a few years ago, she held firm to her belief.

The 'desire to believe' is usually a great deal stronger amongst conspiracy theorists than the commitment to evidence and research.

[Evan Burton]

A poster called 'Count Zero' said this on another board. It, too, deserves repeating here. It was an emotional response after a number of pages trying to get someone to listen to reason:

I'm offended by the whole persistent debate over an alleged "Moon Hoax"!

Tell the Greeks that the Acropolis is a fake. They built it in the early 19th century to con western European tourists (notice how no photographs of it exist before the 1840s). The Egyptians were cleaning-up with the pyramids they had built a few decades before, and the Greeks wanted some of that action.

Ha ha. Very funny.

Now keep after them about it. Tell them that they never had engineers good enough, never had artisans skilled enough to build any such architectural masterpieces. All they could do was pile up some marble to make it look like ruins. Tell them that this is easy to believe because their leaders are so corrupt and dishonest. Keep needling them about it. Speculate on how they faked the weathering, and how they buried manufactured pottery shards to fool archaeologists. No matter what evidence they produce, no matter what questions they answer, tell them that you are still skeptical. By inference, this should imply that they themselves are not intelligent enough to see through the ruse, or are just so full of their own pride that they are easily duped.

Do you see how completely, comprehensively insulting this is?

You say it's just speculation. Do you think it's fun to tear down the greatest achievement of human imagination, ingenuity and daring? Do you get your kicks by suggesting that heroes who put their lives on the line for their national honor are nothing more than life-long liars? Does it not bother you that you're saying the supreme effort of hundreds of thousands of people over more than a decade was nothing but a con?

Your idle speculation is not just robbing these people of their honor, their dignity and their pride in their accomplishment, you're robbing us all of our cultural heritage. America has done many great things in its 230 years, but it may never again reach that noble pinnacle of Apollo. We didn't go for conquest, or commercial gain. It wasn't just about beating the Russians (By the late 60s both sides had found that ballistic missile submarines were cheaper and more flexible than nukes in orbit or on the Moon). Our purpose was remarkably pure: We went to see if we could go.

Putting footprints on the Moon doesn't just say something about America; it speaks to all people. It redefines what is possible. We all want our children to succeed, to be something, to go further and accomplish more. We want the people we work with to be diligent and productive. We try to inspire and motivate them. We explain that study and hard work can pay-off. One photograph of Buzz Aldrin's footprint in the Sea of Tranquility says a lot about what human beings with drive and ingenuity and teamwork can do.

It proves it better than all the late-night, impassioned Internet BB posts ever written.

The historical record of Apollo is overwhelming - greater than anything you can glean from questions on a bulletin board. That America abandoned Apollo (and the spirit it engendered) is a travesty. To persistently maintain that it never happened in the first place is nothing short of despicable.

[Guest Gary Loughran]

Its a strange one is moon hoax, I can remember my Aunt, saying almost from the word go that the " Yanks have faked it" and right up to her death, a few years ago, she held firm to her belief.

The 'desire to believe' is usually a great deal stronger amongst conspiracy theorists than the commitment to evidence and research.

Yet, Andy, you watched Liverpool get soundly thrashed by S***s and yet denied that was what actually happened. The 'desire to believe' is indeed strong in this one