Ammunition for Theorists Who Believe U.S. Moon Landing Was A Hoax

Photo courtesy NASA

Because of anticipated delays in spacesuit development, it is "not feasible" for NASA to land humans on the moon by the agency's hopeful deadline of 2024, a new report from the agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has found.

The above notice is from an article at Space.com regarding a new report indicating that NASA may not be ready for it's scheduled 2024 moon launch because the space suits will not be ready in time.  

"NASA's current schedule is to produce the first two flight-ready xEMUs by November 2024, but the agency faces significant challenges in meeting this goal," the audit reads. However, it adds, given anticipated delays in spacesuit development, "a lunar landing in late 2024 as NASA currently plans is not feasible."

The cost for these suits alone will be over a billion dollars. Cost isn't the only obstacle, there is also a need to test the suits and verify their effectiveness in protecting the explorer astronauts. The testing and verification process will take 20 months. 

The way I see it is that if it really takes this much trouble to make a space suit, how did we accomplish those early moon walks beginning in 1969.

Now I myself am on record as being a believer in that momentous event 50 years ago when Armstrong and Aldrin touched down on the lunar surface. Neverthelsss, stories like this one could easily raise doubts in the minds of those who feel less confident about the historical record. 

If I'm not mistaken, enough time has passed to open all the sealed documents about these events. The Freedom of Information Act was theoretically designed to provide journalists access to information that had previously been concealed. If it really were a hoax you'd think someone would have uncovered more  "aha!" insights by now.

Heres the original story from Space.com:
US astronaut moon landing 'not feasible,' by 2024 due to spacesuit delay, NASA's inspector general finds

Related Links

Did Man Really Walk on the Moon?

Buzz Aldrin's Moon Walk and Its Aftermath

The New Moon

The Most Complete History of Man’s Moon Missions That I’ve Ever Seen 

Space Oddity and the Quest for Connection

Photo courtesy NASA

THROWBACK THURSDAY
This past week I read an article about loneliness, which simultaneously brought to mind The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby and a book by Swiss psychologist Paul Tournier, Escape from Loneliness. This post on that particular theme was shared 11 years ago today.

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills 

and put your helmet on 

Ground Control to Major Tom 

Commencing countdown, engines on 

Check ignition and
may God's love be with you
 
[spoken] Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff 

These opening lines from David Bowie's Space Oddity were such a radical departure from the contemporary pop of its time. Contrast this to Honky Tonk Women (Rolling Stones) or Build Me Up, Buttercup (Foundations). The space race was in full swing when this was being written. The title is a transparent take-off on Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which had been continuously playing in New York for years. But the song is clearly about something else. 

 
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare
 
You can picture the astronaut, out there alone, cut off from the world floating beneath and away from him, separated not only by space but by his strange experience, uniquely disquieting because how many people can understand or imagine what he is thinking, feeling, going through at this moment, his fears, his anxieties... and that strange comment about his fame... "the papers want to know whose shirts you wear" as he ponders the meaning of his life.

I don't always sleep well, with so much on my mind so much of the time. You have to wonder how these astronauts got any rest at all, wrapped in Mission Control outfits that can't possibly have been as comfy as being in one's underwear between sheets.

As with all great poetry, a rose is not a rose. And the capsule Major Tom is to emerge from is more than a capsule. He is leaving the security of what he knows for the uncertainty of the unknown; he is leaving the domain where he is in control. He is letting go.

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do
 

Tom Wolfe's bestseller The Right Stuff is one fat book, but it's a fascinating read and a great picture of the audacity of the space program and the space cowboys who made it happen. Not everyone has what it takes.

There are many endeavors to which we are suited or ill-suited based on our personal dispositions. Career choices, if at all possible, should not only dovetail with our interests but also our personalities. Some people have to be outdoors and find office space stifling. Some are more social, and others most comfortable in solitude. Some like being active, others prefer contemplative tasks.

Wolfe made it clear that The Right Stuff is more than physical toughness. There's a mental facet involving courage, risk taking and steel nerves, among other things.

Wolfe made them out to be America's heroes, and on one level they were thus. But if you trace the aftermath of their space walks, moon walks, multiple cycles 'round the globe, you find that they were mortals, just like you and I. They struggled with the basic needs we all struggle with, how to make peace with ourselves in a world that often fails to understand us. Learning to overcome the loneliness of our isolation and find peace within our solitude.

Here's the culmination of Bowie's song.

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....
 
Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do.

Is it tragic, or beautiful? Thomas Wolfe (author of Look Homeward Angel, and not to be confused with Tom Wolfe above) once observed, "The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and to a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence."

Perhaps Space Oddity makes a connection because nearly all youth feel to some degree a measure of alienation, a disconnection with friends and family, partly out of fear of revealing our most vulnerable selves. When we recognize that nearly all have struggled with self-doubts, uncertainty and apprehension, then we understand we're not so alone as we imagined.

Of these things much more can be said. Have a thoughtful day. For those around you struggling with their isolation, reach out and share your ray of sunshine.

The Idea of Sending Humans to Mars Is Ridiculous, Former Astronaut Says

Imaginary model of space station on Mars, courtesy NASA

In 2018, Bill Anders, lunar module pilot for Apollo 8, which was the first human spacecraft to leave Earth's orbit, was interviewed on BBC Radio Live. Because of the renewed interest by NASA and others in sending humans to Mars, he was asked his opinion. He wasn't afraid to share his thoughts, calling the idea "almost ridiculous" and "stupid."

I know there are a lot of romantic notions about space travel out there, in part because of Star Trek and Star Wars, which makes our explorations of the Universe seem inevitable. It just seems such a leap to me, and many of the practical issues seldom get discussed. 

I can't recall the book I read that first persuaded me that a Mars voyage would easily become a nightmare for the humans who had to endure it. The whole matter of boring food, dealing with pee and excrement, occasional backaches, vomiting inside the cabin and the like just strikes me as a highly unappetizing experience. And then you have the problem of people with their idiosyncratic personalities scraping against each other over a prolonged journey in tight quarters... No thank you.

While trying to find the book I'd read I came across this story about Bill Anders on BBC Radio, Christmas eve 2018. The occasion for this interview was the 50th anniversary of that first flight around the moon. The title of the story was Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says. 

Anders in outer space, 1968.

Yes, NASA is currently planning new human missions to the Moon, but what will come of it? 

Being an astronaut sounds glamorous, but it involves a lot of indignity. I can't even imagine what it would smell like or feel like. How often would you get to bathe? How often could you change your underwear? The water you drink is recycled urine.... for more than a year. ("Does this water taste funny to you?")

Those are the kinds of things that I think about when people talk about space travel, in part because I've read enough to know it's not a walk in the park. 

Here' an article that is worth reading if you are a young person dreaming of a vacation to the Red planet: How Astronauts Pee and Poop In Space

There are some who argue that we haven't even landed on the moon yet. Maybe someone will lay out the case for that in the comments. 

As for me, I do believe we've been there, but so what? 

Meantime... What are your thoughts about missions to Mars? Why is it important to send people if we can learn just as much using robotics? 

Most people who have followed this story know that Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, has been quite vocal about taking this "next step" in space exploration. It's evident that not all astronauts are reading from the same script. The BBC story included this paragraph that reveals Frank Borman's views on this matter. 

Frank Borman is not as critical of space exploration as Anders, still thinks that dreams of colonizing the red planet are silly. "I do think there's a lot of hype about Mars that is nonsense. Musk and Bezos, they're talking about putting colonies on Mars, that's nonsense."

I personally believe there are other places where the money could be better spent.  

Related Link

Did Man Really Walk on the Moon?

Three Thoughts In Response to Mary Roach's Packing For Mars

The full title of this book is Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. I listened to the audio version of the book while commuting this past eight or ten days. I picked up the book because the topic of a manned mission to Mars has gained a lot of interest in recent years, inspired in part by Buzz Aldrin's passion along these lines and Elon Musk's enthusiasm for this project. Films like The Martian have not diminished the dream either.

But having read more than a few books about the astronaut program over the years, I've repeatedly wondered who in their right mind would want to undertake such a trip? Mary Roach's painstakingly researched collage of details regarding all that is involved with regard to eating, peeing, pooping, bathing and sleeping only serve to affirm what I've intuited all along. It just feels like a most horrid adventure from the outset.

The aim of today's blog post is to share three conclusions I've deduced from reading this book.

First, is Mary Roach's aim in writing Packing For Mars to inform us of the challenges or to dissuade us from actually imagining this is a worthwhile undertaking?

Second, did David Foster Wallace create a new mania for footnotes?
This past month I read Tom Wolfe's The Kingdom of Speech and I couldn't help but notice the preponderance of footnotes in the text. I had never noticed this in Wolfe's work before, having read The Painted Word, Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff as well as Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine.  Ms. Roach has an absolute ball with her footnotes, and it makes me wonder if David Foster Wallace really did pull a Hemingway on modern lit. That is, he's certainly appeared to have left some fingerprints. Check out his essay on cruise ships, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. More than 130 footnotes in a single essay. It's a stylistic coup.

Third, I couldn't help but wonder, is our discomfort in talking or joking about body functions a particularly American thing. I've read and heard that more primitive cultures have no qualms about making jokes about passing gas and other topics that tend to make us squeamish. Mary Roach holds nothing back. When you look at the subject matter of her other books, you might conclude she's building a reputation on this "insolence."

The Amazon.com book description reads as follows:
Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? have sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk?

Many of the reviews are five stars, but this one by Rex Xala seemed to more accurately coincide with my personal feelings about this exploration:

Combine equal parts of Sylvia Branzei's 'Grossology' and the Bathroom Readers' Institute's 'Uncle John's Bathroom Reader' series, make mention of something coming out of (or going into) the anus in nearly every chapter, add a thin pretext of future Mars expeditions, then glaze it over with stories of Astro-chimp masturbation and prehensile dolphin penises - Voila! - You now have an idea of what to expect from Mary Roach's 'Packing for Mars.' (Be sure to wash it all down with a nice chilled glass of charcoal filtered urine - Ms. Roach describes this beverage as "sweet...restorative and surprisingly drinkable" - Yum).

Xala does soften his edge with this follow up statement:

Do you believe we will one day be colonizing Mars?

Okay...perhaps the aforementioned description of 'Packing for Mars' is hyperbolic and a little bit unfair. To her credit, Ms. Roach seems to have put forth painstaking efforts in her research (she also includes long, ancillary foot notes on almost every page of her book). Moreover, through her emails and interviews with cosmonauts, astronauts, NASA personnel, etc., she manages to coax some rather candid information about seldom discussed issues/problems associated with space travel (e.g., personal hygiene, lavatory practices, sexual activity, etc.) Parts of this book were truly insightful, and from that perspective, I say "kudos" to Ms. Roach for her efforts.

This latter paragraph does a good job of indicating how anal Ms. Roach can be about her devotion to detail. If you are a writer, you will readily grasp that she has done an immense amount of research here. She clearly found ways to gain access to things most people would never have attempted to find, such as logs of all the astronauts conversations. She didn't stop there. Her sleuthing through cosmonaut history proved equally enlightening. Why did NASA first send monkeys into space whereas the Russians sent dogs? Ms. Roach answers this question and many others that you may have never thought to ask.

At the end of the day I appreciated the information packed into this well-researched volume. In the event that my friends or children of friends become mesmerized with the notion of planting their feet on Mars one day, I will feed them this dose of reality. At least they will know what they're getting into. It won't be pretty, though it will undoubtedly be historic.

Meantime, life goes on.... 

Rocket Science

After a year of painstaking research a group of Fifth Graders in Bern Switzerland have proven that, contrary to popular belief, rocket science is not as complicated as most people think. The kids were initially working on knowledge problems with the hopes of starring in a Swiss version of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, which would air in Geneva.

Meanwhile, scientists at NASA have strongly criticized the report and are petitioning Congress for more funding to research these new findings.

The National Education Association is likewise upset that the Swiss fifth graders went public with their research results, because reports are now coming in from numerous other countries around the globe that fifth graders are finding rocket science to be relatively easy. Korean fifth graders are reporting that rocket science is simple, actually.

This story has not been getting coverage in the United States for fear that students in America might have their feelings hurt and self-esteem damaged, which could be devastating to our nation's future.