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Neil Armstrong's reply to a Moon landing skeptic

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21–30 of 201 posts

Re: Neil Armstrong's reply to a Moon landing skeptic

#21

They would have you believe that the United States Government perpetrated a gigantic fraud on its citizenry. Well, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that happened, by any government. The “Weapons of Mass Destruction” lie could be described using the exact same sentence, and that wasn’t even twenty years ago. Not defending the moon landing doubters, or conspiracy theorists in general, but: the proper response to…

Oh and didn't the WMD fraud come out internally ? Tell me one NASA or JPL scientist officially on the mission who is claiming that it was fake ? Stop being contrarian for the sake of it .

As I said, I’m not defending the moon landing doubters. But it seems obvious to me that the recent increase in conspiracy theories is a direct result of unethical institutional and government actions coming to light.

Re: Neil Armstrong's reply to a Moon landing skeptic

#22

They would have you believe that the United States Government perpetrated a gigantic fraud on its citizenry. Well, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that happened, by any government. The “Weapons of Mass Destruction” lie could be described using the exact same sentence, and that wasn’t even twenty years ago. Not defending the moon landing doubters, or conspiracy theorists in general, but: the proper response to…

Oh and didn't the WMD fraud come out internally ? Tell me one NASA or JPL scientist officially on the mission who is claiming that it was fake ? Stop being contrarian for the sake of it .

Did it come internally? Didn't it just become obvious once they got there and nothing was there? Apologies, I'm not from the US so I didn't follow that closely

Re: Neil Armstrong's reply to a Moon landing skeptic

#23
post #3

This is the sort of craziness that led to the Dark Ages after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. We humans are pretty much our own worst enemies.

I can't see the parallel between the willful ignorance displayed and the "Dark Ages." Do you think the migrating tribes just refused to believe those aqueducts existed?

Re: Neil Armstrong's reply to a Moon landing skeptic

#24

Most men would have soiled myself if they were put into a position of having to reboot the rocket and make it back to Earth. And then seeing how one of the astronauts kept his cool when one of the components for redeparture failed. Just incredible!

The whole thing seems like instant death every moment. Perhaps as test pilots they all got used to just trying to get on with things, but maybe they really did soil themselves like us mortals?

Re: Neil Armstrong's reply to a Moon landing skeptic

#26
post #12

What gets me most about these fools is they completely ignore how much such a huge fake job would cost. It would be so expensive that you could cut the budget in half and just...go to the moon.

There are always people that actually believe it, but there are good reasons to suspect it's not entirely organic. If one made a list of times the "fake landing" thing was used, the vast _minority_ would be arguments agreeing with this skeptic; in reality, it serves a different purpose. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21170684 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21057230

> The most effective way to prevent people from looking into something is to poison the well. Attach the thing to something else obviously false, bonus points if evokes a negative emotional response.

But then what is the end goal of all this? Anti-US propaganda?

Re: Neil Armstrong's reply to a Moon landing skeptic

#27

Most men would have soiled myself if they were put into a position of having to reboot the rocket and make it back to Earth. And then seeing how one of the astronauts kept his cool when one of the components for redeparture failed. Just incredible!

He was a famously cool customer.

>Two men were about to land on the moon, and Mission Control in Houston was thrumming with tension. In the science-operations room, Gerald Schaber, a geologist, needed something to do while he waited for the lunar module to touch down. Schaber had come from northern Arizona, where engineers had warped the desert with dynamite to make a cratered landscape where the astronauts could train. His job didn’t start until Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of the lunar module and began to explore the slate-colored surface. And the wait was getting to him.

>“Our hearts were beating [fast], of course, everybody’s was,” Schaber told me recently. “So I figured I might as well watch theirs.”

>Schaber switched his monitor to the channel displaying biomedical data for the astronauts. Armstrong seemed calmer than some of the folks in Mission Control. The commander’s heart was ticking along at 75 beats per minute, a remarkable rate for someone who was about to, you know, land on the moon. An adult’s normal resting heart rate is between 60 to 100 beats per minute. My heart rate right now, writing this story, is 75, according to a fitness tracker.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/apollo-1...

Re: Neil Armstrong's reply to a Moon landing skeptic

#28
post #3

This is the sort of craziness that led to the Dark Ages after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. We humans are pretty much our own worst enemies.

Of course we’re our own worst enemies. At least now that our technology allows us to overcome all our non-human enemies.

> technology allows us to overcome all our non-human enemies

Like hurricanes and COVID.

Re: Neil Armstrong's reply to a Moon landing skeptic

#29

They would have you believe that the United States Government perpetrated a gigantic fraud on its citizenry. Well, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that happened, by any government. The “Weapons of Mass Destruction” lie could be described using the exact same sentence, and that wasn’t even twenty years ago. Not defending the moon landing doubters, or conspiracy theorists in general, but: the proper response to…

The WMD claim had plenty of holes poked through it even at the time. There were constant stories making it clear the inspectors in Iraq were not finding anything, and whistle blowers like Valerie Plame who directly contradicted the White House claims. Today, less than twenty years later, it's no longer a question that there weren't any WMDs. The fraud Armstrong is pointing out isn't really comparable.

Re: Neil Armstrong's reply to a Moon landing skeptic

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this the joke? That if Kubrick really was going to be employed by the US Government to "fake" a moon landing that, with his penchant for realistic set design, he would've filmed it on site.

See also this Mitchell and Webb sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6MOnehCOUw

Ha. I thought about linking that one. Always a classic.
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