Ahhh, that flag… Skeptics of the Neil Armstrong’s famous small step in 1969 point to the fact that Old Glory was stuck out like a morning glory as proof positive that it was filmed in some back-lot somewhere in Hollywood. But really, this says more about that supposition having all the hallmarks of a conspiracy theory – i.e., a counter-cultural antagonism based on the scantest of evidence – than actual fact.
Of course, it is not entirely impossible that the moon-landing never took place; after all, the second-world-war conflagration with Hitler and Hirohito having been won, the Global Prize Fighter needed another adversary. And dutifully, “Uncle Joe” Stalin stepped up to the plate, replete with his hateful quasi-Marxist communism, his global ambitions and with blood on his hands. Never mind that Roosevelt and Truman had been allied to the Soviet regime against the Nazis – there were definitely noticeable pegs upon their noses all the way through; Churchill, that eminent source for mots juste, is quoted as saying “if Hitler invaded Hell, I’d give the Devil a favourable reference in the House”. But come 1945, the World War was won, but the Cold War was spun.
It was spun through ideology, which itself was spun through arms and prestige – both of which played out in the space race; after all, what better demonstration of superiority, and therefore ideological superiority, than to send a rocket into space. Since the Soviets beat the Yanks by propelling a living organism (the dog, Laika) out of the Earth’s atmosphere, even if it died of stress and overheating within hours of blast-off, in 1957, what better way to stage a one-upmanship than by planting a man on the moon, even if over a decade had elapsed. Yes, the year when the counter-cultural revolution reached its peak with the Woodstock festival, saw the greatest show on earth not even on earth, but the moon. Or was it?
It is possible to rig up a simulation of an other-worldly event in the studios and editing suites of Beverly Hills. But in order to do it believably, one has to understate rather than overstate. Even sci-fi programs like Star-trek and Dr Who have to tread the boards of credulity if they are to stand any chance of success. And while it is possible that the great scientific moguls of NASA would know about solar winds and extra-terrestrial weather systems, it is more than a mere possibility that the average Joe might find this a bit too much to swallow – and the uproar would cause chaos..
Anyway, there is much in favour of the actuality of the moon landing; the science, for one, is not easy to fake. Subsequent lunar and inter-planetary missions, for instance, would have relied heavily on data collected by the moon-lander – data which is very difficult to approximate theoretically.
I am an extreme sceptic when it comes to anything Governments tell me – half of it, you know, is going to be deliberate falsehood, and the other half is probably untrue as well although while they aren’t naturally honest they are, like Autolycus, sometimes so by chance. I am prepared to believe, therefore, that the moon landing was genuine – but then even if it wasn’t, what do I either profit or lose by it?
It’s not my flag…
