A few weeks ago I was licky enough to attend a talk by Astronaut Joe Allen. This was given as a fund raiser at a local school.
The talk was well delivered and interesting, but as you'd expect, during 'question time' at the end, the subject of the Apollo Hoax was brought up. I am a little confused as to Dr Allen's reaction, as he didn't really say anything! In fact it fell to sir Patrick Moore (who was there as guest to introduce Dr Allen) to dismiss the hoax claims. I guess people involved with NASA/Space Exploration are a bit fed up with the same question from the audience, but it wouldn't have been difficult to say "Yes they did land, nest question!". I think this reticence give the conspiracy theorists something else to go on about.
For the record, think that there was no hoax.

Welcome to the board, Jim.

The West Dorset District Counsil posted the October 1, 2004, talk, "Walking in Space," on their events leaflet page:

How was the question phrased? Maybe the astronaut was trying to decide between being diplomatic and blasting with both barrels.

Actually I'd be interested in discussing the matter with Joe Allen since his book Entering Space is frequently quoted by conspiracists as evidence that hydrazine fueled rockets must make a visible plume and a loud roar. Joe might want to comment specifically on that.

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Perhaps he wasnt expecting such an question. As previuosly posted it may have been phrased in a way that made a quick answer dificult.

On a the theme of astronauts reactions to the hoax claims I stumbled over the following quote a day or two ago:

You cant get much of a more straightforwardly answer than that.

hasn't anyone ever asked you a question or told you something that was so absurd, you couldn't think of a proper response that doesn't make you look like some sort of psycho weirdo?
i'm thinking it was something along those lines.

All the time. I'm glad I don't go with the first response that comes to mind, either.

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Sounds like for once Dick Cheney might actually be useful for something, in this case, the role of spokesman.

Then again although Joe Allen was a member of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 15, he never went to the Moon. Instead he logged his space hours in LEO in the Shuttle before leaving NASA in 1985.

So his lack of response might have been a silent "Not only is that a stupid question, but, why are you asking me?"

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HB questioning is comparable to this:

Someone says to you, "Yes or No, have you quit doing [a loathed, embarassing, and publicly humiliating act]?"

You (having never done said act) "Well...um...I'm not sure how to answer that."

Someone, "I need an answer, Yes or No!"

You, "But--"

Someone, "No ifs, ands or buts; would you quit beating around the bush and just answer my question."

You, "It's not--."

Someone, "Yes or No?!

You, [silence]

Someone "Your silence only imcriminates you. I WIN!"

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I once asked Alan Bean what he thought of the moon hoax and he just laughed.

I think Buzz Aldrin's response (punching) to that idiot's queries a while ago is what most astronauts would like to do. It's what I would like to do, anyway. But I know it would be counterproductive.

C.

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Ah, the shenanigans of Bart Sibrel. I was happy to see Buzz Aldrin punch him. Sibrel now offers a new video [$$$] in addition to his A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon, his new video Astronauts Gone Wild is $30.00. He even has a preview to his video (i.e., it's the clip of Buzz Aldrin punching him.) I have seen this video clip many times from various sources, but at Sibrel's website, the audio is not syncronized with the video; clearly a sign that the he faked it and it must be a hoax. :wink:

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Bwahahaha! Thank you for that link! I never saw that before!

Here is a link to a slightly longer clip with syncronized sound (the video image is horizontally flipped, though.) As for it being longer in length, you will see that it includes dialogue by Sibrel after he's been punched. Rather than Sibrel saying, "Ouch, I'm injured!" or rather than venting frustration at Aldrin, he [Sibrel] asks [the camera person] "did you get that on camera?" If that doesn't say "impure motives" I don't know what does. I don't think Sibrel was hurt, but since it was "caught on tape" Sibrel uses it to his advantage as "proof."

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It's quite obvious that Sibrel's motive was to provoke a reaction. Ostensibly it was to be an interview for the Discovery Channel. Then Sibrel sprang his swear-on-the-bible stunt. Aldrin realized what was up and left. Obviously Sibrel wasn't going to get his interview, so that can't have been the original motive. Sibrel followed him out of the hotel, around Aldrin's car, back into the hotel, and back out again -- all the while pressing the point. And calling Aldrin a liar and a thief while poking him with a Bible was obviously calculated to provoke an outburst.

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I watched a documentary featuring Sylvester McCoy, the actor who portrayed the Seventh Doctor on Doctor Who. He was speaking about his first encounter with Doctor Who fandom. He had been invited to a convention and was asked to sit in on a question-and-answer forum. One of the fans asked him about something he'd done in his third incarnation. Thinking quickly, McCoy (who has a long history in vaudeville and standup comedy) did an amusing impromptu impersonation of Jon Pertwee (who played the third doctor). But the fan didn't mean it as a joke. He was quite serious, and seemed very confused at McCoy's response.

I'm not sure how that sort of a question should be answered, though to be fair, that question didn't make McCoy look like a psycho weirdo, but rather made the fan look that way.

What I always imagined that would happen was that Sibrel would take Aldrin to court, and after they showed the video Aldrin would claim the video was faked and back it up with non parallel shadows, non waving flags in an atmosphere, too large sun reflections and others

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Did you ever see the Daily Show's bit on the incident?

Pretty close to what you describe.

Back, and to the left. Back, and to the left. 8)

Having seen the JFK doco last week I actually get that now, lol.

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Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran