Today, July 31st ’22, is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bill Kaysing. He was an American writer “for an alternative lifestyle”, “against the tide”, one who gave the government a hard time with his indomitable anarchoid behavior.
Thus, Kaysing had led a fairly regular life until beyond quarantine. Four years of war in the navy, degree in English literature and marriage with two daughters. Then a career as a clerk at an aerospace company called Rocketdyne. After that, he decided to totally change his life, overwhelmed by rampant pollution and the daily routine of 9-17 hours, typical of American offices.
Deciding to change your life, leave the “rat race” and dedicate yourself to a healthy existence, free from daily commitments and constraints. He divorced his first wife by marrying Ruth, also a writer, as he had become in the meantime.
He lived one adventure after another traveling by caravan and boat through the Nevada desert and California. Or, in San Francisco Bay, helping the homeless that abound in that area.
You achieved international fame in 1976 by writing “We never went to the Moon” proving, without a shadow of a doubt, that the government was the “enemy number 1” of the American people. It gave rise, thanks to a book, to an entire conspiratorial vein, I had to write in an article for an Australian magazine on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first false moon landing .
It seems to me yesterday when I published a website in his honor in 2006. I never suspected that I would come into contact with his family members, thanks to whom, I obtained documents in his possession with which I could write the biography entitled “The fastest pen in the West ”. After all, it was an adventure for me too. Ciao Bill!
Have you ever heard some insane explanation of an impactful event in the world? That, in simple terms, is a conspiracy theory. As Britannica’s definition states, a conspiracy theory is “an attempt to explain harmful or tragic events as the result of the actions of a small powerful group”. These theories are all over the media and have opened a world of speculation regarding absolutely anything. Conspiracy theories can ridiculously range from the tragic death of, for example, Princess Diana, to suspecting that the Illuminati rule the world.
One of the most intriguing theories I’ve heard of is NASA faking the moon landing: the Moon Landing Hoax. This caught my attention tremendously because this event has had such a huge impact on the world’s and humans’ history, not to mention technology, that it would be appalling if it was actually staged.
Apollo 11 was the name given to the first-ever moon landing mission. This mission happened on July 20th 1969, eight years after President John F. Kennedy had set a national goal to land on the moon before the 1970s. On this mission, there were two American astronauts: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Well-known Neil Armstrong was the first-ever man to land on the moon; Aldrin followed 19 minutes later. Notoriously, Armstrong said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”, as he first stepped onto the moon.
Since the 1970s, conspiracy theorists have generated elaborate theories about this event. These stories have insulted all the people who worked hard in order to make the moon landing possible, in addition to all the courageous astronauts who risked their lives travelling into space for us to have more knowledge about the Earth. In 2002, conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel called Aldrin “a coward and a liar” for staging the landing and the senior astronaut punched him in the face.
But where did it all start? Why do people think it is a hoax? American writer, Bill Kaysing, self-published a book called ‘We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle!’ in 1976, which convicts the US government of not being capable of landing on the moon. Kaysing, who used to work in a US space program, believes this because he supposedly accessed results of a secret study by NASA which stated that there was a 0.017% chance of success, meaning the mission was basically hopeless.
In short, moon landing deniers believe that the landing was actually performed in a film studio. The theorists insist that the famous footage holds evidence of the landing being fake. As for every conspiracy, there are some believers and some sceptics, and each will tell you a different side to the story.
As you can see, the flag seems to be waving, which is physically impossible in an environment with zero gravity or wind. This obviously raised the sceptics’ attention. Unfortunately for them, scientists have given the reason why it appears to be moving with the wind. The flag is not actually moving, not in the pictures nor in the video., but It is settling down after being placed, and air resistance makes it slower, so the photo was taken before it had completely settled.
There also appear to be many shadows going in different directions, which is used to prove that there were different light sources, hence the belief that the shadows are cast by studio lights. The believers argue that the sun was low so it distorts the shadows, and if there were multiple light sources there should be more shadows for each object so it wouldn’t make sense.
Furthermore, it is claimed that all the rocks we see in the photos are actually props. There seems to be the shape of a letter C in one of the rocks so it is considered proof that they faked them. This has been debunked by saying that the C doesn’t really appear on the NASA prints. agnified it looks like a hair or an unintentional mark that was transferred onto later copies. In fact, 32kg of moon rock have been collected through other 6 separate missions.
Finally, one of the most popular clues from the pictures is the fact that there are no visible stars. It is obviously common knowledge that the sky is full of stars, and one would assume that in space it would be even clearer, right? But actually, in none of NASA’s photos from the landing can we see stars. Debunkers say that the astronauts took photos focusing on bright white objects, so the technology plus the exposure of the camera would not capture vague or unclear subjects like stars.
There are hundreds of queries that suggest the moon landing was a hoax. Some claims are ridiculous and really step over the line, but some appear reasonable and fair. This is the beauty of all conspiracies. It is really up to everyone’s personal opinion to decide what to believe, but it is interesting to take a look at someone else’s opinions and explore different perspectives. What do you believe is the truth?
Sources
https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration/moon-landing-1969
https://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2009/jun/29/apollo-11-moon-landing-hoax
All this has led scientists to devote more time and energy than they should to debunk these ideas, although that’s probably more effective than Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s alternative. When confronted, he punched a Moon landing conspiracy theorist in 2002 — don’t worry, Aldrin wasn’t charged with assault. Will Smith, eat your heart out.
Fue un visionario que, en los años 50, había anticipado que la única solución para poder continuar viviendo en este mundo sin lástimar el medio ambiente, sería el delimitar nuestro consumo. Viviendo mejor y gastando menos.