Slashdot Mirror


Images of Apollo Landing Sites Soon Available

eric.brasseur writes "The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has entered lunar orbit in perfect shape. From a height of 50 km, it will image the Moon in high resolution. The hardware left by the Apollo missions will be clearly visible. The Soviet automatic probes will also be photographed. Previous best images were made by the Japanese probe Kaguya and showed a white patch where the dust had been blown away by the blast of the LM engine."

263 comments

  1. God dammit by Niris · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just reading the summery makes me worried about the slew of "Moon landing never happened!" posts that are on the way

    1. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't forget the "That's no moon!" or "we welcome our lunar overlords" or "sharks with moons on their head" etc etc.

    2. Re:God dammit by Ihmhi · · Score: 2, Funny

      I, for one, welcome our sharks with things that are no moons on their heads who are our overlords... on the moon!

    3. Re:God dammit by Alsee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      One way or the other, we will finally have proof.

      Either the photos will come back showing no hardware on the moon and we'll finally have proof it never happened, or they will release photos showing landing hardware on the moon and we'll finally have proof of an on going NASA conspiracy to manufacture a moon landing fraud.

      Yes, one way or the other we will finally have proof.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    4. Re:God dammit by sexconker · · Score: 3, Funny

      Do they run Linux?
      If so, imagine a Beowulf cluster of those.

      Someone else will have to throw in the bad car analogy.

    5. Re:God dammit by Gat0r30y · · Score: 1

      You also forgot: Were whalers on the moon, we carry a harpoon.

      --
      Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
    6. Re:God dammit by Niris · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Hell, if I was going to be marked redundant, I shoulda gone for my first "OMGZ FIRST POST!" :p

    7. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Soviet Russia, car analogies throw someone else!

    8. Re:God dammit by Paul+server+guy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh Gawd, where are my mod points when I need them!!!!

      --
      Your Moon, Your Mission, Get involved! http://www.openluna.org
    9. Re:God dammit by millennial · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, the nuts will just say the photos are doctored, of course.

      --
      I am scientifically inaccurate.
    10. Re:God dammit by Narishma · · Score: 1

      What makes you think the deniers will accept pictures as proof? They'll just cry that they are photoshopped.

      --
      Mada mada dane.
    11. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember, only those with an IQ below 80 and severe head trauma as a child believe the moon landings never happened.

      you have to be incredibly stupid to believe any of their "evidence". Children in 6th grade can poke holes in their arguments and "proof".

    12. Re:God dammit by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      Oh no it will be there.....

      NASA bought several copies of Photoshop recently to get ready for faking the photos.

      I got my inside information from stanley that works with dave who is a manager at staples near the cape when a guy wearing sunglasses and a dark blue shirt cam in to buy 4 copies. It's solid proof!

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    13. Re:God dammit by elfprince13 · · Score: 0

      but the real question....is will they run Crysis?

    14. Re:God dammit by Fred+Ferrigno · · Score: 5, Informative

      We've had proof for a long time. The nutjobs just don't want to believe it. For one thing, they left reflectors on the moon that can bounce back laser signals. Mythbusters even did it.

      I'm sure the nutjobs will find some excuse not to believe this too.

    15. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Read the post that you're replying to. Pictures will be proof of an ongoing conspiracy.

      Stupid moderators marked Alsee's post as insightful instead of funny. *sigh* Now people have to explain the joke which makes it less funny.

    16. Re:God dammit by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 1

      This just in: 4 out of 5 Slashdot posters lack reading comprehension skills (congrats "Paul server guy" for being the stand-out).

    17. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Were-whalers? You mean they turn into "whalers" and carry harpoons when they see the full moon?

      What is this, bizarro-world?

    18. Re:God dammit by dotgain · · Score: 1

      Well done, you got it!

    19. Re:God dammit by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 1

      Either the photos will come back showing no hardware on the moon and we'll finally have proof it never happened...

      Or that they don't know how to point the camera where they want to.

    20. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Man, it feels a little wintry in here... *shiver*

      Protip: The word "summary" is a small bit of text that attempts to highlight all the important parts of a larger article. The word "summery" means something pertains to or is about summer.

    21. Re:God dammit by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      Ah, but is it any coincidence that hi-res images are only becoming available now that Photoshop has made it all but impossible to spot quality fakes? I mean seriously, in the latest movie, I couldn't even tell which Transformers were CGI and which were real! </tinfoil>

    22. Re:God dammit by Fujisawa+Sensei · · Score: 1

      Read the post that you're replying to. Pictures will be proof of an ongoing conspiracy.

      Stupid moderators marked Alsee's post as insightful instead of funny. *sigh* Now people have to explain the joke which makes it less funny.

      Insightful gives karma, funny does not.

      --
      If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
    23. Re:God dammit by thhamm · · Score: 1

      You also forgot: Were whalers on the moon, we carry a harpoon.

      hey! that's not how it happened!!!

    24. Re:God dammit by MozeeToby · · Score: 1

      To be fair, that only prooves that we got 'something' to the moon, not that we landed human beings there and brought them back. NASA probably has the technology to put one of those reflectors on Phobos as well, but I don't think I'd be volounteering for the manned mission any time soon.

      (Note: I am not a nutjob. The moonlanding happened, get over it. If you really don't believe it (and want to get punched in the face by an old man, go tell one of the Apollo astronauts that it never happened.)

    25. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why didn't you bother to read what he said before commenting??

    26. Re:God dammit by backslashdot · · Score: 1

      Dude, that was brilliant. Though some people who didn't read your posting properly won't see what you did there.

    27. Re:God dammit by LanceUppercut · · Score: 1

      One can argue that reflectors were left there by Soviet Lunokhod rovers, or, more precisely, the rovers are themselves reflectors.

    28. Re:God dammit by millennial · · Score: 2, Informative

      Next time realize that satire can go both ways.

      --
      I am scientifically inaccurate.
    29. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those reflectors could have been placed without humans going there. Also, why should we believe what we see in NASA pictures of the moon landing site? It'd be more convincing if another country showed us the pix.

    30. Re:God dammit by Fred+Ferrigno · · Score: 2, Informative

      You have to point the laser at the Apollo landing sites specifically. That means "something" is exactly where NASA says it is, which is all these new pictures will show up, so congrats on finding the excuse they'll use to deny this.

      Anyways, Wikipedia has a whole article on independent evidence for the Moon landings, including Russian and independent radio operators monitoring mission communications.

    31. Re:God dammit by camperdave · · Score: 1

      they left reflectors on the moon that can bounce back laser signals.

      Oh come now. Obviously the laser is bouncing off some crystals on the moon's surface. The whole "they left reflectors on the moon" story is just part of the hoax.

      Kidding, of course. But unless you've got proof that there wasn't some sort of retroreflective surface before the Apollo missions, the "they left reflectors on the moon" story is not validation of a landing.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    32. Re:God dammit by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 3, Funny

      sure, because nobody could edit wikipedia to cover for the fake moon landings!

      --
      IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
    33. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Woopie - we get to watch it digitally remastered in HD, tell em to put in surround sound this time and remove some of the wires.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz9Bzi_GyD0&feature=related

      usual MO at the time like getting Ronny to sell the Star Wars myth to the Ruskies.

    34. Re:God dammit by turing_m · · Score: 1

      For one thing, they left reflectors on the moon that can bounce back laser signals.

      Because placing a reflector on the moon absolutely requires a human as opposed to a robot. You damn your case with faint proof.

      Actually proving a manned moon landing is difficult. It's a lot like trying to prove/disprove the existence of god. Most people feel they have to make a decision on the matter, even if there is a chance that they end up being wrong. The difference is that it's fairly popular these days to take the skeptical side of the god debate. But the truth is really orthogonal to how popular a side of a debate is at a point in time.

      --
      If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
    35. Re:God dammit by Fred+Ferrigno · · Score: 1

      The rovers are in the wrong spot. You have to point the laser at the Apollo landing sites specifically.

      See also Wikipedia's article on independent evidence of the Moon landings.

    36. Re:God dammit by ocularDeathRay · · Score: 2, Insightful

      in Soviet Russia, you must be new here

      --
      Obama is a twitter sock puppet
    37. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wooooooooooooosh.

    38. Re:God dammit by Macrat · · Score: 1

      >

      I'm sure the nutjobs will find some excuse not to believe this too.

      Not that far a reach to know that the US govt will doctor the Japanese data before it is released.

    39. Re:God dammit by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes, I believe the moon landings happened. Still, it's fun to consider.

      Did anyone ever point a laser at the Apollo landing sites before the Apollo missions allegedly landed? How do you know that wasn't a natural occurrence (some shiny rock) that NASA took advantage of?

      Again, as the parent points out, no one is saying NASA was unable to land things on the moon. I'm pretty sure everybody believes, for example, that the Surveyor missions weren't faked. So I'd imagine that NASA would be able to land something on the moon that would reflect laser beams back to Earth.

      As for the communications, I would assume that the transmissions were sent from the site of the fake moon landing (Area 51) to the Moon and then back. Why? Because that's obviously the first thing that the Russians would check--are these signals coming from the moon?

      The tracking? Remember, these guys tracked a capsule that went to the Moon. Again, nobody has any doubts that capsules went to the moon. Were there people on board these capsules? We heard radio transmissions from the capsules, but much like above, there's no reasons the capsules couldn't have sent back voices from the US.

      Moon rocks? What was the big thing we learned from the moon rocks? That they had many of the same qualities as Earth rocks! What a coincidence! So NASA got some pretty exotic rocks from Earth and stuck them in orbit for a year or so to soak up all the various cosmic rays that our atmosphere protects us from. One of astronauts from the Gemini missions picked them up during a spacewalk or some such and you have instant moon rocks--rocks from Earth that have been exposed to cosmic rays.

      As I have said, I believe that men walked on the moon. But I do think it's a fun question: Could the moon landings have been faked--not were the moon landings faked. Could an individual mission--like Apollo 11--have been faked?

    40. Re:God dammit by Kratisto · · Score: 2, Funny

      You insensitive clod! My sister died from a thrown car!

      --
      Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
    41. Re:God dammit by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1

      The conspiracy nuts will just say that the photos of the landing site have been altered to include the equipment. Hell, they might just say that this whole mission is fake. And that everything is fake. An that they themselves are fake. And that this is all a dre*pop*

    42. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      >I'm sure the nutjobs will find some excuse not to believe this too.

      The nutjobs will believe the the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images have been done in photoshop.

    43. Re:God dammit by profplump · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Was it possible to fake a moon mission -- probably. But you're missing the hard part of conspiracies: getting everyone involved to keep quiet for 50 years. Even if you assume that most of the NASA staff an contractors really believed they were launching people, there's still a lot of people involved -- the actual astronauts, the radio relay operators, the guys who sealed no-one into the capsule, the guys who recovered no-one from the capsule, not to mention the staff involved in running the filming location(s). At the very least I'm guessing you'd need 20+ people who *know* the moon landing was faked, and probably 2-3 times as many who could reasonably guess based on things they personally witnessed. How would you keep that many people quiet for so long? I'm also not sure what you gain by not sending people to the moon. You've already built a giant rocket than can lift a space craft to the moon. You've already built and used human-capable space capsule technology. You're actually going to land some relatively large spacecraft on the moon. You're already going to transmit radio from the moon from several days. You're already going to land your space capsule back on Earth. Why not just put people in your space capsule and forgo the faking bit?

    44. Re:God dammit by wolverine1999 · · Score: 1

      Best thing for them to do is to go there themselves, I guess..

      then they can check out the scenery...

    45. Re:God dammit by amn108 · · Score: 1

      You worry about your signature, I'll worry about those posts.

    46. Re:God dammit by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      Well, let's think about this.

      One, who's to say that there was no one in the capsule. This is one of the questions I always have: Which missions were fake? Just the landings (ie, Apollo 11-17)? The ones that left earth (ie, Apollo 8, 10, 11-17)? All of the manned Apollo missions (ie, Apollo 7-17)?

      Suppose you put the actual astronauts in capsule and they commented on what they were seeing the people do at Area 51? Thus, the astronauts are orbiting the moon. They receive pictures and they "speak their lines" and the mix is what goes back to Earth?

      The problem with this, of course, is that sometimes the capsule is behind the moon. I don't really have a good answer for this. Obviously, a communications satellite would work, but how do you get it to the moon?

      But assuming you do that, then you have sent men into space. The people on launch pad don't need to know. The people on the recovery team don't need to know. So you've reduced a lot of people right there. So the only people who would know would be the people at Area 51 who assembled the moon set, the actors, and the communication guys. Assuming you double-up duties, you could probably easily keep it to 10 to 20 people.

    47. Re:God dammit by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Funny

      So all in all, we have a Beowulf cluster of Linux-driven cars that form a moon, which explains why it's not a real moon. And it is protected by space-sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads. But we do not know it, because we never were there?
      And in Soviet Russia, that "moon" never was on YOU? It only was IN the Goatse guy, who at that time had a relationship with Natalie Portman, and so "poured" an insensitive clod of hot grits over her. But we, for one, would welcome them, just as Natalie welcomed the hot grits?

      Bah. In Korea, only old people and CowboyNeal would believe that, you insensitive clod!

      How much combo points do I ge%!$*%& [NO CARRIER]

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    48. Re:God dammit by Optimus6128 · · Score: 1

      How about the conspiracists believing anoother side. That the moon landing really did happened and there were more secret landings and we have build a base there (in mars too!) and already found intelligent extraterrestrials there or there is a huge fleet of flying saucer lying on the dark side of the moon, but they hide it all from the public and also the moon is not a physical satellite but a camouflaged big alien spaceship. If you are a lot into paranormal/conspiracy theories like I was in the past, you hear a lot of these insane stuff already!

      --
      The "H-Word" has died for me.
    49. Re:God dammit by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      Oh noes, dawg, I forgot that of course the grits accidentially in her base, forming babby. So Goatse now can pour hot grits while he pours hot grits.

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    50. Re:God dammit by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      We must face it: We pretty much have no proof for anything at all. We can only be as sure as we trust your sources, trust our sources to trust their sources, and even truest our own senses.

      How many things have you actually checked for yourself?
      And at how many of those can you be sure that nobody manipulated/tricked your senses?

      Hell, we can't even prove, that anything except ourself exists. (It could all be a product of our own imagination. And for some people with schizophrenia this sadly really is the case.)

      So in the end, we should learn how to properly handle trust relationships, shouldn't we?

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    51. Re:God dammit by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      This raises a philosophical question: You can't really call it proof, if you have to believe in it, instead of knowing it, can you?
      (As I said in my other post, there is no thing that you can have proof of. It can all be imaginary, a hallucination, or the whole world stating something wrong. So we have to just trust some things.)

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    52. Re:God dammit by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      And that's exactly why it happened and there's no good reason to believe otherwise.

      First: Too many people involved. You can silence a handful of people. You cannot silence thousands. No matter how tight your NDAs and whatnot. Someone will talk. Hell, chances are good that one of them is a Soviet spy. Which leads to

      Second: The Soviets didn't call it bluff. If there would have been the slightest chance that this was staged, why did the Russians resist the temptation to pull the US' pants down to make them the laughing stock of the world?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    53. Re:God dammit by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      To be fair, you can launch those astronauts and keep them in orbit for a while so the ground crew thinks they're on their trip. But for the rest, you're practically dead on: Too many people would know if it's fake (or at least have good reason to connect the dots), and the effing hardware is already there, so why bother faking it? So the Russians might discover it's fake and expose it to the world?

      I think the risk of losing people out there was considered lower than the risk to be ridiculed publically.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    54. Re:God dammit by Shadowmist · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You also forgot one country that would have a motive to claim fakage of the moon landings... the Soviet Union which was in a desperate race to take back it's space leads. But as I recall, the Russians never once challenged the actuality of the American feat.

    55. Re:God dammit by devonbowen · · Score: 1

      I agree with most of your "fakes". But it's near impossible to imagine the moon rocks were faked. Geochemists don't just look at the rocks and say "wow, they're gray just like on earth". For starters, radiometric dating shows them to be older than rocks on earth (because the earth recycles). So they would have had to build their own rocks with the proper isotope ratios and not left any other clues while doing so. There is no way someone wouldn't have noticed a fake by now. Especially one made with 1960s technology.

      Devon

    56. Re:God dammit by mgcarley · · Score: 1

      I can imagine, mainframes throughout NASA are churning, as their displays show messages like "Rendering: 63% complete..."

      --
      Founder & COO, Hayai India (hayai.in) / USA (hayaibroadband.com) // t: @mgcarley
    57. Re:God dammit by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      Actually proving a manned moon landing is difficult. It's a lot like trying to prove/disprove the existence of god.

      Well, except that one has overwhelming evidence, and the other does not. Just because two things can't be proven with 100% certainty, doesn't mean that they are in any way comparable.

      The difference is that it's fairly popular these days to take the skeptical side of the god debate.

      Outside of Europe at least, this (sadly) is still not yet true. (I'm not sure why you would label this as a "difference", anyway - I'm sceptical about God, for rather much the same reasons that I'm sceptical about a fake moon landing conspiracy: lack of evidence.)

      But the truth is really orthogonal to how popular a side of a debate is at a point in time.

      Indeed, something that the "But billions of people all believe in God" crowd would do well to remember. There is just as much likelihood of Zeus, of the Flying Spaghetti Monster existing - that fewer people believe in such entities doesn't affect the likelihood of their existence.

    58. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've already stuck a Laser on the moon. I call it the Alan Parsons Project.

    59. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What makes you think it was a joke?

    60. Re:God dammit by terrapin44 · · Score: 1

      I think you are fake.

    61. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They will just claim the lander was photoshopped into the pics

    62. Re:God dammit by Muad'Dave · · Score: 2, Informative

      In the Mythbusters test (as pointed out above), they shined the laser on the lunar highlands, a place totally devoid of human 'stuff'. There was no reflection other than background light. After they slewed the 'scope to the Apollo 15 landing site, there was a clear peak of light at the expected wavelength and distance.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    63. Re:God dammit by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      One of the conspiracy nuts who popped into BadAstronomer's comments one time tried to argue that the International Space Station was a fake and didn't actually exist. I'm sure that level of conspiracy nuttery is extreme even among moon landing denialists, but it was still an impressive display of ignorance to see someone argue that something you can see with a decent telescope actually isn't there.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    64. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, not really.

    65. Re:God dammit by Alsee · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This just in: 4 out of 5 Slashdot posters lack reading comprehension skills

      Yeah, that's why I come here. The Slashdot community comprehension level is about 20% above that of the general population. ;)

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    66. Re:God dammit by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Only when somebody good does it.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    67. Re:God dammit by Alsee · · Score: 1

      ...or someone bisexual.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    68. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah that's where you went wrong. I read the Wintery and therefore knew no such posts would be forthcoming.

    69. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NASA has anticipated this and released these photos as proof:
       
      http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87630&id=54971236771&ref=nf

    70. Re:God dammit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Man-made objects on the moon are not proof. Robots visited the moon before man did. They could have been placed by robots.

    71. Re:God dammit by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Why, you get 100 libraries of congress worth of combo points, naturally.

    72. Re:God dammit by CodeBuster · · Score: 1

      Yes, one way or the other we will finally have proof.

      The evidence has been patently clear for any reasonable person who cared to look into the matter since the Apollo 11 crew landed back on earth on July 24, 1969. The people who support the lunar landing hoax conspiracy are the sort of people who would not be satisfied with any "proof" no matter how convincing or carefully collected the evidence was. They will probably argue, for example, that any new images sent back by the probe have been doctored or edited to include the Apollo artifacts in order to "perpetuate the hoax" as part of the conspiracy theory. The people who deny that the lunar landings took place are either crackpots or just looking to stir the pot and be fringe.

    73. Re:God dammit by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 1

      You and your damn half-full glass of water. ;)

    74. Re:God dammit by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      How much combo points do I ge%!$*%& [NO CARRIER]

      C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    75. Re:God dammit by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      I think if you sent a ML denier to the moon to see the evidence first hand, they'd say it's all a hoax and they're in a huge secret zero-G warehouse in the Roswell desert right now. Actually I demand that a ML denier be taken as a tourist on the next mission back to the moon, just for lulz.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    76. Re:God dammit by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      Nope. NO CARRIER also is a meme. :D

      I thought it was a nice finish. ^^

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    77. Re:God dammit by millennial · · Score: 1

      If you misunderstand good satire, the fault does not lie with the satirist.

      --
      I am scientifically inaccurate.
    78. Re:God dammit by Alsee · · Score: 1

      I call Poe's law on your post.

      Either you were impressively oblivious, or you have an impressively satirical sense of humor :D

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    79. Re:God dammit by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Let me know when some comes along.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    80. Re:God dammit by millennial · · Score: 1

      You've already missed it, a couple days ago. If you'd like a course in recognizing satire, I can recommend a few. It does take a bit of wit to do it.

      --
      I am scientifically inaccurate.
    81. Re:God dammit by CodeBuster · · Score: 1

      I assure you that it is the later and not the former.

  2. The coverup will continue by arthurpaliden · · Score: 2, Funny

    We all know that the photos will all be doctored by NASA before they will be released to the public.

    1. Re:The coverup will continue by macdaddy357 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seriously or sarcastically, I knew someone would say something like that. No matter how many experts say these photos are genuine, tinfoil hatters who want to believe they are photoshops still will.

      --
      How ya like dat?
    2. Re:The coverup will continue by JAZ · · Score: 1

      I'll believe men have landed on the moon when it's me standing there!

      --


      "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -- Homer Simpson
    3. Re:The coverup will continue by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      Some experts go a little further than "saying"...

      On a less comedic note, expert testimony is pretty much useless against entrenched occupants of a conspiracy position. For true believers, "expert"="embedded in the conspiracy".

    4. Re:The coverup will continue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll believe in a so-called "Australia" when I'm standing there! None of this "airplane" nonsense, either; I'm not falling for any of your flight attendant and pilot actors while you run movies of clouds out of the "windows"! Only when I've swum to this mythical place myself without any of you "helping" me will I believe in this worldwide fraud you all subscribe to! Damned sheep.

    5. Re:The coverup will continue by tsa · · Score: 1

      Wow did that guy get what he deserved!

      --

      -- Cheers!

    6. Re:The coverup will continue by The+Master+Control+P · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The perfection of the self-confirming delusion:

      If you agree, obviously I'm correct.
      If you disagree, you're part of the conspiracy to suppress my correctness.

    7. Re:The coverup will continue by Paul+server+guy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Then join us, maybe you'll get to go...

      --
      Your Moon, Your Mission, Get involved! http://www.openluna.org
    8. Re:The coverup will continue by arthurpaliden · · Score: 1

      -1, Troll??

      Ok, so I forgot the <Sarcasm> tags. Actually they will not believe it even after they are standing on the surface and looking at the old sites. They will then say that they were the first since all those before were just faked.

    9. Re:The coverup will continue by PaganRitual · · Score: 1

      Yeah, troll. Either you were serious, therefore some deluded moon-landing denier, obviously full of shit, and providing nothing meaningful to the conversation.

      Or you were mocking those that are serious, a pointless exercise as there are so many that will say what you have but without any sense of irony, and which again provides nothing meaningful to the conversation.

      Maybe redundant would have been a better tag, but you're either trolling the moon-landing deniers, or you're attempting to troll the people trying to have a decent discussion (on slashdot? wow, you must be new here HAHAhAHAHAHAHA +5), so yeah, troll.

    10. Re:The coverup will continue by pmarcondes · · Score: 1

      Also what assures me that there is actually a spaceship on lunar orbit or mars orbit or a rover on the surface of mars or the moon, or wherever?
      That could also be doctored. The deserts we see there could be anywhere uninhabited on earth, line the Atacama desert, or places in Morocco or somewhere else...
      (not that I believe that sh!t either)

  3. pics and it still didn't happen by RoverDaddy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    [sarcasm off] For the record, I believe 100% that the landings were real, but I also believe that nothing short of dragging the conspiracy nuts up to the moon themselves will convince them of the fact. Maybe not even that.

    --
    RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
    1. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by allawalla · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not a bad idea - dragging the conspiracy nuts to the moon...

    2. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NO THEY WERE NOT! I know that fer sure, because my mother's uncle's niece knew someone who worked in the studio where they staged the whole thing.

      Besides, I can tell that the pictures from the Lunar whatever are doctored even before seeing them. You can see it if you look at the pixels. Anyone who has used photoshop will know that.

    3. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Bazman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Preferably without suits. They won't mind, because they think they're just heading to a big warehouse in Arizona.

    4. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not a bad idea - dragging the conspiracy nuts to the moon...

      Better: send them to the landing site for the first manned mission to the sun (but don't tell them they'll be the first ones to land there).

      --
      Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    5. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by JAZ · · Score: 1

      where can I sign up?

      --


      "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -- Homer Simpson
    6. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by timeOday · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I also believe that nothing short of dragging the conspiracy nuts up to the moon themselves will convince them of the fact. Maybe not even that.

      How many such people actually exist? With every slashdot article mentioning the moon landings, there is a great uproar about these heretics. I'm sure they exist, but I've never met one, nor do I recall even reading a post from one on slashdot. It makes me wonder why these people (whoever they are) get under people's skin so much.

    7. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by grumbel · · Score: 1

      It might not convince the weirdos, but it debunks the most plausible part of their story. I always found the whole situation with having having landed men on the moon, 40 years ago, to be rather uneasy when today we don't even have tech to make a picture of the landing site. There are of course perfectly good reasons for it, but being used to having technology advance, a 40 year not-been-to-the-moon gap just doesn't sound right, especially when we have perfectly fine pictures of Mars and the stuff we landed there.

    8. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by gujo-odori · · Score: 5, Interesting

      More than you might think. I lived for a period of time in a communist country in Asia, and not only did I find there were a number of people who thought that the United States did not land people on the moon, but that those people also typically believed that the Soviet Union had.

      Why did they think so? They "learned" it in school :p

    9. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by jollyreaper · · Score: 1

      [sarcasm off] For the record, I believe 100% that the landings were real, but I also believe that nothing short of dragging the conspiracy nuts up to the moon themselves will convince them of the fact. Maybe not even that.

      Lies! You have simply kidnapped me and whisked away to an entirely convincing sound stage. And I weigh about 1/6th as much as I normally do. This is simply conclusive proof that you have invented antigravity. Will you not stop at any length to perpetuate this vile lie?!

      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    10. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by vlm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      How many such people actually exist?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Moon_Landing_hoax_conspiracy_theories

      About 6% of the population, as of 1999. Not bad, compared to the percentages believing in religion, intelligent design, etc.

      Honestly, I think about 6% of the population is high or drunk at any given moment, so I'm not sure its a relevant figure.

      It makes me wonder why these people (whoever they are) get under people's skin so much.

      Well, sometimes its hard to interpret "get under skin" vs "laughing my * off"

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    11. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Darkness404 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There are a lot of reasons outside of conspiracy theories why we aren't currently on the moon.

      A) Lack of funding, the government doesn't want NASA to relearn stuff. We already "learned" about the moon back when we landed there (remember, this post is assuming the conspiracy theories are incorrect). While other planets we know a lot less about them.

      B) No evidence of life. Unlike a lot of investigated planets, we pretty much can tell that there is no liquid water on the moon without having to do much to prove the lack of it.

      C) Overcomplicating technology, the machines that took us to the moon were simple, simplicity allows you to work out a bunch of bugs and simplicity allows for more accurate human override.

      D) The space shuttle, most of the US flights recently have been on the space shuttle, which, cannot land on the moon safely.

      E) Space travel is seen as a risk with no real benefits. In the period before Challenger, space flight was considered routine, Challenger's destruction made people skeptical of why we should be putting people in space. Then space flight was considered routine until the destruction of Columbia. Today, it is considered more routine, but still lacks the "this is totally normal" that airplane flights have.

      F) The current economy has made it hard for space tourism to get off the ground. Sure, private companies have come leaps and bounds over what they previously had, but as for getting a private company to carry manned missions to the moon? Not quite yet.

      G) Space travel is looked at as needless by the average person. Sure, they would like to travel to space, but they don't think it has any benefit to them so they don't really care about it and similarly don't express concern.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    12. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Alsee · · Score: 1

      How many such people actually exist?

      Well, as a point of comparison:
      Out of about 250,000 degreed scientists across all of the earth and life sciences, there are about 700 who think that evolution-denialist "Creation Science" has any legitimacy.

      Estimating the number of Moon Landing Denialists is left as an exercise for the reader.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    13. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the beauty of a conspiracy. Anything that disproves it is just more proof that the infamous They is still hiding the real truth (because obviously this latest piece of damning evidence was fabricated).

    14. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Paul+server+guy · · Score: 1

      http://www.openluna.org/wiki/index.php/People_needed Announce what you can do, then dig in and start doing it...

      Oh, and you have to believe we can go and have gone, because most of our present condition data requires that... (Unless you like one way trips to the unknown.)

      --
      Your Moon, Your Mission, Get involved! http://www.openluna.org
    15. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Supergibbs · · Score: 1

      Myth Busters did a special on the moon conspiracy. They busted all the conspiracy nut's "evidence". I never doubted it, but the episode was well done

      --
      First post! (just in case I am...)
    16. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Ecuador · · Score: 4, Funny

      Suits won't make a difference. Even in expensive cashmere suits they will still look like a bunch of nuts suffocating on the lunar surface.

      --
      Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    17. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by MaunaLoa · · Score: 1

      The problem is that they still could claim the stuff has "been put there later". Really, there is no stopping these people.

      --
      Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. - Philip K. Dick
    18. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by arthurpaliden · · Score: 2, Funny

      Could we put them all on the 'B' Ark.

    19. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Fred+Ferrigno · · Score: 1

      a communist country in Asia

      C'mon, there's like three and one of them is North Korea. Why not say which one?

    20. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by geekoid · · Score: 1

      That won't and the conspiracy is already evolving. Now they say they did land, just later and we put the stuff there at that time.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    21. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by geekoid · · Score: 1

      It's a surprising amount of peple.
      They get under my skin becasue they try to spread these lies as truths to children and ignorant, and they have no argument. SO they say 'it's a conspiracy' as if that's some sort of good argument.

      And with all self deluding lies, there is a price for everyone.

      http://whatstheharm.net/
      Granted, the moon hoax isn't very harmful, yet. Wait until the start trying to force schools to teach their 'alternate "Theory"'

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    22. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Griim · · Score: 5, Funny

      Bah. This is easily remedied by going at night.

    23. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by PitaBred · · Score: 1

      Enough of them that Buzz Aldrin had to forcefully give one of them a clue...

    24. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by mfnickster · · Score: 1

      Myth Busters did a special on the moon conspiracy. They busted all the conspiracy nut's "evidence".

      OMG, even the Myth Busters are in on the conspiracy!!!

      j/k.. :)

      here is my favorite "moon landing hoax" video: http://www.dc8p.com/html/moonhoax.html

      --
      "Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
    25. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Red+Flayer · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I think about 6% of the population is high or drunk at any given moment, so I'm not sure its a relevant figure.

      And I think that's a woefully low estimate.

      Judging by the anonymous coward posts here on slashdot, I'd say it'd be more in the range of 90-95%.

      Oh, I see... 6% high or drunk. Obviously you were discounting the 84 to 89% who are high and drunk.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    26. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      I also believe that nothing short of dragging the conspiracy nuts up to the moon themselves will convince them of the fact. Maybe not even that.

      How many such people actually exist? With every slashdot article mentioning the moon landings, there is a great uproar about these heretics. I'm sure they exist, but I've never met one, nor do I recall even reading a post from one on slashdot. It makes me wonder why these people (whoever they are) get under people's skin so much.

      When somebody gets noisy about something Slashdot disagrees with, it's assumed that the number of people that follow said noisy person are a multiple of a million.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    27. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Anyone who has used photoshop will know that."

      Since I have only used the GIMP, I'm entitled to believe they made a successful landing.

    28. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by gujo-odori · · Score: 1

      I have family there. You figure it out.

    29. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by EdIII · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Judging by the anonymous coward posts here on slashdot, I'd say it'd be more in the range of 90-95%.

      Not really. Sometimes it just *fun* to say that we never went to the moon. I doubt that many of them are actually serious. My own father would be in a car ride for a few hours with a bunch of guys and spontaneously say, "You know.... I really believe the single bullet theory. It was one man that killed Kennedy". Real Life Trolling.

      I remain unconvinced we went to the Moon myself. It could of have been wonderful propaganda for all we know, which considering the Cold War, there was a motivation to throw a lot of bullshit around. Seriously :) Prove that we *didn't* go the moon. Can you? I can't. We can only rely on statements from a government that I KNOW that I don't trust. It's like God you see, I can't disprove that he exists, and you can't prove that he exists.

      All kidding around aside, I think it's highly likely we went to the Moon, but we have to at least admit that all of the authoritative statements that *prove* we went to the Moon come from people that continue to lie to us to this very day.

    30. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "laughing my * off"

      Laughing your what off? Your left big toe?

    31. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 1

      How many such people actually exist?

      Of course they don't exist, its something that Europeans (often posing as Americans) make up to make all Americans seam like idiots!

      --
      IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
    32. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are all wrong anyway - In fact, John Frum was the first man on the moon, and I believe he accomplished this some time in the 1930's or 1940's. Unfortunately, he must have lost the photos of his trip.

      Well, according to (former) Chief Isaak Wan Nikiau, and I don't know about you, but I'd trust anything he says.

    33. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but we have to at least admit that all of the authoritative statements that *prove* we went to the Moon come from people that continue to lie to us to this very day.

      All you really need to know as proof is that the Russians canceled their lunar program. They would never have done so if they had even the slightest idea that the landings were faked.

    34. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by timeOday · · Score: 1

      I think if you took a poll of whether 1+1 is 2 or 5, of if you asked people whether they themselves are male or female, probably 5% would get it wrong. Why? Because they're "just messing with you," or they're filling in the same column of answers all the way down, or they think it must be trick question, or they're dyslexic, or just sloppy, or the machine used to read their answers didn't get oiled the night before. You just can't get the margin of error below a few percent.

    35. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by DrDitto · · Score: 1

      I went to graduate school at a well-regarded Computer Science department. The moon landings came up in conversation before class started. Nearly every student from India thought they were faked. I was disgusted.

    36. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by dgbrownnt · · Score: 1

      Not a bad idea - dragging the conspiracy nuts to the moon...

      Better: send them to the landing site for the first manned mission to the sun (but don't tell them they'll be the first ones to land there).

      Too bad the shirt just got discontinued: http://shirt.woot.com/friends.aspx?k=9102

    37. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by mgblst · · Score: 2, Funny

      I thought we were just going to send their nuts to the moon, that way at least they can't breed.

    38. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by ignavus · · Score: 1

      I remember watching the moon landings on TV at school - live.

      At the time, I knew the whole thing would have been possible to do in a Hollywood studio. Thing is, Hollywood would have made it look more "realistic" and dramatic.

      And they would have had to add some cheesy character - like an alien.

      --
      I am anarch of all I survey.
    39. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They could have you in a sound stage inside an huge airplane in a nose dive. That would lower the apparent gravity.

    40. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by EdIII · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      but we have to at least admit that all of the authoritative statements that *prove* we went to the Moon come from people that continue to lie to us to this very day.

      All you really need to know as proof is that the Russians canceled their lunar program. They would never have done so if they had even the slightest idea that the landings were faked.

      One could just as easily conclude that the Russians canceled their lunar program because they realized they could never disprove the U.S made it to the Moon. Their protestations could of had less credibility on a global stage and may have backfired. They may have decided to take the considerable sums of money and put them toward other uses more profitable strategically.

      That's the great thing about the Moon landing arguments. You can't really PROVE we made it the Moon. Not really. Only statements from NASA and the U.S government, which you could say is hearsay. We know they could have made the videos if they wanted to. If we are absolutely fair and assess all the evidence, there is no DIRECT proof that we ever made it the Moon at all. I would not say the Moon rocks are proof either. Scant few have ever even held one, much less performed scientific tests to conclude it was from the Moon or had distinct features not found in other rocks on Earth.

      It really could have just been propaganda.

      My real question is... Who really gives a shit? If it's true, that's wonderful. Man made it to the Moon. If it's false, then it was wonderful propaganda and served as inspiration to the world to achieve their dreams.

      Makes no difference to me either way. I am open to either possibility since I can step back and realize that the information from both sides lacks credibility with me. Do I TRUST NASA? We know they already have policies to keep information from the public under certain conditions and do answer the government in most cases. Do I TRUST the Moon Landing Skeptics? Not really. They have never provided real evidence for their arguments either.

      My paranoia and distrust of the U.S government has more to do with tangible and provable events such as the Tuskegee experiments, the Japanese Internment camps, The War on drugs, Wars of aggression in which coincidentally well placed companies become insanely rich, Human Rights violations at Guantanamo, The Patriot Act, DHS abuses, Telecoms handing over our phone records, Missing White House emails, Soldiers forced to take "preventative" shots that may have lead to worse conditions than they were trying to prevent, the incessant move to watch absolutely everything in real time, track everyone and everything, and the complete loss of the rights to privacy and anonymity....

      It's funny that all the Moon Landing nuts take away all the credibility of the people stating the U.S government is going Totalitarian Fascist, when they have no proof of their arguments either way, and the rest of us have butt loads of proof about the U.S progressively, PROGRESSIVELY violating our civil liberties at will......

    41. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 1

      Please do not polute the sun with stupidity.

    42. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by TheTurtlesMoves · · Score: 1

      No it won't. They will assume that you faked it to trick them--ie constructed it just prior to them going there....

      They way to deal with moon landing conspiracy dudes, is to ignore them.

      --
      The Grey Goo disaster happened 3 billion years ago. This rock is covered in self replicating machines!
    43. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by superdana · · Score: 1

      I've met one, and they're just mind-blowingly stupid. This person said to me with a straight face, "If their spacesuits were designed to..." Fuck, it's so stupid, I can't even remember. Something about how their spacesuits shouldn't have been visible in photographs. Yes really.

      I'd known this person for a few months before this happened. I even liked them.

      Fuck.

    44. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by ayjay29 · · Score: 1

      >>they think they're just heading to a big warehouse in Arizona.

      Ha ha ha ha.

      Oh wait...

      Too early...

      I read that one wrong, sorry...

      --
      Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated up.
    45. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      No. You don't understand their logic. Nothing will work on them. They can always say that you staged it all for them. That you tricked their senses. Etc. Always! ^^

      The problem here is, that their indicator of trust is defective. Which does not surprise me at all, considering how much you can get tricked by assholes, scammers, partners, the government, companies, etc.
      So you have to work on fixing that indicator, if you really want them to believe it. :)

      Of course, you have no right to do this, without their consent. And doing without asking them, actually proves their view of not trusting you. ^^

      So you have to

      1. Win their trust. Really. Deeply.
      2. Use this trust to get their consent, to fix the indicator, in case it were wrong.
      3. Fix the indicator.
      Only then can you finally show them what you call proof, and expect them to believe it. :)

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    46. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      There seriously are people that dumb

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    47. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Hehe... akin to the old Soviet aera joke?

      "COMRADES! The Russians are on the moon!"
      (hopeful voice in the back) "All of 'em?"

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    48. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      The other 5-10% think that it was a complete waste of money, a pointless exercise in a race which achieved ultimately nothing, a willy-waving contest where the willy was already flaccid and sterile?

      Living on the moon? No thanks. We need to learn to balance resource harvesting with local ecology and sustainability on this rock before we go screw up another one.

      N.B. Not an environmental nut, just considering practical implications of being in a closed environment with limited resources for a long period of time.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    49. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Dr.+Impossible · · Score: 1

      So you believe that this government will somehow read your post on Slashdot and then attempt to uncover your identity (almost certainly impossible) in case it's their country you are talking about, and once they've done that they will imprison or execute your family?

    50. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by cbrichar · · Score: 1

      Could we put them all on the 'B' Ark.

      An excellent idea, and no time like the present - the bath water's nice and warm....

    51. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but just wait until morning. Can you imagine dawn on the Sun! Awesome!!

    52. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Bongo · · Score: 1

      How many such people actually exist? With every slashdot article mentioning the moon landings, there is a great uproar about these heretics. I'm sure they exist, but I've never met one, nor do I recall even reading a post from one on slashdot. It makes me wonder why these people (whoever they are) get under people's skin so much.

      I've met one in the street. He was a Hare Krishna and wanted me to buy a few of his books. I'm a nice guy so I listen for a while. He gets on to the subject of the moon landings, and he tells me that the moon landings were faked, because the Gita declares "man cannot walk on other worlds". He was quite exited about this confirmation from the Gita. I pointed out that when the Gita was written, they hadn't invented the space suit.

    53. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      There is a very good reason to believe that the US landed on the moon. Oddly, the lack of information is a pretty good indicator that the landing was real. The lack of information from the Soviet Union, that is.

      Can you imagine what a PR boost it would have been for the Soviets to call the US moon landing program a bluff? The US and the Russians were at the peak of the cold war, which was essentially a propaganda and PR war if anything. Not to mention that Vietnam was well under way when the moonshots happened. If there had been any, ever so slight, possibility that it was a hoax, the Soviets would have made this big. Really, really big.

      That, in turn, leads me to believe that the US wouldn't have dared to spoof it. This was pretty big, nothing you could pull off with a handful of sworn friends, you had to have too many people, people you cannot 100% trust, in it. The chance that the Russians would have gotten a hint was way too great, because one thing was certain, if only the tiniest hint reached Moscow that this PR stunt (and, face it, the moonshots were little else on the face) could be turned into the biggest PR blunder of the century, they would have pushed insane resources into debunking it.

      This, if anything, proves to me that yes, the US did go there.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    54. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Yvanhoe · · Score: 1

      "So what, you brought me there and show me this stuff and want me to believe this was there 50 years ago ? How naive of you..."
      I also believe they were real, but in today world, I challenge the idea that a picture or a video can be a proof of anything. If there were a conspiration about anything, government-forged clues could be very convincing. During the Parisian trip of the Olympic torch, they have fabricated a false incident, that was filmed about a paraplegic athlete being agressed by a (presumably) fake protestor. It went to the news in China. No European journalists following the torch ever heard about that before reading the news.

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
    55. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by agentgonzo · · Score: 1

      C) Overcomplicating technology, the machines that took us to the moon were simple, simplicity allows you to work out a bunch of bugs and simplicity allows for more accurate human override.

      Really, no. The Saturn V is possibly the most complicated machine ever made. IIRC it had over 6 million components. There was nothing simple about it.

    56. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      [sarcasm on] yeah! tear them up to the moon and let them have a look! Without a spacesuit *grin*

    57. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by mdwh2 · · Score: 1

      Great, now we have Fake Moon Landing Conspiracy Conspiracy Theorists who say that the Fake Moon Landing Conspiracy Theorists don't exist!

    58. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, I'm woried about retributions.

      (Replying as AC as I think they're trying to trac
      no carrier

    59. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you imagine what a PR boost it would have been for the Soviets to call the US moon landing program a bluff?

      They bought them off.

    60. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      IIRC it had over 6 million components.

      5,999,000 of them were probably rivets.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    61. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by jcasman · · Score: 1

      Why bother to try to convince them? Waste of effort.

    62. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A 1999 poll by The Gallup Organization found that 89% of the US public believed the landings were genuine, while 6% did not, and 5% were undecided. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_moon_landing_hoax_accusations

      Funny is good, sarcastic funny is even better, but do we really need to float questions like "How many such people actually exist?" and then ruminate on them here? To the extent that such vague questions can actually be answered, the answers are stored in your keyboard...

    63. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by gujo-odori · · Score: 1

      The A/C below wasn't me, but yes, I am. That does happen to people, and I'm not taking any chances. If you think it doesn't, you're the kook here, not me.

      Do I think they look for people saying critical things about their country in online fora? Yes, I'm certain they do. Could they discover my identity? Maybe. I'm obviously not going to discuss ways to put together pieces of the puzzle, but a person who worked hard and was smart would have a shot at discovering who I am by starting with my /. ID, yes. You'd probably be surprised at how many people could have their /. IDs linked to their real identities if someone with time and resources cared to do it.

    64. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Bazman · · Score: 1

      Are you thinking of the dyslexic pimp who opened a warehouse?

    65. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by EdIII · · Score: 1

      It still does prove anything. I will admit, you have a very compelling political theory about why it was not faked. Proof to me is impartial eyewitnesses and cold hard evidence.

      I believe in the Coliseum, gladiators, and tigers because we have written accounts, ruins, etc. that paint us a picture. Not to mention, the Coliseum. I believe in many historical events simply because of how much evidence is provided from so many different "directions".

      Other than political theories, hearsay, there is no direct and impartial evidence or testimony that we went to the Moon. Yes, I want a telescope powerful enough to see the damn footprints, and the U.S Flag.

      Maybe I am product the extreme cynicism of having to endure the absolute bullshit that is our government, it's whoring politicians, and the progressive erosion of our civil liberties and prosperity. It has certainly caused me to be skeptical.

      That said, I do think it is highly likely that we went, but I will not acknowledge it 100% as doctrine and fact. I just don't trust my government. Never have, and they have never given me a reason too either.

    66. Re:pics and it still didn't happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe in the Coliseum, gladiators, and tigers because we have written accounts, ruins, etc. that paint us a picture. Not to mention, the Coliseum. I believe in many historical events simply because of how much evidence is provided from so many different "directions".

      Where does your experience of this evidence come from? You most likely have not read the primary sources you allude to. So why do you trust translations and summaries of documents and artifacts you've never witnessed yourself, rather than photographs, videos, and the testimony of living astronauts?

  4. That's cool and all by Idiot+with+a+gun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But let's not pretend for a second that it'll stop the theorists. They want to disbelieve, so nothing will prevent them. As was mentioned on the Conspiracy Theories episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit, when someone says "You can't convince me," those aren't the words of a skeptic, merely of a jerk. That being said, they should be some neat photos.

    1. Re:That's cool and all by ocularDeathRay · · Score: 1

      well, to be fair its not as if you can't fake images these days....

      --
      Obama is a twitter sock puppet
    2. Re:That's cool and all by pipingguy · · Score: 1, Informative

      But P&T's Bullshit is also a program that doubts Global Warming/Climate Change, so it must be ignored.

      This post modded down in 3, 2, 1...

    3. Re:That's cool and all by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 0

      They also claimed passive smoking didn't exist and their GM programme should have had 'Sponsored by Monsanto' on the credits.

      It's a comedy show.. it's not *supposed* to make sense.

    4. Re:That's cool and all by ModernGeek · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't give them the honour that comes with the title, "theorists". "Nut jobs" is much better.

      --
      Sig: I stole this sig.
  5. Re:eh by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...freshly shaved Asian...pussy...

    You haven't seen very much Asian porn, have you? You're in for a big surprise once Mommy and Daddy uninstall NetNanny.

  6. Well duh. by SatanicPuppy · · Score: 1

    I mean, of COURSE they'll be visible...The Illuminati have had decades to fake up an accurate-looking landing site. They might have actually used their mind powers to put a man on the moon at the time, but they were too busy killing Kennedy.

    //Conspiracy theorists will never buy it.

    --
    ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
  7. Google moon? by davidwr · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can I have street view?

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:Google moon? by Abalamahalamatandra · · Score: 1

      You laugh, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Google did this as part of Google Earth.

      And I for one would spend quite a bit of time using it!

    2. Re:Google moon? by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      actually yes, Google will be integrating the LRO data into Google Moon in realtime.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    3. Re:Google moon? by arthurpaliden · · Score: 1

      Remember when you could zoom in on the Moon and see the Swiss Cheese.

    4. Re:Google moon? by synthparadox · · Score: 1

      Thats not hard. All you need is a lot of close-up pictures of cheese.

    5. Re:Google moon? by kahrn · · Score: 1
    6. Re:Google moon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google Moon Street View as part of Google Earth? So you click on Paris and you get street level images from Mare Tranquillitatis. Yeah, I don't think so.

  8. If you look closely at the picture of the orbiter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can plainly see that only a few feet of the orbiter are devoted to the camera, with the rest being a perfect-size capsule for a single astronaut with a copy of photoshop.

    Explain that.

  9. Obligatory Cheese Reference by spireite · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's Wensleydale, Grommit!!

    1. Re:Obligatory Cheese Reference by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      No it isn't. It's like no cheese I've ever tasted.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  10. tourism? by convolvatron · · Score: 1, Funny

    so....the primary focus of this mission is checking out the trash we left 40 years ago?

    1. Re:tourism? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not the primary purpose. More like an interesting side benefit.

  11. Lunakhod 1 by mbone · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Lunakhod 1 carried a French retroreflector array for Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) but unfortunately, contact was lost and no one knows where it is. There are good returns for Lunakhod 2, so I (and others) want Lunakhod 1 back !

    Finding this would be a great help for Lunar science (assuming it didn't get crushed in a landslide or something). I know that this is on their list, so good luck !

    1. Re:Lunakhod 1 by vlm · · Score: 2, Informative

      Lunakhod 1 carried a French retroreflector array for Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) but unfortunately, contact was lost and no one knows where it is.

      I checked the wikipedia and there is no mention, but I thought it was "generally known" that because it worked for a year or so and then "suddenly failed" it was because the optics cracked due to thermal stresses. An earth year is about 12 lunar days, and the hot/cold cycles are pretty intense. A cracked retroreflector isn't going to work.

      Given realistic spot diameter on the moon vs possible landing area position error, and the difference in cost between having grad students blast away randomly (virtually free) vs the cost of launching another mission, I don't think its just "unknown location".

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    2. Re:Lunakhod 1 by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1
      So...what...you'll be able to tell how far away the moon is, then?

      Sorry, if this is the cutting edge of lunar science, then we're all doomed. Who cares about some junky old probe?

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    3. Re:Lunakhod 1 by mbone · · Score: 1

      The Apollo LLR site has looked for Lunakhod 1, but without success so far. These LLR retroreflectors are arrays, and would work if a few corner cubes were cracked.

      It's approximate position is of course known, but not well compared to the spot size. Searches can be made to go faster by defocusing the laser, thus making the spot larger, but that lowers the return (the larger spot has fewer photons per square meter). If the retroreflector isn't oriented towards Earth, that will cut down on the return, and it might not be possible to see it with a defocused laser. So, if LRO can see it, the Apollo LLR site will look for a return from the exact spot.

      My prediction, FWIW, is that they will find it.

    4. Re:Lunakhod 1 by mbone · · Score: 1

      Who cares about some junky old probe?

      A bunch of people, at least in the Lunar and planetary science community. Here is a review paper, and another on the physics return from LLR. We know where the Moon is at the sub-cm level without Lunakhod 1, but recovering this array would help determine Lunar rotation. Even though the Moon is commonly regarded as a dead body, it isn't, and these data might help to resolve this. There is a free libration of the Moon of unknown origin, so it would be good to have data from yet another point on the surface.

    5. Re:Lunakhod 1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A cracked reflector should actually work almost as well as a fresh one. They consist of a number (100 in case of the apollo ones) corner reflectors, and even if a large crack should go all the way through the array, 80% should still work. Corner reflectors don't need to be aligned to each other or to the light source that is to be reflected, only the two surfaces that are the cube reflector need to be at exactly the 90Â angle.

  12. But, even if you make it to the surface... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...of the Moon, nobody really considers you to be a man, JAZ... despite having a Slashdot ID in the 10K's.

  13. Lunar ruins by Nonillion · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Just reading the summery makes me worried about the slew of "Moon landing never happened!" posts that are on the way"

    As for me, I think we did go to the moon. However I feel that these so called images will be doctored to remove evidence of the alleged "ruins" that are littered across its surface..

    --
    "I bow to no man" - Riddick
    1. Re:Lunar ruins by causality · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Just reading the summery makes me worried about the slew of "Moon landing never happened!" posts that are on the way"

      As for me, I think we did go to the moon. However I feel that these so called images will be doctored to remove evidence of the alleged "ruins" that are littered across its surface..

      I don't think the problem is whether or not we went to the moon. The problem is that we have a government which has no problem lying to us. You really want to shut up the conspiracy theorists? Restore the honor and decency and respect for the citizens that the government of the USA once had. The way I see it, that's what this whole deal is really about.

      --
      It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
    2. Re:Lunar ruins by PitaBred · · Score: 1

      The problem is that people have too much respect for the government. Most people I talk to trust the government implicitly, and do not think they would do anything bad. They think all this "think of the children" and "terrists!" rights-erosion is perfectly acceptable in order for them to be "safe".

      The government doesn't scare me nearly as much as my co-citizens do.

    3. Re:Lunar ruins by zeugma-amp · · Score: 1

      Never have mod points when you need them. These more whacky conspiracy theories are but a symptom of a much larger issue of trust. NASA actually brought some of it on themselves, though because there were some doctored photos, because there were certain shots that they wanted for PR purposes and they weren't willing to allow chance to play a role.

      --
      This is an ex-parrot!
    4. Re:Lunar ruins by causality · · Score: 1

      The problem is that people have too much respect for the government. Most people I talk to trust the government implicitly, and do not think they would do anything bad. They think all this "think of the children" and "terrists!" rights-erosion is perfectly acceptable in order for them to be "safe".

      I assumed that my comment would be interpreted a certain way and I admit I probably should have been more specific. The honorable and decent way for (any) government to operate is as transparently as possible. Adequate transparency would mean not having to just take their word for it because you could investigate the matter for yourself, to your own satisfaction.

      The government doesn't scare me nearly as much as my co-citizens do.

      Unfortunately, most of them got that way because of "public" (government) education. Even if you don't agree with me that this is quite deliberate (as a thorough study of the origins of government schooling in the USA would quite clearly show to you), it should not be a controversial position to say that the government has failed to deliver a quality education that would deal with what you are talking about. I see all the "for the children" and "terrorists" arguments and I also see that they are not worthy to lick the boots of the Founding Fathers and what they had to say about freedom. This is not a matter of taste or preference; one of these viewpoints is clearly superior and more correct than the other and widespread ignorance is the only reason why this is not universally recognized.

      --
      It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
    5. Re:Lunar ruins by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Well obviously, they're going to have to doctor the new images from the LRO to remove evidence of the Monolith that's on the far side of the moon.

    6. Re:Lunar ruins by turing_m · · Score: 1

      Restore the honor and decency and respect for the citizens that the government of the USA once had. The way I see it, that's what this whole deal is really about.

      I don't believe that the difference is in the morality of the US government, it is in the rise of competing sources of information to the official, centralized channels (ironically the seeds of which were sewn with the creation of ARPANET). Martin Luther would have been just some crank if he had been born a century earlier (before the printing press).

      --
      If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
    7. Re:Lunar ruins by MrKaos · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't think the problem is whether or not we went to the moon. The problem is that we have a government which has no problem lying to us.

      My girlfriend often remarks to me when we see old American movies that 'that was when it was a much nicer America' not one so conditioned to lying to it's own people that no one knows what the truth is. Obviously I don't know what the actual truth is either.

      My uncles and my father all watched the Apollo 11 Moon landing *LIVE*. As they were in Australia they were getting the feed slightly before the U.S did. I have no doubt that the moon landing happened but the three of them have all told me the same strange story about when they watched the moon landing.

      I can't say exactly when they heard Armstrong, a man known for his calm under pressure, say in an excited voice:

      "Huston, Huston: There is something large and suspiciously white moving off the crater ri.."

      the transmission was cut off and they were left wondering what was going on.

      I personally believe the majority of UFO sighting can be explained by high speed intelligence reconnaissance aircraft and UFO sightings were a convenient cover for their operations. Yet there may be some sort of conspiracy, not that we didn't land on the moon I have no doubt of that we did. But what actually happened may be much stranger.

      It seems kind of convenient that the original recordings of the moon landings have been "lost", who knows maybe the story of faked moon landings is yet another cover story. The only way to be sure is to see and hear the recordings of the original moon landing in it entirety from separation of the LM and CM to the docking of the LM to the CM. It's simple really, as it's is a significant piece of human history, why can't I buy it somehow and listen and watch without commentary? Surely, since nothing about the mission is classified, I should be able to do that, so why is it so difficult to find, even just to connect to what was achieved all those years ago?

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    8. Re:Lunar ruins by causality · · Score: 1
      There was one thing you said that resonated with me. I hope to give you a real answer to it.

      My girlfriend often remarks to me when we see old American movies that 'that was when it was a much nicer America' not one so conditioned to lying to it's own people that no one knows what the truth is. Obviously I don't know what the actual truth is either.

      I am under no illusions that America was ever some kind of utopia or anything like that. Throughout its history it has had problems, some of them quite egregious and shameful. What I think we can agree on is that it used to be a better, happier place than it is today and that there are reasons for this. I find most of those reasons to be mundane and not fully satisfying, so I will explain what I believe to be the one true principle from which all of those reasons are ultimately derived.

      It was a nicer America because the people in general, from the most average to the most sophisticated, were more virtuous than they are today. I'll explain that another way. You cannot manipulate a virtuous man because he does not participate at all in that system of interpersonal control. That's my corollary to the old adage, "you cannot cheat an honest man." Indeed, you really cannot cheat an honest man because an honest man does not expect a reward that is out of porportion to his own contributions. If you're a really good liar, you can deceive him by simply failing to deliver, but you will never entice him with promises of easy money. That's half of it.

      The other half of it is that compromised people demand compromised leaders. When people themselves are selfish, or deceitful, or manipulative, and believe that this is normal or acceptable, it's no surprise to the discerning that dishonest leaders can appeal to this. Lately in USA elections, it's become fashionable to discuss whether you can "have a beer" with the candidate. Compromised people who have maladaptive views of what is acceptable can really enjoy having a beer with a politician who knows how to tell them exactly what they want to hear. Honest people in the same situation would perceive that someone is trying to cater to a weakness that they do not possess.

      The problem with truth is that in order to really appreciate it, you first have to be willing to look at yourself. This problem is compounded because people who are not honest, not virtuous, and are not actively trying to change that tend to have a lot of inner conflict. They usually don't know why. A few of them so thoroughly enjoy deceiving, manipulating and dominating others that they have no such conflicts. But most do at least give lip service to some kind of morality or some form of ethics because at least some small part of them believes or wants to believe in these things. The inner conflict is because this part of them finds itself in opposition to the desires and weaknesses that prevent them from responding to other people with true compassion and loving-kindness. In a way, that conflict (really the feeling of guilt it creates) can accumulate in that the longer it goes on, the tougher it can be to face it and call it what it is. In that way it develops a sort of momentum.

      That momentum is more than mere inertia because this does not happen in isolation. It's viral in nature because angry, unhappy, or dissatisfied people lack grace and so their inner state is mirrored in what they say and do to others. As there are so few good examples and so little understanding of how to overcome this, the recipients of those negative words and actions react to and are influenced by them. They either retaliate or they want to retaliate and suppress it, substituting a negative judgment of some kind. The retaliation or the judgment have the same effect, which is to ensure that misery has its company. Incidentally, this is the wisdom behind the various religious prohibitions against "returning evil for evil". This describes the personal level.

      When this goes on, unr

      --
      It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
    9. Re:Lunar ruins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sources???? links????? even just show the pictures?????

      you can tell from the pixels, right???

      idiot

    10. Re:Lunar ruins by MrKaos · · Score: 1

      compromised people demand compromised leaders.

      The few American people I have worked with and met socially in my country have all been decent people.

      America is a great country, and has achieved much and overcome enormous difficulties. But something happened to America after WW2 and that is the rise of corporate power in America. Some will and some won't admit it is the core of problems in the US but it is has been spreading around the world and you don't have to look far to find it's influence.

      Corporatism lobbies politicians to change laws, dumbs down the media, battles in the courts against those it has wronged, creates pollution, undermines fair working conditions for everyone and so on. There is no refuge from it anywhere, it was released to power in America and after conquering communism is almost finished defeating capitalism.

      That is what killed the nice America, it is what engenders a sense of absolute hopelessness in everyone it touches. Deep down, Americans are smart enough to know this is the master to which they are chained while it makes a mockery of freedom. Because it comes from within it is the deadliest enemy of all.

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  14. Re:If you look closely at the picture of the orbit by eln · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's quite simple really...the moon landing sites, due to insufficient resolution images of the surface available at the time, turned out to be in some pretty bad neighborhoods. The lunar rovers are probably up on blocks by now, completely stripped by Moon hooligans, and most of the other equipment has likely been stolen. Since NASA wants to send men back there, they're going to need to doctor those photos. Nobody will want to go to the moon if it's revealed what a ghetto it is.

  15. It's amazing by Bromskloss · · Score: 5, Funny

    What a long way we've come since the sixties and seventies. Now we can even photograph the landing sites they used back then. :-/

    --
    Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
    1. Re:It's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      just think - with the way technology moves - maybe someday we'll even be able to record moving pictures of the orbiter going over the landing sites!

    2. Re:It's amazing by Ecuador · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why is something so sad modded as funny?

      --
      Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    3. Re:It's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      we're crying on the inside

  16. I know one by wurp · · Score: 1

    Oddly, he is not an idiot.

    1. Re:I know one by RiotingPacifist · · Score: 1

      I know one extreme christian that doesn't believe; in quantum mechanics, the big bang theory, evolution, etc, oddly i knew him because he was in all the top science/maths sets at highschool

      --
      IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
    2. Re:I know one by wurp · · Score: 1

      Interesting - the fellow I know is an extreme christian who actually avoids learning about quantum mechanics, because he doesn't want it to be true (?!), I'm not sure of his take on big bang, he believes in limited evolution (some speciation, but not that mammals and reptiles have a common ancestor, nor the animals having a common ancestor with man).

      I know him from working on software dev projects with him, but he is one of my few work friends who are also friends outside of work. He and I are both National Merit Scholars; his background is in marine biology.

      He was not a christian until probably his 30s - his wife "turned" him. Now he is a deacon of his church.

    3. Re:I know one by ibbey · · Score: 1

      That's always the case. They don't want it to be true since if it were true it would make them rethink their beliefs. Same thing is true with the anti-global warming zealots. Global warming can't possibly be true since it conflicts with their political ideology. It truly is baffling how so many otherwise intelligent people can completely shut off their brains when it comes to fairly simple topics (ok, maybe Quantum Mechanics isn't that simple).

  17. The "moon" - a ridiculous liberal myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)

    Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.

    Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!

    Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.

    1. Re:The "moon" - a ridiculous liberal myth by Em+Emalb · · Score: 1
      --
      Sent from your iPad.
    2. Re:The "moon" - a ridiculous liberal myth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ann Coulter, I presume?

  18. Re:If you look closely at the picture of the orbit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's quite simple really...the moon landing sites, due to insufficient resolution images of the surface available at the time, turned out to be in some pretty bad neighborhoods. The lunar rovers are probably up on blocks by now, completely stripped by Moon hooligans, and most of the other equipment has likely been stolen. Since NASA wants to send men back there, they're going to need to doctor those photos. Nobody will want to go to the moon if it's revealed what a ghetto it is.

    You mean, even if you go to the friggin' MOON you still can't get away from niggers? Shit.

  19. They'll believe what they want to believe by Temujin_12 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In my experience, people who are adamant about the moon landing being a conspiracy seem to act that way merely because it gets them attention. They seem to feed off of the conflict. Since claiming these pictures are also a fake will continue to give them attention, this type of people will continue to hold onto their beliefs.

    If people want to believe that the moon landing was a hoax, that's their prerogative. But when they become combative towards anyone who thinks otherwise, that's when they've stepped over the line. It's called basic tolerance and respect. The same applies to other subjects which are debated--science/religion, windows/mac/linux, music, sports, etc. You're entitled to your opinion and the defense of it, but you are not entitled (or at least you're credibility is not entitled) to disrespect or belittle people merely for having different opinions or beliefs.

    People who feel the need to constantly attack or belittle different opinions/beliefs merely show how insecure they in their own anyways.

    --
    Faith is a willingness to accept something w/o complete proof and to act on it. Reason allows you to correct that faith.
    1. Re:They'll believe what they want to believe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I disagree. The only argument one can use against a "belief" that flies in the face of documented, proven reality is ridicule and insult.

      Why ignore these ignorant wastes of carbon when one can have a laugh at their expense?

      Taking them seriously certainly isn't an option.

  20. Sounds like competition by T+Murphy · · Score: 1

    I bet we'll soon see Bing roll out GoogleMoon to show up Google's GoogleEarth.

    1. Re:Sounds like competition by the+phantom · · Score: 2, Informative

      You mean, something like this? And, before you ask, this one is pretty nifty, too.

  21. Re:If you believe they put a man on the moon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jews are a religion dummy. Why you ask? Because I can convert to Judaism.

  22. And What If... by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 1

    And what if it doesn't find anything? Did we not do it, or did the aliens steal it afterwards for recycling?

    The funniest result of this would be if they found it, but not where the astronauts actually thought they landed.

    And while it's up there mapping, can it find that B-17 on the Moon that I saw the pictures of decades ago?

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  23. For the Fans! by QuantumG · · Score: 1

    Forget the conspiracy theorists. Those guys are haters. As a giggling space cadet I'm looking forward to "first light" from LRO because these images are going to be the best ever. This will happen sometime this month, or early next month. In regards to Apollo, the LM was 4.27m in diameter.. so that's just over 4 pixels.. I don't know how great that is gunna look :)

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  24. How about open-sourcing the transmission instead, by amn108 · · Score: 1

    To give skeptics a harder time being skeptics about this? I am not one of the hoax believers, even though I am naturally skeptical to all things space and military we are told about, given the rich history of fuckups and coverups of these fuckups, but you have got to admit that in this age where its getting hard to tell in the movies what has been cg-enerated and what was in fact real, a bunch of pictures supposedly from the Moon will not proove ANYTHING to either hoax believers or those who believe we landed there. If anything, more scrutiny will be asked for with regard to photo material, to which bizarre rules will or will not apply ("no, you cannot have original data!" -NASA)

    For this reason, I would say the only way the public would actually accept "public" photograph data as real deal, is if NASA "open-sourced" spacecraft broadcasting interface - frequencies, protocol, encoding, where to set up a dish, size of dish required - so that whoever actually doubts the authencity of such photos, may instead doubt whether NASA is faking a signal from the Moon that carries digital image data. After all, if the information is pubic, it is public. Nothing in the transmission is really secret or falls under NDA anyway? It involves radio waves, some archaic encoding scheme of some color channels and a wrapping protocol for transmission. The open-sourcing of the transmission would force the hoax game onto a whole new level of complexity, where it would not be so easy for the skeptics to cry fake.

    From the movie "Contact":

    KITZ
    Oh, I do think you may have suffered some kind of episode, yeah. I do. Doctor, I'd like to propose an alternate hypothesis, if I may, and I'd like you to bring your considerable scientific expertise to bear on it. To fake a signal from Vega, what would you need?
    ELLIE
    You would need a satellite to transmit the signal, but it would be impossible to simulate something...
    KITZ ...you would need a satellite, and you would need launch capabilities to put the satellite into orbit. And of course the message itself. To put something like this together, so complex, drawing on so many different disciplines...
    ELLIE ... would be impossible.
    KITZ
    Impossible? Impossible? Is there anyone who might have been up to the challenge? Someone with extraordinary technical expertise. Enormous financial resources. Someone perverse enough, eccentric enough to have come up with the idea in the first place?
    ELLIE
    Hadden?
    KITZ
    S. R. Hadden.
    ELLIE
    You're implying that this was all some kind of a hoax, that he engineered this...

  25. Re:If you believe they put a man on the moon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would you convert to the religion of thieves and hook nosed kikes?

    If Jews aren't a race of gutter rats, why did heroic Germans exterminate them in gas chambers?

  26. Not Soon by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Informative

    The commissioning phase will end approximately 60 days after launch, when LRO will use its engines to transition to its primary mission orbit.
    LRO is now in a commissioning orbit! - June 27

    So we're at least 56 days from "first light" and the mapping program will go for 1 year, and as there's nothing to suggest that the Apollo landing sites will be first or last imaged, a good estimate is 8 months or so from now.

    If that's "soon" to you, then I guess you're older than I am :)

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  27. By 2080, nobody alive will have witnessed it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    BY 2080, nobody alive will have seen first-hand the media coverage of the Apollo landings. Heck, I was born in 1970 and I don't remember them even though they happened when I was alive.

    Anyway, there will come a time when nobody will have first hand memories of the event. The only memories will be those gleaned from videos, reading about it, etc. At some point, the fact that it happened will change from a fact into just something people have read about or heard about.

    Eventually many of the people alive will doubt it ever happened at all because the story of the moon landings will have become indistinguishable from a fable.

    Think about the war of 1812, or Columbus "discovering" America. We have a pretty good idea these things happened. But all we know about them is stuff we have read or heard. We have also heard many works of fiction from those same times. At some level, it's all similar.

    This ignores the concept of revisiting the moon, which may or may not ever happen. I have my doubts about NASA on this. But if we ever do go back and build a city, then those people will doubt it was ever such a big deal.

    1. Re:By 2080, nobody alive will have witnessed it by GweeDo · · Score: 1

      Something tells me by 2080 a few people might have seen the landing sites them self.

    2. Re:By 2080, nobody alive will have witnessed it by lessthan · · Score: 1

      You hope. It has been about forty years since anyone has tried to go there. I really doubt that NASA will go back.

      --
      Space Shuttle was a program that strapped humans to an explosion and tried to stab through the sky with fire and math
    3. Re:By 2080, nobody alive will have witnessed it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Think about the war of 1812, or Columbus "discovering" America.

      I prefer not to think about hoaxes brought about by the government, thank you very much.

  28. Re:How about open-sourcing the transmission instea by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 2, Informative

    A more relevant movie reference would be Capricorn One, which featured a fake trip to Mars. (And I think must have been the inspiration for many/most of the moon hoaxers.) Plus it starred OJ Simpson.

    http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0077294/

  29. Interesting observaton. by Paul+server+guy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What I find interesting is that most of the comments are about the "hoax" hoax, a few about how long it took, and not many about how very cool this tech is? Are we really that jaded?

    I for one think it's very cool. And I am looking forward to seeing the hardware.

    I'm also looking forward to using the date to help plan our mission.

    --
    Your Moon, Your Mission, Get involved! http://www.openluna.org
  30. Re:If you believe they put a man on the moon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why convert to Judaism? Because we all know they rule the world, silly!

    (wow an "inferior" "race" rule the world, and still be inferior is beyond me... wouldn't all the cute little "Aryans" then be inferior because they don't rule the world?)

  31. There's a reason they're called "Lunatics"... by WheelDweller · · Score: 0

    See also: Firefly: Episode "Our Mrs Reynolds" where our bad girl is told, "Listen to me- I'm babbling like a MOON BRAIN."

    Oh, yeah: the moon and (creative|dangerous|unpredictable) folks is well established.

    --
    --- For a good time mail uce@ftc.gov
  32. Buzz Aldrin - Renaissance Man by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 1

    Street Fighter. Astronaut. Rocket Scientist. Rapper.

    --
    Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
  33. You have no idea what you're talking about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You people think you know what you're talking about. But you don't. You have no - Ahh shit, wrong forum.

  34. Re:eh by Have+Brain+Will+Rent · · Score: 2, Funny

    At least then the cat won't have to hide every time it sees a razor...

    --
    The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny - Aesop
  35. I repeat... by davidwr · · Score: 1

    I repeat: Can I have street view?

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  36. False by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are no reflectors on the moon, or even a moon (per se). When you shoot a LASER out of the atmosphere, it is picked up by the interior walls of our Dyson sphere (Pro-Tip: You think those lights in the sky are stars? The sun, moon, stars, etc are all LASER-generated images from the inside of our D-sphere).

    Your location is traced and placed into a database, which will then be cross-referenced for the (inter?)national watch-list database.

    Why do you think NASA and ESA are so hesitant to facilitate the use of commercial rockets and encouraging the mass-production that is inevitable from a capitalist technology race? By all means, feel free to pinpoint your location for the government by proving you need to personally check their results to believe them.

  37. I know two, actually by Xaedalus · · Score: 1

    One is a man in Las Vegas who doesn't own a car (out of choice), and steadfastly refuses to believe that we landed on the moon. He doesn't give any real reason other than that it's his opinion that we didn't do it, we're not capable of doing it, and we're faking it. He does so calmly and succinctly, leading me to believe his ego is made of adamantium. The other is a true gun-nut who continues to believe that any day now the United States Senate will pass a bill authorizing the UN to take control of our armed forces (and that Joe Biden was a sponsor of the bill). He insists that it was all a fake, and that he knows guys who ran the soundstage where it was all filmed. Conversations with these two gentlemen are ALWAYS interesting.

    --
    Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
    1. Re:I know two, actually by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So they're both Americans?

      (just sayin')

  38. hmmm by Mr_Nitro · · Score: 0

    Putting everyone in the same mix is not fair imho. There are 'conspiracy' ppl out there, and they will find all possible tricks to keep on believing everything is fake or whatever. BUT there are also some perfectly normal and rational ppl who have some serious doubts about the first landing. There are some totally undeniable 'flaws' in those pictures, ok nasa said they doctored those, fine then they show us the originals, pretty simple, I think it's a shame if they really have been there in the first flight to have citizens doubt that. Just show those ugly originals, not matter what. But hearing a nasa researcher say that with nowadays technology it will take about 20 years of r&d to put someone on the moon... well ...that stinks. They lost most of contractors projects... schemes...everything... that's a nice scientific way of conducting a mission/experiment... not. Anyway, I hope they will provide some CLEAR pictures for the landing site...to shut up all the crackpot. If they don't then it's time for the citizens to inquiry officially into this.

    1. Re:hmmm by Paul+server+guy · · Score: 1

      But hearing a nasa researcher say that with nowadays technology it will take about 20 years of r&d to put someone on the moon... well ...that stinks.
      They lost most of contractors projects... schemes...everything... that's a nice scientific way of conducting a mission/experiment... not.

      NASA may say it'll take 20 years, What a crock. Come join us, we'll do it in 5-7, and for some $500M-$700M. No BS.

      --
      Your Moon, Your Mission, Get involved! http://www.openluna.org
  39. Hasselblad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I doubt it, but it would be cool if the pics were of a high enough resolution that you could see the Hasselblads left on the surface.

  40. Re:How about open-sourcing the transmission instea by rlseaman · · Score: 2

    "the only way the public would actually accept "public" photograph data as real deal, is if NASA "open-sourced" spacecraft broadcasting interface - frequencies, protocol, encoding, where to set up a dish, size of dish required"

    Open source is the wrong term, of course, but none of this information is hidden away: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=16926 The inverse-square law ensures that you need a very large antenna beyond Low Earth Orbit, but the public has been eavesdropping on satellites since Sputnik. In this case, just point the antenna at the Moon :-)

    KITZ ... To fake a signal from Vega, what would you need? [...] you would need a satellite, and you would need launch capabilities to put the satellite into orbit. And of course the message itself. To put something like this together, so complex, drawing on so many different disciplines...

    ELLIE ... would be impossible.

    Actually it would most definitely be impossible. The parallax of Vega is a bit over a tenth arcsecond. This is straightforward to measure with 19th century technology. More to the point, any spacecraft of Earth origin will be much, much (much, much (much, much)) closer than Vega. Simple trigonometry would reveal the scale of the distance to the origin of the signal with zero chance of being spoofed. This is the antithesis of any Moon Hoax.

  41. Kinda like that Metric System Scam by Macrat · · Score: 1

    http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/01/feehery.franken/index.html

    "(CNN) -- The metric system is the kind of thing that you can expect from the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority Democrats now have in the United States Senate."

  42. Non Technical Prof of Moon Landings by arthurpaliden · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In 1969 the Americans first landed men on the moon. Now some people have made names for themselves by saying that this and subsequent landings never happened. Their position is that NASA faked them in order to save face and fool the public. To prove their point they rely on explanations of the reported events using dubious science and lay explanations that any first year science major would and does, laugh at.

    However, they always miss or purposely avoid the the one piece of irrefutable proof that it did in fact happen. That is that the Soviet government never refuted the American claims and they were in a unique position to do so. For even after the Americans landed on the moon the Soviets still continued to send orbiters, landers and rovers to the moon.

    http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_planetary_lunar.html

    Now if they wanted to get the goods on the Americans all they had to do was to land, photograph or explore with a rover the American landing sights. Just imagine the embarrassment not to mention the the damage to American credibility, at the height of the cold war no less, that such information would generate. Records even show that they never landed or even explored that areas that that American landings happened. So they did not even go and look to make sure because they knew it really happened.

    But they did not. They did not use it to pressure the Americans to stop bombing North Vietnam and Cambodia where Soviet military advisers were being killed as a result. They did not use it to pressure the United States to stop sending military advisers to and providing Stinger missiles to the Afghan fighters during the Soviet occupation. They did not use it to stop the Star Wars program of the Regan administration.

    In fact they did not even use it to turn the West's attention away from the Soviet Union during the Soviet Coup of 1991 when members of the Soviet government briefly deposed Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and attempted to take control of the country.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_coup_attempt_of_1991

    Which every body knew was the last death throws of the Soviet empire. If they did not use the information then to turn the attention of the American, and world public, inward to their own governments lies and thus corruption and force it to ignore the events in the Soviet Union in order to deal with a damaging domestic and international issue. Then the proof of faked moon landings did not and never existed.

    One final thought. After the fall of the Soviet Union the Russian economy tanked. People were selling all kinds of stuff owed by the crumbling state, ships, weapons, artworks and knowledge but nobody ever approached any Western news agency or tabloid to sell them this information. And to say that one would buy it but not publish is foolish. The seller could just keep peddling it until someone did and then it would be old news and worthless until then it would still be worth something.

  43. Re:Like Paul Revere's Ride by arthurpaliden · · Score: 1

    Most people know the poem and the myths but few people know the real facts. If we never go back, the moon landings may well be remembered in the same way. Mind you I think we will be going back since we will be needing the uranium that has been discovered there. Well at least the Chinese will since they are the ones that are building the most reactors in the near term.

  44. I put on my tinfoil hat by CuteSteveJobs · · Score: 2, Funny

    > Images of Apollo Landing Sites Soon Available

    Why not visit them in person? They're in the desert just outside Los Angeles.

    My personal theory is The Pirate Bay was shut down just to ban the documentary, Capricorn One.

  45. Re:How about open-sourcing the transmission instea by amn108 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I thought also that the information given by Allie in "Contact" is erroneous. I mean, there are just too many giveaway variables that would expose any attempt to "fake" such signal.

    Also, if it is indeed as straightforward as you say it is to tune in to signals originating from the Moon (and I believe you know what you are talking about here) then I don't really get how the Moon hoax believers won't just shut up once and for all. I mean, there is skepticism, and then genuine paranoia and lack of common sense.

    I believe in many UFOs to be of extraterrestrial origin and intelligent design by sentient species. But I don't subscribe to the theoretically possible but absurd (in light of circumstances) idea that Moon landings were faked. Don't they just have to point a dish at the Moon to finally unsubscribe from their disbelief? If so, why don't they do exactly that? Why make loads of websites with nice graphics and professor quotes, if all it takes is to actually do real scientific analysys of live data instead of digging into old archives and looking for anomalies?

  46. Images of Apollo Landing Sites Already Available by multi+io · · Score: 1

    Images of the Apollo landing sites are already available by the thousands, shot from just a few meters away, with the "artifacts" covering not just a few pixels, but a few tens of thousands of pixels. Whoever believes that all those pictures were faked up 20 years before Photoshop was even invented isn't going to believe that NASA images made 20 years *after* Photoshop was invented, and in which the artifacts cover just a few pixels, are not doctored.

  47. Iron Sky by Geheimagent · · Score: 1

    Teaser can be found here.

  48. Re:How about open-sourcing the transmission instea by Paul+server+guy · · Score: 1

    For this reason, I would say the only way the public would actually accept "public" photograph data as real deal, is if NASA "open-sourced" spacecraft broadcasting interface - frequencies, protocol, encoding, where to set up a dish, size of dish required - so that whoever actually doubts the authencity of such photos, may instead doubt whether NASA is faking a signal from the Moon that carries digital image data. After all, if the information is pubic, it is public. Nothing in the transmission is really secret or falls under NDA anyway? It involves radio waves, some archaic encoding scheme of some color channels and a wrapping protocol for transmission. The open-sourcing of the transmission would force the hoax game onto a whole new level of complexity, where it would not be so easy for the skeptics to cry fake.

    As "rlseaman" said, OpenSource isn't the right term, I would say open protocols and standards, with all data sent in the clear. (You'd have to keep a secured control channel though.)

    Which is exactly what http://www.openluna.org/wiki/index.php/Mission_Plan intends to do, Send back every bit of data open and clear. The world's paying for it, the world should have the data.

    --
    Your Moon, Your Mission, Get involved! http://www.openluna.org
  49. hoax? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Duh? Seem like everybody is making fun of comments indicating skepticism or "conspiracy theories" regarding moon landings, but i havent read a single such sceptical comment yet. And btw, a little skepticism would be totally apropriate. Isn't it a bit hypocritical making fun of religious "cretionists" zealots, but bashing everybody attacking ones own beliefs? (and apollo debate IS mostly a matter of myths and beliefs, and not facts, on BOTH SIDES, let's face it...)

  50. Godwin on the moon by halber_mensch · · Score: 1

    Hopefully the orbiter will discover the lair of the Nazis on the moon and we can launch a preemptive nuclear strike before they come back in 2018.

    --
    perl -e "eval pack(q{H*},join q{},qw{70 72696e74207061636b28717b482a7d2c717b343 637323635363534323533343430617d293b})"
  51. Offtopic by wurp · · Score: 1

    Holy shit, your user id is huge! I didn't know we had made it into the tens of millions.

    1. Re:Offtopic by ibbey · · Score: 1

      Umm... That's the comment id, not my UID. My UID is a bit more than 50% lower than yours (27,873). :-)

    2. Re:Offtopic by wurp · · Score: 1

      Oh, duh, thanks.

      That wasn't meant to be critical; that was honest wtf-ness.

    3. Re:Offtopic by ibbey · · Score: 1

      Oh, I got that... Just thought it was funny.

  52. Not that unlikely that some people will... by mbessey · · Score: 1

    In 2080, it'll only have been 108 years since the last moon landing. Some people already live that long currently. Given the current state of research into aging and the human genome, it's likely that some substantial improvements in maximum lifespan will be developed in the intervening time. I wouldn't be surprised if some folks of my generation (who were young kids at the time) will live to see 120 years of age or more. Not me, of course - I'm eating a sausage and cheese sandwich RIGHT NOW, actually. But some of the healthier ones will make it.

  53. Sprocket: Step inside... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You and your evasions -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1290967&cid=28579131 you talk a good game, but when it comes to proving your b.s.?

    You RUN...

    (Face the music, See the subject-line there asking YOU to disprove that the Microsoft based MDDS system @ NASDAQ does NOT do 99.999% uptime for NASDAQ)

    Come on - B]back up your b.s. (and answer the questions there in addition to providing YOUR proofs to backup your assumptions...)

    APK

    P.S.=> Burden of proof is on YOU now, big talker... let's see YOUR proof that MDDS @ NASDAQ doesn't do 99.999% uptime! apk