When this first came up we found another Charles Hawkins, a lecturer with the Physics department at University of Texas, El Paso. The name was apparently the only connection. From a brief view of the page he appears to be inactive from the university but is certainly of the right age to have published papers at that time. The paper is far more likely to be from the scientist rather than the sham author.

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The moon hoax Hawkins is around 40-45 so this guy looks to be a bit too old.

Perhaps I should have quoted Obviousman for my answer. I was responding to his statement The Hawkins at UTEP could be the author of the study. He looks old enough to have written the paper in 1968. The profile at the UTEP Physics department does not give a CV or any research interests so one can't be sure. I do not want anyone to confuse him with the "author" of the moon hoax books.

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Yep, the Hawkins at UTEP is the author of the paper. Link

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There are different people with that name, including some prominent authors. Is your teacher the one who wrote the recent moon hoax book?

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If I were a Charles T. Hawkins who had not written the moon hoax book, I would distance myself from it as boldly as possible, especially if I wanted to have a career in science and education. And my mother teaches at the same university as one of von Braun's daughters. Would it be worth it to see if she remembers any Hawkins?

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I have the Hawkin's book, and if you do the math, you'll find that the author was born somewhere between 1960-1965. Von Braun was at White Sands from 1946 to 1950.

How old is you teacher? He would have to close to 80 for the story to work. Of course then the book is a lie.

IMO, Charles Hawkins doesn't exist. In the book, he states that he went to college, but googling for his college shows that it doesn't exist.

Ask him what college he went to.

If he's 72 now, then he was born in 1935. That means he was 10-15 during Wernher von Braun's tenure at White Sands. Either you've got his age wrong, or he's got his memory wrong.

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In his book, he states that he has a degree in Computer Science and no mention of an advanced degree.

He also mentions that he is married and that his kids are not adults.

If he is 72, then he lied in the book about his age.

I still maintain the "author" is a complete fraud. Not one piece of verifiable evidence.

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Well maybe he's not the author of the book...

I would sure like to know for sure whether he is or not.

...according to what i understood from wikipedia von Braun period at Fort Bliss and White sands is from 1945 to 1957.

No. Wernher von Braun and his family moved to Huntsville, Alabama on April 15, 1950. They would remain there for 20 years.

Von Braun's oldest daughter Iris was born in 1948. If we assume she started dating at age 16, that would make the year 1964 and the place definitely Hunstville.

If your teacher is 72, there is no way he would have worked with von Braun at White Sands and no way he could have dated any of von Braun's daughters in Texas.

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I would have to agree. Everything I've heard points to a fictional person made up to sound better for a lame book.

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Better yet, why don't you encourage him to join this BB. According to his book, he has a degree in computer science, so I would guess that he has access to a computer.

...I would guess that he has access to a computer.

And, apparently, plenty of time to talk about hoaxes.

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Really?

Ever heard of Huntsville, Alabama?

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Wernher von Braun was a public figure. His movements were followed by many people. It's hard to bluff about associating with him, especially if it means claiming he was someplace other than where he was commonly observed to be. Beginning in 1960, von Braun was the director of NASA's new George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. For ten years previously he had operated that facility under the flag of the U.S. Army. He would operate that center until 1970, when he was transferred to Washington DC.

So when you say he was "at White Sands in the 1960s," you have to be more specific. You have to explain how he was able to do that while simultaneously being very prominently located at Hunstville working on the very visible task of building the Saturn V. It is of course possible that he visited White Sands briefly at various times during the 1960s, but the historical record is undeniable that von Braun was not based in White Sands at any time after 1950.

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But apparently they weren't followed by the person making this particular bluff. Yet more proof that Charles Hawkins is a figment of someone's imagination.

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"Women are like Voltron. The more you can hook up, the better it gets."

The only Apollo operations undertaken at White Sands were the Little Joe abort system tests. Those occurred throughout the 1960s. Von Braun had nothing to do with them; the boilerplate CMs and Little Joe launch vehicles were supplied by North American and the LES by Thiokol, all supervised by other people at NASA.

Von Braun's primary area of responsibility during the 1960s was the Saturn launch vehicle family, which were engineered out of Huntsville and test-flown out of the Florida launch sites. They were not operated at White Sands.

We cannot obviously rule out some brief, ephemeral visit to White Sands at some point during the 1960s. But the notion that von Braun was doing any substantial work then out of White Sands, such that this teacher would have had any significant involvement with him there from 1960-1970, is very soundly contradicted by a fairly indisputable body of evidence. The record of von Braun's tenure at Marshall is hardly obscure.

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