NO HOPE

We can argue all day about whether or not the moon landing in 1969 was real (and there will never be a definitive conclusion). I like to believe that it was because I'm a huge fan of the whole space race thing and think it's a shame that it's almost non-existent now.

But a friend of mine, Dan Fletcher (maybe you've heard of him), directed me to this site that has all kinds of awesome stuff. A few of the posts are related to the moon landing and the one that I found the most fascinating was how Richard Nixon had a speech prepared in case the astronauts never made it back.

Motherboard -- If the Apollo 11 astronauts had been become stranded on the Moon, William Safire drafted a speech for President Richard Nixon to read on television to the nation.

The plans said that Mission Control was to “close down communications” with the Lunar Module. In a public ritual likened to burial at sea, clergyman would then have commended their souls to “the deepest of the deep” Presidential telephone calls to the astronauts’ wives were also planned.

The speech came from a memo from Safire to Nixon’s chief of staff H. R. Haldeman in which Safire suggested a protocol the administration might follow in reaction to such an event.

"Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by the nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown."

SPACE IS SERIOUS BUSINESS

Way to ruin the fun, NASA.

From Breitbart.com -- The world is not coming to an end on December 21, 2012, the US space agency insisted Monday in a rare campaign to dispel widespread rumors fuelled by the Internet and a new Hollywood movie. 
Sony Pictures's latest big screen offering "2012" arrives in theaters on Friday, with a 200-million-dollar production about the end of the world supposedly based on myths backed by the Mayan calendar.

The doomsday scenario revolves claims that the end of time will come as an obscure Planet X -- or Nibiru -- heads toward or collides into Earth.

The mysterious planet was supposedly discovered by the Sumerians, according to claims by pseudo-scientists, paranormal activity enthusiasts and Internet theorists.

Some websites accuse NASA of concealing the truth on the wayward planet's existence, but the US space agency denounced such stories as an "Internet hoax."

"There is no factual basis for these claims," NASA said in a question-and-answer posting on its website.

If such a collision were real "astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye," it added. "Obviously, it does not exist."

"Credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012," NASA insisted.

Initial theories set the disaster for May 2003, but when nothing happened the date was moved forward to the winter solstice in 2012 to coincide with the end of a cycle of the ancient Mayan calendar.

But NASA insisted the Mayan calendar in fact does not end on December 21, 2012, as another period begins immediately afterward. And it said there are no planetary alignments on the horizon for the next few decades.

And even if the planets were to line up as some have forecast, the effect on our planet would be "negligible," NASA said.

Among the other theories NASA has set out to debunk are that geomagnetic storms, a pole reversal or unsteadiness in the Earth's crustal plates might befall the planet.

And while comets and asteroids have always hit the Earth, "big hits are very rare," NASA noted. The last major impact was believed to be 65 million years ago, spurring the end of dinosaurs.

"We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs," the space agency said.

SPACE. THE FINAL FRONTIER.

Today is July 20, 2009 and it's the fortieth anniversary of the moon landing. Or the moon landing hoax. Whichever you prefer, I guess.
I've never been big on conspiracy theories so in the grand scheme of things, I don't really care what evidence there is or what the experts think.
I think we landed on the moon (and by "we" I mean a bunch of guys that were far more intelligent and dedicated than myself. They were U.S. citizens just as I am, but that's really all we have in common. That and Aldrin was balding).
Of course, that might just be because I want to believe that we landed on the moon. I want to believe really, really bad. I won't argue with anyone one way or another because the thought of outer space is far more interesting than hating fun. Plus, as a Gentleman Explorer, a sense of adventure is required and there's nothing more exciting than the thought of a manned mission to outer space.
I've always had an obsession with space (and not just because the first movie I remember seeing as a kid was Return of the Jedi. That might have a little something to do with it, though).

...I had somewhere I was going with this, I promise. But the guy next to me at the coffee shop is browsing porn sites and I kinda lost my train of thought. I'll get back to this.