Landing a man on the moon is the greatest acheivement in the history of mankind. But did it really happen? Did NASA and the U.S. government fake the lunar landing to win the so called space race with the Soviet Union?
This article will look at the moon landing and attempt to investigate, lay out the evidence and let you decide.
Time for our personal lift-off into the unknown, buckle up some of the following is sure to amaze and surprise you.
Background: To fully understand the magnitude of the space race between the Soviet Union one must realize that after the conclusion of WW2 the Americans and the Soviets stood alone as the two great world military powers. Each with conflicting views and attitudes towards each others system of government. Military and arms build up by each country in an attempt to show each as the best and most powerful. This time period is historically referred to as the “Cold War”.
Part of the Cold War was conquering space. Below is a small timeline of how the race played itself out.
The Space Race: Oct 4th 1957 – Soviets launch Sputnik 1. The first artificial sattelite and first object able to send signals from space back to earth. This causes fear among the U.S. of the Soviets being able to drop nuclear bombs onto U.S. soil from space.
Nov 3rd 1957 – Soviets put first living creature (a dog named Laika) into orbit. Unfortunately Laika died from overheating within hours of overheating.
Sept 14th 1959 – Soviets land first man made object on the moon. Luna 2.
Oct 7th 1959 – Soviets take first pictures of dark side of the moon. Luna 3.
July 5th 1960 – First U.S. spy sattelite successfully launched. GRAB-1- NLR.
April 12th 1961 – Soviets launch first manned orbital spaceflight. Yuri Gagarin. Vostok 1.
May 5th 1961- U.S. launches first pilot controlled space flight. Also first spaceflight to return to earth with pilot still inside spacecraft. Alan Shepherd. Freedom 7.
April 3rd 1966 – Soviets are first to have artificial sattelite orbit the moon. Luna 10.
Dec 21st 1968 – U.S. first to have manned craft orbit the moon and return to earth. Apollo 8.
July 20th 1969 – U.S. first to land manned spacecraft on the surface of the moon and return crew safely to earth. Apollo 11.
As you can see, the space race was serious business with each country desparate to outdo the other. For the purpose of this article we will focus on NASA and the Apollo part of their space program.
While John Glenn and Buzz Aldrin were the first to set foot on the moon (Micheal Collins remained in the orbiting command module) they weren’t the crew originally planned to make the historic journey. Who was? What happened? Lets have a look.
Gus Grissom & Apollo 1 : Gus Grissom was a decorated pilot in both WW2 and the Korean war. After going through the Mercury and Gemini space programs and becoming involved in the Apollo space programs Grissom was widely thought to be the man who would be first to walk on the moon.
A dedicated austronaut but highly critical of perceived flaws in the Apollo program Grissom once hung a lemon on an Apollo space capsule and while having communication problems between capsule and NASA launch headquarters famously said “how are we gonna get to the Moon if we can’t talk between two or three buildings?”
Tragically Grissom and his crew (Roger Chaffee and Ed White) dies in a fire erupted in their capsule during preflight testing. Was it simply a horrible accident? Or was Grissom silenced for his outspoken opinions on NASA deficiencies?
The Flight of Apollo 11 : to be continued in Part 2.
The Tinfoil Hat 