My understanding of one of the motives HBs put up is that the Lunar landings could not be safely done.

Now in the movie Capricorn One, the astronauts were pulled from the capsul because of some kind of screw up by the contractor, and according to the Wikipedia reference to the film (Spoilers alert)

So how plausible is that one, because I am under the impression that a number of shuttle launches were scrubbed because of last minute problems. The only thing I can see that came close would be the Challenger disaster when there was political pressure to fly.

So what is the NASA record of scrubbed missions, so we can put this one to bed.

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Van Rijn's original Invisible Elf was running for the North Carolina Senate, but dropped out of the contest after the paparazzi snapped him with a cute pixie just outside Disney World in Florida. Now he has settled down with her as they await their first child, writing his biography of life in Van Rijn's backyard, - Now you prove me wrong

Best example is probably the first one, back in May, 1961, where Alan Shepard's Mercury-Redstone flight, after numerous scrubs (which cost him being the first human in space), was delayed so much due to technical concerns that he eventually wound up peeing in his space suit.

Many politicos wanted John Glenn's orbital flight to take place in the same year as Gagarin's, but back then NASA resisted temptation and pressure, and made sure they did all they could to assure a successful mission, even though that meant Glenn's journey took place in 1962.

Re Capricorn One, as I always say to the CTs, it's a movie. The giveaway re it's not being science is that Capricornus is the constellation, whereas "Capricorn" is an astrological sign. Another way of sending the message that this movie, like astrology, is baloney.

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During Mercury probems with the redstone missile caused Shepard's flight to be delayed until May, so he missed out on being the first man in space. During Apollo faulty command module design and test procedures killed three astronauts, problems with the LM delayed its first flight. Political pressure is no incentive to fake things, because the preparation and expense of faking the missions would be greater than that required to fix the problem, and faking leaves open political embarrassment if it is ever uncovered. The Capricorn 1 scenario is pure fiction.

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"The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: They don't alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views." The Doctor, Doctor Who: The Face of Evil.

..and very very very difficult to do when you've got 5,000 cameras with mega-zoom-lenses from news services around the world pointed at the capsules from across the Intercoastal Waterway recording every little thing around the launch pads.

It's not like operations at the Cape are in a vacuum sealed off from the outside world (like the Russian and Chinese operations). People talk; people see things and reporters would sell their souls to get any kind of story....

An example from outside the USA would be Soyuz 1. The new Soyuz capsule wasn't ready to fly but the Soviets proceeded anyway because of considerable political pressure. Unfortunately the engineers were correct and cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov lost his life because of it.

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Being caught faking something incurs more than just political embarrassment. Misappropriation of tax money is a felony. The government officials responsible would have been tried and possibly convicted and sent to federal prison, as would the heads of any contractors who had accepted money with knowledge of the deception.

Obviously the most desirable outcome is a successful set of missions. But if success were elusive, the next best outcome from a political standpoint would have been a valiant effort that failed. Given the efforts of Proxmire, Mondale, et al., the worst option politically would be a hoax.

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

People talk; people see things and reporters would sell their souls to get any kind of story....

For years the Orlando Sentinel ran periodic "trouble at the Cape" stories talking about this or that, so it's not as if your notion is purely hypothetical. The Florida press seems to have had no problem following up on charges of corruption, mismanagement, or other shenanigans.

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

Well if I am remebering the movie correctly too, didnt it get out? Enough of the problems leeked during the so called mission that it caught the attention of Elliot Gould who then managed to catch up to James Brolin as the faceless soldier types were about to do him in...

Sort of a subtle way for the director to kinda say, if any mission had been faked it would've drawn the attention of /someone/ ..and no fake scenario is perfect.

From the sounds of the voices and cameras atthe end of the film at the cementary I would say that was it for Hal Bolbrook's NASA. I also think the Real Life NASA would know such a thing up front.

No life support system equals no mission.

I still remember as a little boy all of the holds NASA used to put on thier launches and groan and wait....and wait.....and wait :P

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Okay, I think I have the true hoax theory nailed at last.

NASA set out to perpetrate a hoaxed Moon landing. To ensure that everything looked kosher, the let out contracts for the various pieces of Apollo hardware. As the program proceeded, at a certain point they realized that the cover-up hardware would actually work, so they actually flew the missions.

Apollo was a failed hoax attempt!

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"It is quite clear that Occam's razor does not sharpen in your pyramid." (Nicolas)

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." (Paul Simon)

You said it, bub. Is your name supposed to be a phonetic joke on "Mixed it up"? Or "Makes stuff"?

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"Carl Sagan sent a message to ET,
Neil Armstrong walked in the Sea of Tranquility
Steve Squyers built Spirit and Opportunity
Dan Haylen upchucked in zero gravity." -Brent Simon, The Space Camp Song
'Evolution and science are one thing, but you don’t mess with Yoko Ono. Everybody knows that. ' - 386sx

The initial tip off was from a MOCR console operator who realised that the signals from the 'spacecraft on Mars' were being broadcast from within a 400 mile radius and not from space. Exactly how he established this wasn't made clear. On reporting it to his supervisor, he was "disappeared" (but not before confiding to Elliot Gould...Elliot Gould!!! ... in a bar that something wasn't right).

Elliot Gould, James Brolin & OJ Simpson. What a piece of casting. The romance scenes in this movie still make me nauseous even thinking back on them after all these years. Whatever they paid that actress, it wasn't nearly enough.


(Ooh - post 2001. Fitting for this forum)

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With apologies to Gillianren, it's the Intracoastal Waterway; the Intercoastal Waterway would go from coast to coast.

Shortly before the Challenger disaster, I was talking to my team leader and we were worrying about delays in the launch. The payload on Challenger was a TDRSS satellite that had to be in orbit before our project, a ground station for another satellite, could go. The project manager was a young Air Force brigadier, a real "Hard Charger." There had been a lot of delays (it was a cold winter in Florida) and I idly asked "What if General ____ says 'I don't want to hear you problems; I want that bird in orbit TODAY'." My boss "We'll lose a bird."
Sadly, two weeks later I stood in the plant parking lot and watched Challenger blow up. It wasn't the General's fault, but it was the same mind set.

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No matter how strong, or brave, or pure of heart you may be; sometimes the dragon wins!

It's somewhere between a toast and a telescope, with a bit of skew, you should be so lucky.

You got any Moody people in your family tree?

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Brother, you haven't said the half of it: The OS seems hellbent on being the WaPo to a non-extant NASA "Watergate".

An engineer could kick over an ant mound walking from the SSPF to the ONC building and the Slantinel would publish a report stating "NASA Officials Mass-Murder Thousands In Engineering Mistake".

Ahem.

Sorry.

Back to your regularly scheduled BAUT thread.

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I believe the world is billions of years old. Why? Because God gave me COMMON SENSE!

Attention all agents: he knows. Take your "L" pills.

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I'm a Christian.
I believe the world is billions of years old. Why? Because God gave me COMMON SENSE!

And this paper would help cover up an Apollo hoax? I don't think so.

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"Time travel gives me a headache." - Capt. Kathryn Janeway

See? You fell for the mis-information.

The OS is being paid by the government for thier dis-information campaign. They are successfully drawing your attention away from the big story, by making you think they are able to expose any tiny little thing. How else can a newspaper stay profitable nowadays?

(slap, slap, slap)
Oh, my... did I drift off there for a moment?

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Is a TDRSS satellite different from a TDRS? I've seen the former a couple of times now but it looks and feels pleonastic.