# Moon Mystery **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2007, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663 "2007-06-12T03:50:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/41 "2007-06-12T16:46:04Z")
[QUOTE=Snickers] What’s seriously cool is that the Russians, AFAIK, are the only ones to have ever landed several probes on Venus. Think about that - Venus! How awesome is that? A bunch of the little probes sent back pictures of the surface and have taken sample before they melted. Most have lasted about an hour. I find this beyond fascinating. [/QUOTE] It didn’t all go perfectly. > [@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera\_14](#): > > Venera 14 landed at 13,25° S, 310° E (about 950 km southwest of Venera 13) near the eastern flank of Phoebe Regio on a basaltic plain. > > The lander had cameras to take pictures of the ground and spring-loaded arms to measure the compressibility of the soil. The quartz camera windows were covered by lens caps which popped off after descent. Venera 14, however, ended up measuring the compressibility of the lens cap, which landed right where the probe was to measure the soil. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/42 "2007-06-12T16:59:39Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] And for the record, if this is a stupid “we never landed on the moon” thread, before you waste our time with the same old bullshit arguments, please read, in their entirety, the previous discussions we’ve had on the topic. Links will be provided on request. [/QUOTE] Preemptive strike: [Was the Apollo moon landing a hoax? (31-Mar-2000)](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmoonhoax.html): Staff report column. [Have we really been to the moon or what?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=362123): Thread in “General Questions” [Moon Hoax](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=316746):Thread in “General Questions” [Could anyone point me in the direction of a “moon hoax” debunking site please?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=130499):Thread in “General Questions” [Did they ever land on the Moon?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=124786): Thread in “General Questions” [“Was the mon landing a hoax?” Article](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=284653): Thread in “Comments on Staff Reports” [Did Armstrong REALLY walk on the moon?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=127565): Thread in “Comments on Staff Reports” Unfortunately, it seems like there were once some older threads that had even more stuff in them, but I’ll be darned if I can find them. Purged, prehaps? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/43 "2007-06-12T17:02:36Z")
If we can put men on the moon, then why can’t we make this or that? Why? WHY?! Because we never landed on the moon! Jeesh. It’s so obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/44 "2007-06-12T17:08:46Z")
It’s deeply ironic that in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=424505), **CJOK** suggests that the OP dump a friend who believes in racial stereotypes, yet in this thread proudly proclaims himself to be a moon hoaxer. The two are equivalent to one another. Both require a total ignorance of modern science, a deafness to any and all arguments presented by science, and an embracing of trivial surface resemblances over deeper understanding of the facts. The race to the moon in the 1960s was a propaganda contest, not a real scientific endeavor. The U.S. won. The humiliated Russians admitted it. And that’s the mountain that any moon hoaxer has to climb over. If the Apollo landings were a hoax, the Russians had every motivation to expose the hoax. But they couldn’t. They knew the truth. The Russians were as capable of tracking the spacecraft to the moon as the U.S. was. Heck, any ham radio operator with the right equipment could do that, and did. The Russians knew where the ship was, when the LEM landed, when it took off. You can’t hide transmissions from space. The world knew perfectly well that a moon landing had taken place at exactly the moment that we said it did. How does any rational inquiry get beyond that? It can’t, and that’s why moon hoaxers have to rely on irrational and unscientific arguments. And the Russian knowledge of, and total belief in, the U.S. moon landing explains what happens next. The moon programs were wildly expensive. The U.S. was sinking billions into Vietnam and so couldn’t afford to spend the gazillions more to establish a moon base that nobody wanted. They didn’t care about the moon, only about the victory in getting there. The Russians didn’t care about the moon either and similarly couldn’t afford a moon base. And it wasn’t worth a propaganda victory to put up. The moon was over and done with. People moved on to care about something else. If the U.S. hadn’t landed on the moon, then obviously everything changes. The Russians have enormous incentive to get there. And they would have spent the money to do so. But they didn’t. So history happened exactly the way everybody said it did. Denying the moon landing is as deliberately ignorant as denying the equality of the races. It is an embarrassment in what it says about you. I hope that if the OP returns he’ll think carefully about the subject and reconsider. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/45 "2007-06-12T17:23:09Z")
**Robot Arm’s link:** > [@](#): > > Venera 14, however, ended up measuring the compressibility of the lens cap, which landed right where the probe was to measure the soil. Well don’t leave us in the dark. What was it? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/46 "2007-06-12T17:34:13Z")
[QUOTE=NoClueBoy] To answer the OP: They’re all a little busy, what with the Eugenics Wars and all. [/QUOTE] You **know** we’re supposed to keep that under wraps. Mordan Claude would like to have a word with you! :mad: fnord What? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Millamant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Mrs.Millamant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Millamant)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/47 "2007-06-12T17:45:43Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I’m annoyed that they didn’t cover HAL’s birthday at the Computer Museum in Boston (really – I had to tell them about it). The REAL birthday – the one in the book. (By the time the one in the movie rolled around, there was no more Computer Museum anymore.) [/QUOTE] Isn’t that reversed–1992 in the movie, 1997 in the book? There wasn’t a parade, but there was an Ebert-hosted screening in '97. (It was awesome, but Kubrick didn’t come, because he insisted it was five years too late.) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/48 "2007-06-12T18:41:33Z")
[QUOTE=zut] Unfortunately, it seems like there were once some older threads that had even more stuff in them, but I’ll be darned if I can find them. Purged, prehaps? [/QUOTE] Looks like most of them have gone into the cornfield. Here’s two others: [Buzz nails a insane moon-moron. Yeah!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=134945) (BBQ Pit) [Yes, It’s Another Moon Hoax Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=88137) (Great Debates — one of the better ones, long and lots of technical detail) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/49 "2007-06-12T18:50:51Z")
One more (the definitive classic!) — [Tiny anomalies/artifacts found on the ground in Apollo photos](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=82431) It’s ten pages long, so get a cup of coffee and settle in, but it’s absolutely hilarious and totally infuriating by turns. If you read only one thread, read that one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/50 "2007-06-12T19:10:44Z")
Sorry for the triple post, but something else occurred to me. There’s a new movie, [In the Shadow of the Moon](http://www.seattlefilm.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=23473&fid=32), which summarizes the Apollo program and features first-hand accounts from the astronauts. There’s only a bit of new information and footage, if you’re a longtime space junkie like me, but it’s a very nice, very moving encapsulization, with the extensive first-person testimony adding a somewhat unique point of view. Best of all, there are outtakes under the end credits where a few of the astronauts offer comments on the Moon Hoax hypothesis. It’s hilarious. 😃 Highly recommended if you’re interested in the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/51 "2007-06-12T19:31:43Z")
But which one had **Opal Cat** ’s Satanic Moon Raccoons? If anything was a classic thread, _that_ one was! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CJOK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@CJOK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJOK)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/52 "2007-06-12T20:25:31Z")
YOU GUY`S REALLY ARE GOOD! Sorry about the bad net-iquete, and shouting, but it really does deserve to be heard. You have given me some very entertaining and informative pieces to ponder. The thing is, I decided that if you yanks really had faked it, the KGB would have moved mountains to disclose that sort of a cover-up! UNLESS THEY ARE IN ON IT TOO? SHIT! ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/53 "2007-06-12T20:38:37Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] One more (the definitive classic!) — [Tiny anomalies/artifacts found on the ground in Apollo photos](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=82431) It’s ten pages long, so get a cup of coffee and settle in, but it’s absolutely hilarious and totally infuriating by turns. If you read only one thread, read that one. 😃 [/QUOTE] Yes! That’s the one I was looking for, but I thought it was in the Staff Reports forum; I didn’t think of GD. I love that thread. ---
**Author:** ![CJOK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@CJOK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJOK)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/54 "2007-06-12T21:06:54Z")
[QUOTE=groman] The most convincing argument for the fact that the moon landing actually happened is, regardless of anything else, if it was faked, the Russians would have known and blown the cover on the whole thing before you can say “Sputnik”. They didn’t, therefore (unless you propose the entirety of Cold War was filmed in a hollywood basement as well) the moon landing was real. Landing on the moon was expensive and hard. Faking a moon landing well enough to be 100% sure Soviets would believe you would be ten times as hard and ten times as expensive. [/QUOTE] Sorry sir, I did not spot this reply. I was tending to concentrate on the more meaty ones. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CJOK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@CJOK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJOK)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/55 "2007-06-12T21:15:00Z")
p.s. It`s obviously still of interest guys , look how many views the post has had! p.p.s You are so easy to wind up, you guys. All i`ve got to say is, “I piss on the stars and stripes”, and Britain will probably be in a war with you tomorrow! Chill out, for Pete and the planets sake! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/56 "2007-06-12T21:27:04Z")
> [@](#): > > p.p.s You are so easy to wind up, you guys. All i`ve got to say is, “I piss on the stars and stripes”, and Britain will probably be in a war with you tomorrow! Chill out, for Pete and the > planets sake! Sorry if we came across a bit strong… This is all probably new to you, but we’ve gone over it many times (as you can see from the links). It gets a bit tiresome after a while. As for the latter part of your comment, about pissing on the stars and stripes, folks here have said far stronger things than that… But they’ve said them in Great Debates or the BBQ Pit. GQ probably isn’t the place for political statements of that sort. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/57 "2007-06-12T21:27:06Z")
[QUOTE=CJOK] p.s. It`s obviously still of interest guys , look how many views the post has had! p.p.s You are so easy to wind up, you guys. All i`ve got to say is, “I piss on the stars and stripes”, and Britain will probably be in a war with you tomorrow! Chill out, for Pete and the planets sake! [/QUOTE] Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/58 "2007-06-12T21:35:12Z")
[QUOTE=CJOK] p.s. It`s obviously still of interest guys , look how many views the post has had! p.p.s You are so easy to wind up, you guys. All i`ve got to say is, “I piss on the stars and stripes”, and Britain will probably be in a war with you tomorrow! Chill out, for Pete and the planets sake! [/QUOTE] It has very little to do with the stars and stripes. I’m a Norwegian and couldn’t care less about any foreign flag, but ignorance annoys me. See the banner up top there? Where it says “fighting ignorance”? That’s what this board is about, and when the same ignorance shows up, and especially when it’s wrapped in an attituted, people get in a fighting mood. Every shred of perceived evidence for a “moon hoax” has been thoroughly debunked in small, easy to understand words, here, and all over the net hundreds of times, you have but to look with an open mind instead of only reading stuff by people who filter everything through their own semented opinions, and you should be able to figure it out for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/59 "2007-06-12T21:38:52Z")
[QUOTE=naita] Every shred of perceived evidence for a “moon hoax” has been thoroughly debunked in small, easy to understand words, here, and all over the net hundreds of times, you have but to look with an open mind instead of only reading stuff by people who filter everything through their own **semented** opinions, and you should be able to figure it out for yourself. [/QUOTE] Best typo of the week. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663/60 "2007-06-12T21:46:25Z")
[QUOTE=toadspittle] Best typo of the week. [/QUOTE] [grumble]Stupid foreign language where you can’t even trust the f-ing consonants[/grumble] 😃 Not as much a typo as native language conditioning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-mystery/407663.md?page=4)