Board Thread:Off-Topic/@comment-38518555-20190716013635/@comment-28169398-20190808205804

SatanLovesJello wrote: Rob, I KNOW for a FACT that we DID land on the moon. There is a device that was placed on the moon (similar to a mirror) that can reflect the light of a laser beam. (This was actually covered on Mythbusters.) It is used frequently by NASA and universities around the globe, and the data is generally available to the public. That device could have easily been deposited by a remotely controlled craft

The REAL question is, did we send along humans for the ride?

That is where I have some reasonable doubts. The science, physics and technology available at the time just don't quite add up. I'm not saying that we didn't, or that it was impossible, but I AM saying that it is very possible that some of the "evidence" may have been manipulated. (In an effort to appear superior to the Russians.)

Elon Musk is a genius, simple as that. He is intelligen, wealthy, well-connected, and has NO reason to lie to anyone about anything. But he said this:

Elon Musk: "I think Apollo 11 was one of the most inspiring things in all of human history. Arguably the most inspiring thing. And one of the most universally good things in history. The level of inspiration that provided to the people of Earth was incredible. And it certainly inspired me. I’m not sure SpaceX would exist if not for Apollo 11.

I kept expecting that we would continue beyond Apollo 11, that we would have a base on the moon, that we would be sending people to Mars. And that by 2019 probably would be sending people to the moons of Jupiter. And I think actually if you ask[ed] most people in 1969 they would have expected that. 'And here we are in 2019. The U.S. actually does not have the ability to send people even to low-Earth orbit'."

Well? Debt from the Vietnam War. Gas Crisis of the 1970's. Great Recession of the 1980's. Research shift to low earth orbit missile defense (SDI). Fiscal Conservatism. Fall of the Berlin Wall and end of the Cold War. Climate Change Denial.

The space race and the Apollo program was a public way to show the other side technological advancements in rocket technology without doing actual tests that could trigger a hot war. The Soviets were also looking to put humans on the Moon, and they ended their efforts when Apollo 11 was successful. They switched their efforts to Mir Space Station and studying the effects of long term space flight on humans.

As for why we went no further with the moon? It was "Mission Accomplished." We showed the Soviets our technical prowess and that was pretty much the extent of what the mission actually was all about, from a political perspective. There was no longer the political appetite in the United States to fund the budgets for further lunar exploration. Fiscal Conservatives weren't willing to approve the necessary budgets, Trickle-down economics focused on Tax Cuts instead of Governmental spending to attempt to stimulate the economy. Also, we gained far more benefit from having a low earth orbit presence than one on the moon.

And then there is Climate Change Denial. NASA as an agency produced scientific data that could be interpreted to show that Climate Change was occurring and that human input was accelerating the process far more than what would naturally be expected. As that narrative doesn't jive with certain special interests, they lobbied fiscal conservatives to get cuts to the NASA budget as a whole.

You can also add that the Apollo program was begun and pretty much seen to fruition by Democratic administrations and with the exception of 1977-1981 most of the 70's and all of the '80s were Republican administrations that didn't really want to maintain their rivals' legacies. The Space Shuttle's focus was near earth orbit, was started by NASA under Nixon and was continued under Reagan and Bush.

Science shouldn't be political, but because it also requires a lot of resources to do well, it often is.