American lunar rocket. Cognition of reality

The 20th century is the era of man's breakthrough into space. Its main achievements were manned flights into low-Earth orbit, man's entry into airless space and the exploration of the Earth's satellite, the Moon. The paradox is that people have begun to forget the contribution made by the American Apollo program (1969-1972), which allowed man to escape beyond the boundaries of his own planet, and today few people can answer the question of how many people have walked on the Moon.

The decision that changed the world

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the president’s historic announcement of the launch of a project called Apollo. This was a response to the flight of Yuri Gagarin and the current lag of the United States in space exploration. The lunar project was supposed to not only make a qualitative leap, glorifying the scientific and technological power of the country, but also distract the people from the unpopular war in Vietnam. There is documentary evidence that Kennedy, after studying the financial and scientific side of the issue, proposed to N.S. Khrushchev proposed to unite the efforts of the two countries to implement lunar expeditions, trying to create a “space bridge” between the superpowers, but was refused.

Today it is known that the program cost the United States $26 billion. This is 10 times higher than the cost of creating an atomic bomb. But Kennedy still accepted important decision, proving the limitless capabilities of man and writing his name in history. Answering the question of how many people have visited the Moon, it should be remembered that 24 pilots reached its orbit, but only 12 managed to leave their mark on its surface. And before the first successful launch, there were four test launches, during preparation for which three astronauts died in January 1967.

First crew

Apollo 11 was the spacecraft that delivered the first successful mission to the lunar surface. Its launch on July 16, 1969 was shown live on television. During the first days, while the ship was in low-Earth orbit, the daily video broadcast continued, indicating great hopes associated with this particular crew. Captain Neil Armstrong, main pilot Michael Collins, lunar module pilot Edwin Aldrin - experienced pilots who had been in space on the Gemini spacecraft, entered lunar orbit on the fourth day after turning on the third stage engines.

The next day, two of them transferred to the lunar module and, after activating its systems and undocking, moved into a descent orbit. A special feature of this expedition was that after turning on the landing engines, the pilot managed to land the module in a matter of seconds before the critical fuel consumption level. Neil Armstrong is the first earthling to receive permission to walk on the surface of the Moon. He was followed by Edwin (who changed his name to Buzz Aldrin in 1988), who performed the religious rite of communion on the moon.

After spending about 2.5 hours on the surface (the rest of the time was spent in the module), the crew collected rock samples, took video and photographs, and by July 24 returned safely to their home planet, landing in a given square.

Inspired by success

The first crew returned to the United States as heroes, and on November 14, Apollo 12 was launched under the control of an experienced astronaut who made two flights into space on Gemini spacecraft (1965, 1966). Pete Conrad and his comrades (Alan Bean and Richard Gordon) during the launch encountered an emergency situation associated with two lightning strikes. In front of President Nixon, who was present at the launch, electrical discharges disabled a number of sensors, causing the fuel cells to shut down. The crew managed to correct the situation as soon as possible.

Conrad and Bean had to spend two days on the surface of the Moon (the active exit was 3.5 hours). At the landing site, they encountered a cloud of dust and managed to reach the Surveyor 3 apparatus, making a significant contribution to the development of science. Due to problems with the video camera, it was not possible to make a video broadcast directly from the crew landing site.

Included in the list of people who walked on the moon

The United States sent 9 expeditions to the Earth's satellite as part of the Apollo program. Astronauts from six crews managed to land on the Moon. All of them consisted of three people, two of whom were transplanted into the lunar module. After the April 1970 failure associated with an accident on board Apollo 13, which did not complete its tasks, the next successful expedition occurred in February 1971. Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell (by the way, they were supposed to be the crew of the 13th Apollo) managed not only to conduct seismic experiments, but also to go into outer space twice.

David Scott and James Irwin, members of the next expedition (July 1971), and John Young and Charles Duke (April 1972), who made a long trip on the lunar rover, spent three days each on the surface of the Earth’s satellite. The crew of Apollo 17 put an end to the implementation of the lunar program. Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt made their last flight in December 1972, and Cernan managed to scribble his daughter's initials as a farewell note. For him, this was his second flight to the Earth’s satellite, like three more of his comrades. But when answering the question of how many people have been to the Moon, it should be taken into account that only once each of them touched the lunar surface.

Completion of the Apollo program

Today, the launch pad, owned by the US Air Force, is in disrepair. Despite the supposed continuation of Apollo launches, none of the three subsequent launches were carried out. The main reason is the enormous costs that do not bring a new breakthrough in space exploration. Of the 12 heroes who escaped from near-Earth space, nine survived. Their life does not resemble the life of Hollywood stars. They all soon left NASA, almost forgotten by their fellow citizens. Surprisingly, the participants in the first flight received the highest US award (the Congressional Gold Medal) only on the fortieth anniversary of the launch.

When asked how many people have walked on the moon, many today answer: “not a single one.” These are those who share the “conspiracy theory” that appeared with the light hand of writer Bill Kaysing, who questioned the reality of flights to the Moon. Defending his honor, 72-year-old Buzz Aldrin, at an advanced age, publicly hit a journalist in the face for expressing his doubts. In 2009, the United States presented to the public satellite images confirming traces of astronauts on the surface of the Earth's satellite.

The completion of the program and the lack of interaction in this direction between the two space powers is very sad, because it can become a bridge on the path to future flights to Mars.

Among the events that the 20th century was remembered for, one of the main places is occupied by the landing of astronauts on the Moon, which took place on July 16, 1969. In terms of its significance, this event can be called epochal and historical. For the first time in history, man not only left the earth's surface, but also managed to set foot on an extraterrestrial space object. Footage of the first steps taken by man on the lunar surface spread all over the world and became a symbolic milestone of civilization. American astronaut Neil Armstrong, who instantly turned into a living legend, commented on his actions as follows: “This one small step for man, one giant leap for humanity.”

WITH technical side There is no doubt that the Apollo program was a huge technological breakthrough. How useful the American space odyssey turned out to be for science is a matter of debate that continues to this day. However, the fact remains indisputable: the space race, which preceded the landing of man on the Moon, had a beneficial effect on almost all spheres of human activity, opening up new technologies and technical possibilities.

The main competitors, the USSR and the USA, were able to take full advantage of their achievements in the field of manned space flights, largely determining the current situation with space exploration.

Flights to the Moon – big politics or pure science?

In the 1950s, a rivalry of unprecedented scale developed between the Soviet Union and the United States. The advent of the era of rocketry promised the side that could build powerful launch vehicles a huge advantage. The USSR attached particular importance to this issue; missile technology provided a real opportunity to counter the increased nuclear threat from the West. The first Soviet missiles were built as the main means of delivering nuclear weapons. The civilian use of rockets designed for space flights was in the background. In the United States, the missile program developed in a similar way: the military-political factor was a priority. Both warring sides were also spurred on by the arms race, which, along with the Cold War, started after the end of World War II.

The United States and the USSR used all methods and means to achieve results. Soviet intelligence actively carried out work in the secret laboratories of the US space agency, and vice versa, the Americans did not take their eyes off the Soviet rocket program. However, the Soviets managed to get ahead of the Americans in this competition. Under the leadership of Sergei Korolev, the USSR created the first ballistic missile R-7, which could deliver a nuclear warhead to a distance of 1200 km. It is with this rocket that the beginning of the space race is associated. Having got its hands on a powerful launch vehicle, the Soviet Union did not miss the opportunity to outdo its overseas competitors. It was almost impossible for the USSR to achieve parity with the United States in terms of the number of nuclear weapons carriers in those years. Thus, the only way left to achieve equality with the United States and, perhaps, to overtake overseas competitors was to make a breakthrough in the field of space exploration. In 1957, an artificial Earth satellite was launched into low-Earth orbit using the R-7 rocket.

From this moment on, not only issues of military rivalry between the two superpowers entered the arena. Space exploration has become a primary factor in foreign policy pressure on an opponent. A country that had the technical ability to fly into space a priori looked like the most powerful and developed. The Soviet Union managed to inflict a sensitive blow on the Americans in this regard. First, in 1957, an artificial satellite was launched. A rocket appeared in the USSR that could be used to fly a person into space. Four years later, in April 1961, the Americans were knocked down. The stunning news about Yuri Gagarin's flight into space aboard the Vostok-1 spacecraft dealt a blow to the pride of Americans. Less than a month later, on May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard made an orbital flight.

The subsequent American space program was very similar to Soviet developments in this area. The focus was on manned flights with a crew of two or three people. The Gemini series ships became the basic platform for the subsequent development of the American space program. It was on them that the future explorers of the Moon flew around, and on these spacecraft the landing, splashdown and manual control systems were tested. Having lost the first stage of the space race to the Soviet Union, the Americans decided to take a retaliatory step aimed at achieving a qualitatively different result in space exploration. In the high offices of NASA, on Capitol Hill and in the White House, it was decided to beat the Russians to the moon. The international prestige of the country was at stake, so work in this direction took on a fantastic scale.

The colossal amount of funds that would be required to implement such a grandiose event was not taken into account at all. Politics took precedence over economics. Through such an extraordinary decision, the United States could become unconditional leadership in the space race. At this stage, the competition between the two states could end in two ways:

• the stunning success and subsequent development of the manned flight program to the Moon and other planets;
• a devastating failure and a colossal hole in the budget, which could put an end to all subsequent space programs.

Both sides were well aware of this. The American lunar program officially started in 1961, when American President John Kennedy gave a fiery speech. The program, which received the resounding name “Apollo,” envisaged, within 10 years, the creation of all the necessary technical conditions for landing a man on the surface of the Earth’s satellite and the subsequent return of the crew to Earth. For political reasons, the Americans invited the Soviet Union to work together on the lunar program. Overseas, they bet that the USSR would refuse to work together in this direction. Thus, everything was at stake in the United States: political prestige, economics and science. The idea was to once and for all overtake the USSR in the field of space exploration.

The start of the lunar race

The USSR took seriously the challenge posed from overseas. By that time, the Soviet Union was already considering the issue of manned flights to the Earth’s natural satellite, the flight and landing of astronauts on the Moon. The work was headed by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev at the V.N. Design Bureau. Chelomeya. In August 1964, the Council of Ministers of the USSR approved the start of work on the lunar manned program, which included two directions:

• flyby of the Moon in a manned spacecraft;
• landing of a space module on the surface of the Earth's satellite.

The start of design and flight tests was scheduled for 1966. In the USA, the scale of work in this direction has become more widespread. This is evidenced by the size of the appropriations spent on the implementation of all stages of the Apollo program, which at the end of the flights amounted to a colossal amount even by today’s standards - $25 billion. Whether the Soviet economy would be able to bear such expenses is a big question. This is part of the answer to the question of why the Soviets voluntarily gave up the palm in the lunar race to the States.

The technical side of the issue related to the implementation of the lunar program represented a huge amount of work. It was necessary not only to create a huge launch vehicle capable of launching into orbit a spacecraft equipped with a lunar landing module. It was also necessary to design vehicles for landing on the Moon, capable of returning back to Earth.

In addition to the enormous amount of work facing the designers, astrophysicists had to work just as hard, who had to make the most accurate mathematical calculations of the spacecraft’s flight path to the Earth’s satellite, the subsequent separation and landing of the module with two astronauts. All developments made sense only if the crew returned successfully. This explains the number of launches that filled the Apollo program. Until the moment when astronauts landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, 25 training, test and preparatory launches were carried out, during which the work of all systems of the huge rocket and space complex was examined, starting with the state of the Saturn 5 launch vehicle in flight, ending with the behavior of the lunar module in lunar orbit.

Painstaking work went on for eight long years. The upcoming event was preceded by serious accidents and successful launches. The saddest event in the history of the Apollo program was the death of three astronauts. The command compartment containing the astronauts burned down at the ground launch complex during testing of the Apollo 1 spacecraft in January 1967. However, overall the project was encouraging. The Americans managed to create a reliable and powerful Saturn 5 launch vehicle, capable of delivering cargo weighing up to 47 tons into lunar orbit. The Apollo apparatus itself could be called a technological miracle. For the first time in the history of mankind, a spacecraft has been developed that can deliver people to an extraterrestrial object and ensure the safe return of the crew back.

The ship included a command compartment and a lunar module - a means of delivering astronauts to the Moon. Two stages of the lunar module, landing and take-off, were created taking into account all the technological operations provided for by the program. The lunar module cabin was an independent spacecraft aircraft, capable of performing certain evolutions. By the way, it was the design of the lunar module of the Apollo spacecraft that became the prototype of the first orbital American space station, Skylab.

The Americans were more than careful in resolving all issues, striving to achieve success. Before the first spacecraft, Apollo 8, reached the orbit of the Moon and flew around our satellite on December 24, 1968, 7 years passed in hard and routine work. The result of the colossal work was the launch of the eleventh Apollo family ship, the crew of which eventually announced to the whole world that man had reached the surface of the Moon.

Is it true? Did American astronauts really manage to land on the Moon on July 20, 1969? This is a mystery that continues to be solved to this day. Experts and scientists around the world are divided into two opposing camps, continuing to put forward new hypotheses and create new versions in defense of one point of view or another.

The truth about the American landing on the moon - a stunning success and a clever scam

The lies and slander that the legendary astronauts - Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins - were forced to face are amazing in their scale. The skin of the Apollo 11 landing module had not yet cooled down when, along with nationwide rejoicing, words were heard that there had in fact been no landing. Historical footage of earthlings on the Moon was shown hundreds of times on television all over the world, and films of negotiations between the command center and astronauts in lunar orbit were played thousands of times. It is alleged that the spacecraft, even if it flew to our satellite, was in orbit of the Moon without performing any lunar landing operations.

Critical arguments and facts became a platform for conspiracy theories that persist today and put a question mark under the entire American lunar program.

What arguments do skeptics and conspiracy theorists use:

• photographs taken during the landing of the lunar module on the surface of the Moon were taken under terrestrial conditions;
• the behavior of astronauts while on the surface of the Moon is unusual for airless space;
• An analysis of the conversations between the Apollo 11 crew and the command center suggests that there was no communication delay, which is inherent in long-distance radio communications;
• lunar soil taken as samples from the surface of the Moon is not much different from rocks of terrestrial origin.

These and other aspects, which are still being discussed in the press, with certain analysis may cast doubt on the fact that Americans are on our natural satellite. The questions and answers that are heard today on this matter allow us to say that most of disputed facts are far-fetched and have no basis in reality. Repeatedly, NASA employees and the astronauts themselves gave reports in which they described all the technical subtleties and details of that legendary flight. Michael Collins, being in lunar orbit, recorded all the actions of the crew. The astronauts' actions were duplicated on command post at the mission control center. In Houston, during the astronauts' journey to the moon, they were well aware of what was really happening. The crew's reports were repeatedly analyzed. At the same time, transcripts of the ship's commander Neil Armstrong and his colleague Edwin Aldrin, recorded while on the surface of the Moon, were studied.

In neither case was it possible to establish the falsity of the testimony of the Apollo 11 crew members. In each hotel example, we are talking about the precise fulfillment of the task assigned to the crew. It was not possible to convict all three astronauts of deliberate and skillful lies. To the question of how astronauts are landed on the Moon in the lunar module, if each crew member has only 2 cubic meters of internal volume of the ship, the following answer was given. The astronauts' stay on board the lunar module was limited to only 8-10 hours. The man in the protective suit was in a stationary position, without making significant physical movements. The time of the lunar odyssey coincided with the chronometer of the Columbia command module. In any case, the time spent by two American astronauts on the Moon was recorded in the logbook, in the audio recordings of the Mission Control Center and displayed in photographs.

Did humans land on the moon in 1969?

After the legendary flight in July 1969, the Americans continued launching spacecraft to our space neighbor. After Apollo 11, the 12th mission set off on its journey, which also culminated in another landing of astronauts on the surface of the Moon. Landing sites, including those for subsequent missions, were chosen with the expectation of obtaining an understanding of different areas lunar surface. If the lunar module "Eagle" of the Apollo 11 ship landed in the Sea of ​​Tranquility area, then other ships landed in other areas of our satellite.

Assessing the amount of effort and technical preparations involved in organizing subsequent lunar expeditions, one cannot help but wonder: if the lunar landing was originally planned as a scam, why, after the success achieved, continue to feign a Herculean effort by launching the remaining Apollo missions to our satellite? Especially if it carries a high degree of risk for crew members. The story of the thirteenth mission is indicative in this aspect. An emergency situation on board Apollo 13 threatened to develop into a disaster. At the cost of enormous efforts by the crew members and ground services, the ship and its living crew were returned to earth. These dramatic events formed the basis of the plot of the blockbuster feature film Apollo 13, shot by the talented director Ron Howard.

Edwin Aldrin, another person who managed to visit the surface of our Moon, even had to write a book about his mission. His books First on the Moon and Return to Earth, which appeared between 1970 and 1973, became bestsellers rather than science fiction novels. The astronaut outlined in great detail the entire history of their flight to the Moon, described all the normal and emergency situations that arose on board the lunar module and the command ship.

Further development of lunar missions

To say today that earthlings have not been to the Moon is incorrect and impolite towards the people who took part in this grandiose project. In total, six expeditions were sent to the Moon, which ended with the landing of a man on the surface of our satellite. With their rocket launches to the Moon, the Americans gave human civilization a chance to truly appreciate the scale of space, to look at our planet from the outside. The last flight to the earth's satellite took place in December 1972. After this, rocket launches towards the Moon were not carried out.

One can only guess about the true reasons for curtailing such a grandiose and large-scale program. One of the versions that most experts adhere to today is the high cost of the project. By today's standards, more than $130 billion was spent on the space program to explore the Moon. It cannot be said that the American economy was struggling with the lunar program. There is a high probability that he simply prevailed common sense. Human flights to the Moon did not have any particular scientific value. The data that most scientists and astrophysicists work with today allows us to make a fairly accurate analysis of what our nearest neighbor is like.

To obtain the necessary information about our satellite, it is not at all necessary to send a person on such a risky journey. The Soviet automatic Luna probes coped with this task perfectly, delivering hundreds of kilograms of lunar rock and hundreds of photographs and images of the lunar landscape to Earth.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them

Is the flight to the moon a giant step for humanity or a worldwide hoax? Crimean scientist analyzes American flights to the Moon

According to NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency of the United States, supported by the American government, in 1969, humanity made a qualitative leap in its development: the Apollo 11 space expedition took place, during which astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin became the first earthlings set foot on the surface of the Moon. According to NASA, in 1969 -1972. 12 astronauts visited the Moon during six Apollo missions. Another 15 visited lunar orbit.

Was there a flight to the moon?

The first doubts about the authenticity of the lunar expeditions were expressed even during the period of their implementation by some US citizens, including those who worked at NASA, who pointed out a number of oddities around the lunar project, as well as signs of forgery in films and photographic materials of the expeditions. In subsequent years, the number of arguments put forward by specialists in space technology, photography and filming, and cosmic radiation, questioning or denying NASA's version, has increased. If in the first “post-lunar” years NASA sometimes responded to critics, then such statements were subsequently stopped. A NASA representative gave this “logical” explanation: the volume of criticism is so great that there is not enough time to respond to it. It is not surprising that the arguments of skeptics, presented in a huge number of newspaper and magazine articles, books and during television programs, and the response silence of NASA led to an increase in the number of skeptics who consider the Apollo project a scam. Thus, currently about a quarter of Americans do not believe in the reality of landing a man on the Moon. Let's look at some of the oddities that raise doubts about NASA's version.

Couldn't the moon rocket fly to the moon?

To implement the Apollo project, the Saturn 5 rocket was created in 1967, capable, according to NASA, of launching 135 tons of cargo into low-Earth orbit. None of the more recent space systems has such power, including the Shuttle, a reusable system developed in the United States by the mid-80s and capable of placing 30 tons of payload into orbit around the Earth. Nevertheless, the active life of the Saturns turned out to be surprisingly short and was limited to participation in the lunar program. Maybe Saturns are much more expensive than Shuttles? Not at all, especially considering the well-established production of the former and the enormous expenditure of money and time on the development of the latter.

At comparable prices, launching an equal payload into space using the Shuttles turned out to be more expensive than using the Saturns.

Or maybe today there is no need to launch large payloads into space? There is such a need in particular when creating space stations. And there are a lot of interesting things on the Moon, for example, an isotope of helium, which is promising as a source of thermonuclear energy. But maybe the Saturn 5 is an unreliable rocket? On the contrary, if you accept NASA's version, it is extremely reliable. All of its manned launches were successful.

But the Shuttles turned out to be not so trouble-free, despite the fact that near-Earth flights, for which they were used, are an order of magnitude simpler in technical terms than flights to the Moon and back. The disasters that occurred with the Shuttles, which claimed the lives of 14 American astronauts, forced NASA management to abandon their further use. Having abandoned, for unknown reasons, the Saturns in 1973, and then the expensive and unreliable Shuttles, the United States was left, so to speak, with nothing. And today, Americans rent Russian Soyuz spacecraft for flights to the ISS. The same ones that were created in the USSR even before the flights to the Moon. NASA did not put forward any reasonable explanation for the “retirement” of its own rockets, unsurpassed in power and reliability. Skeptics give the following explanation for this strangeness: in reality, Saturn 5 was unable to launch into space even the minimum cargo required for lunar expeditions. In addition, the rocket was extremely unreliable. It could not participate in any flights to the Moon and was used only to simulate lunar launches. Therefore, after the early termination of the Apollo program, the production and use of Saturn rockets was stopped, and the remaining three rockets were sent to museums. At the same time, in 1972, the chief designer of the worthless Saturns, von Braun, stopped working at NASA.

Did the rocket engine fail?

The F1 rocket engine used on the Saturns had, according to NASA, a thrust of 600 tons. The most powerful rocket engine, the RD-180, used in our time and created in the USSR, has less thrust and has worse thrust/weight and thrust/size characteristics compared to the F1. The reliability of the F1 engine, like the Saturn 5 rocket, is the highest: not a single failure during all flights to the Moon and previous manned lunar and near-Earth flights! It would seem that the F1 should have a long life. And if it was modernized, then over the past 45 years after its creation it would have been possible to further increase its power and reliability. However, the best rocket engine of all time, the F1, died at the same time as the best rocket of all times - “Saturn”.

“Skeptics” from among rocket specialists explain this oddity by the fact that technical principles, incorporated into the F1 design, were initially flawed, which did not allow providing the thrust necessary for flights to the Moon. By the way, the failure of the lunar engine, which was still in the design stage, was predicted by great Sergei Korolev. The real power of the F1, according to skeptics, could only be enough to lift the half-empty body of the Saturn from the ground, underfilled with fuel, to simulate a lunar launch. The reliability of the weak F1, according to experts, was below average. That's why NASA wisely wrote it off and never used it again after the end of the lunar epic. But what engines do Americans use today on their powerful Atlas rockets? The United States uses RD-180 rocket engines purchased from Russia or manufactured in the United States using Soviet-era technology received from Russia. When in the early 90s, in the ecstasy of unity with the world community on the basis of universal human values, Russia laid out to the Americans its scientific and technical secrets from the times of the “closed” USSR, they were shocked: the Russians, many years ago, were able to bring into reality what American rocket scientists had been unsuccessful in achieving fought for many years and abandoned it, considering it impracticable. For scientific and technical documentation on the RD-180 engine, the United States paid Russia 1 million in green pieces of paper - the current price of a three-room apartment in Moscow.

Strange things with lunar soil

According to NASA, lunar expeditions brought about 400 kg of lunar soil to Earth from different points on the Moon. Compared to 300 grams of regolith, a mixture of lunar dust and rubble, delivered by Soviet automatic machines, the high scientific value of the American samples was determined by the fact that they belonged to the bedrock of the moon. It would seem that the United States should have distributed a significant portion of lunar rocks to the best laboratories in the world so that they could carry out an analysis and confirm: yes, this is soil from the Moon. However, the Americans showed surprising stinginess. Thus, USSR scientists were provided with 29 grams of rock, but not indigenous rock, but in the form of dust, which unmanned vehicles are quite capable of delivering to Earth in small quantities. At the same time, in exchange, out of its 300 g of regolith, the USSR gave the United States one and a half grams more. Other scientists from different countries were even less fortunate: they were given, as a rule, from half a gram to two grams of regolith, and with the condition of return. The results of studies of American samples published in the scientific press either refer to regoliths, or do not allow them to be identified as lunar, or lead to doubts. Thus, geochemists from the University of Tokyo established that the NASA lunar samples presented to them spent a gigantic period of time in the Earth’s atmosphere, which is almost impossible to explain if the samples were formed under lunar conditions. French researchers, studying the reflective characteristics of the American and Soviet samples, concluded that only the latter has light reflection characteristics corresponding to the albedo of the lunar surface. A comedic sensation, which for some reason did not get much attention from “free journalists,” was the recent report by Dutch scientists that a sample of lunar soil, solemnly presented by the US Ambassador to the Prime Minister of Holland in 1969, turned out to be a piece of petrified terrestrial wood. There were no comments from donors. But NASA decided to no longer provide lunar soil to researchers. The explanation is this: we should wait until more advanced research methods appear, and in the meantime preserve the lunar soil for future generations of scientists. NASA doesn't believe that future astronauts will be able to go to the Moon and bring back soil samples?

So, instead of publicly inviting the world's leading laboratories to conduct a comprehensive study of hundreds of kilograms of lunar soil samples using the latest methods and widely publish the results, a taboo has been placed on the study of samples. Strange, isn't it? Skeptics have the following explanation: the United States does not have genuine stones, because they have never been to the Moon, and subterfuges are invented to stop further revelations.

Where did the original lunar filming go?

Without responding to numerous accusations of falsification, NASA nevertheless sometimes reacts to them by silently removing ridiculous pictures or individual fragments from its websites, or even simply correcting details in photographs. Thus, noticed by skeptics in one of the NASA photographs, the distinct letter “C” on the “moon” stone, which is used to mark props in the American film world, suddenly disappeared from the photograph. The photo, in which the shadows of objects intersected, which is impossible in sunlight, was simply cropped. And so on. Let us dwell only on some of the oddities associated with the “lunar movie”.

Probably everyone saw on TV the exit from the lunar module to the surface of the Moon by astronaut N. Armstrong, who uttered the legendary phrase about “a small step for man and a giant step for all mankind,” and drew attention to the extremely low quality of the image, which made it difficult to see a certain figure , going down the stairs. NASA explained: these frames were taken on Earth from a monitor screen in Houston, and the poor quality was because the image was broadcast from the Moon. However, for some reason they were in no hurry to show magnetic tapes with high-quality images directly filmed on the Moon. With each new lunar expedition, the situation repeated itself: NASA did not show the original lunar photographs. To answer perplexed questions - why aren’t they showing high-quality footage? — NASA replied that everything has its time, a special storage facility is being built for the originals of priceless video recordings, after which copies will be made from them and shown to the general public. Years passed. And now, 37 years later, NASA announced that the original recordings of man's first step on the lunar surface were lost, along with the recordings of all other lunar expeditions. The trail of 700 boxes containing more than 10,000 magnetic tapes was lost before 1975, according to NASA. So, it turns out that why high-quality video recordings were not shown - they seemed to disappear into thin air! Well, it happens. It is a pity, however, that it was the recordings made on the Moon and during the flights there and back that were lost, while for some reason the much less valuable terrestrial recordings of the astronauts’ training, their rest, being with their families, ceremonial launches to the Moon, and even more were perfectly preserved. ceremonial meetings upon return. In 2006, NASA created a special commission to search for the missing films. Since then there has been silence. They're probably still looking. Strange, isn't it? Skeptics explain it this way: the film is dynamic, so it is almost impossible without computer technology passing off photographs taken on Earth as lunar ones. Such technologies did not exist during the Apollo era. And photographs are static; it is much more difficult to detect deception from them. This is why, skeptics say, NASA “lost” the “lunar films” but saved high-quality “lunar photographs.” By the way, in the years since the lunar epic, NASA has repeatedly reported about the loss of lunar soil. It seems that the moment is not far off, say skeptics, when NASA will announce that everything has been stolen, so it is impossible to conduct further research on the moon rocks. Just as it is impossible to see the missing original recordings of people on the Moon.

Why is there no independent verification?

Modern technology makes it possible to photograph objects located on it with a resolution of about 0.5 meters from near-Earth orbit from a height of several hundred kilometers from the surface of the planet. When photographing the lunar surface from lunar orbit, the absence of an atmosphere not only improves visibility, but also allows for much higher resolution by reducing the orbital altitude to tens of kilometers. This makes it possible to receive from lunar probes not only a clear image of the Apollo landing modules remaining on the Moon, which are about five meters in size, but also the lunar vehicles left there by lunar expeditions and even traces of astronauts in the lunar dust. In the last decade, several countries have successfully launched lunar probes that have repeatedly flown over NASA's stated landing areas.

Information from Cnews.ru dated May 5, 2005: “The European Space Agency ESA unexpectedly stopped publishing images of the Moon obtained by the SMART-1 research probe. The agency previously stated that one of the essential elements The probe's scientific program is to "inspect" the lunar landing sites of the manned Apollo missions, as well as other American and Soviet spacecraft. This would put an end to the bitter debate and accusations that NASA is lying....

At the same time, it is known that the device continues to actively function... The program for searching for Apollo landing sites is not mentioned at all, despite the fact that this was previously directly stated by the leading scientific specialist of the ESA research program, Bernard Foing... Moreover just now it has become clear that research vehicles, even from Mars orbit, are capable of successfully finding long-lost landing vehicles on the surface, the landing sites of which were only approximately known to scientists. These devices are much smaller in size than the Apollo fragments that were supposed to remain on the Moon, and Martian winds and sandstorms significantly complicate the task."

During the Kagui lunar probe mission, which ended in the summer of 2009, Japanese facilities mass media They were lively discussing the issue of Apollo. However, hopes of finally receiving independent confirmation of the historical achievement of the United States did not materialize. “Kaguya” was able to film even the previously inaccessible bottom of a lunar crater, saw water on the Moon, and many other interesting things. However, although he flew hundreds of times over the American landing sites, for some reason he did not provide any information about what he saw.

But the Indian Chandrayaan probe seems to have been lucky

Message from Gazeta.ru dated 09/05/09: “Leading researcher Prakash Shauhan reported that the probe photographed an image of the landing site of the American Apollo 15 spacecraft.” While studying the disturbance on the lunar surface, Chandrayaan-1 discovered traces of Apollo 15 being on the Moon... However, Shauhan added that Chandrayaan-1 has a camera whose resolution is not enough to distinguish the traces astronauts, noting that such pictures could be taken by the American LRO apparatus.”

The “disturbance on the lunar surface” looks like a tiny whitish speck in the photo from the probe and for some reason is interpreted as the landing stage of the lunar module. “Tracks of the lunar rover” look like a thin, barely noticeable squiggle.

For many years, NASA did not respond to proposals to film the Apollo landing sites and thereby confirm its lunar theory. And finally, 40 years later, NASA presented space images from the LRO probe of the five Apollo lunar landing sites. Alas, the quality of these photographs turned out to be no better than those of the Indians. Therefore, skeptics, and not only them, exclaim to NASA: damn it! You managed to transmit beautiful photographs from Mars, from the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. But where are the normal photos from the Moon, which is hundreds of times closer to us?

Skeptics explain the oddities with checking the Apollo landing sites as follows. The devoted allies of the United States - Europe and Japan - having not found any traces of Americans on the Moon, did not disgrace their senior partner by exposing them. NASA's examination of itself for cosmic deception cannot be taken seriously. And for what kind of sins the Hindus took upon themselves - only God knows. It should be noted that they left themselves an escape route, mentioning some kind of “disturbance of the lunar surface.” When the lunar deception is revealed, the Hindus will be able to disown: they say they interpreted the “outrage” incorrectly. Skeptics note that reports of photographs from Chandrayaan and LRO appeared a week after the scandal in the Netherlands with the “moon rock”, which turned out to be a petrified piece of wood.

Decades after the US lunar triumph, American experts concluded that going to the Moon was very dangerous, if not impossible. Thus, experts from the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology believe that the quality and reliability of information on the surface of the Moon is outrageous and inferior even to the available data on the surface of Mars, which does not allow landing on the Moon with a sufficient level of safety. But forty years ago there were even fewer such maps, yet the Apollos, according to NASA, landed on the Moon many times without any problems. How did they do it? There is nothing to be surprised here, skeptics believe, because no one has ever landed on the Moon.

Is landing on the moon still impossible today?

The head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office said the actual number of meteorites falling on the Moon is four times higher than previously predicted by computer models. But these models were created on the basis of observations and measurements carried out by the Apollo crews! Why did they turn out to be so wrong? Because, skeptics believe, no one has made any observations of meteorites on the Moon for the reason that no one has ever been to the Moon.

Several years ago, the United States set out to return to the Moon. However, problems arose. “NASA considers it necessary to carry out missions that fly around the Moon without landing on it and return the landing compartment to Earth to study the features of entering the atmosphere at such high speeds - at present they are “not entirely clear to NASA” (Space News message dated January 31, 2007). Well well! Once everything was clear and presented no difficulties; nine expeditions returned from the Moon or from lunar orbit without a hitch. And after 40 years, it became unclear how to land astronauts returning from the Moon to Earth?

“Bush's lunar program encountered an unexpected obstacle: its creators forgot about the X-ray radiation from the Sun. Suddenly it turned out that it is simply impossible to move on the Moon without heavy radiation “umbrellas”. (“Astronomy, Aviation and Space”, 01/24/07, Wed, 09.27, Moscow time). It turns out that scientists from the Laboratory of Lunar and Interplanetary Research in Arizona have found that the likelihood of cancer for astronauts on the Moon is very high, moreover, staying on the Moon in a spacesuit with the Sun active can be fatal. How so? After all, 27 Americans spent a total of hundreds of hours on the Moon, in its vicinity, on the way to the Moon and back, but none of them suffered from radiation, despite the fact that powerful flares on the Sun occurred more than once during lunar expeditions. The health of some astronauts is enviable. Thus, 72-year-old Edwin Aldrin punched the famous TV presenter when he invited the astronaut to swear on the Bible that he flew to the moon. They refrained from fighting, but the other five astronauts, to whom the TV presenter approached with the same proposal, also refused to swear.

“The 2011 budget draft prepared by the Barack Obama administration essentially closes the Constellation space program by returning the United States to the Moon. So, George W. Bush's much-publicized program is being phased out." Russian newspaper" - federal issue No. 5100 (21). Here you go! Instead of using the already proven, proven, extremely reliable Saturn lunar rocket and the Apollo capsule, for some reason they spent about nine billion dollars on creating a new Ares lunar rocket and a new Orion crew capsule. After which they realized that today flights to the Moon are impossible in the same way as 40 years ago?

Was there a “moon conspiracy” between the USA and the USSR?

Supporters of NASA's lunar version ask skeptics the key question: if the lunar epic is a grand hoax of the United States, then why was it not exposed by the USSR, which participated in the lunar race of the last century and was the leader in it, and was also in a state of "cold war" with the United States ?
And why are some of the glorious Soviet cosmonauts defending the NASA version if it is false?

Skeptics answer: there was a conspiracy between the leadership of the USSR and the leadership of the United States. Without a guarantee of non-disclosure on the part of the USSR, the United States simply could not commit a scam. The USSR “sold” the Moon to the USA. According to skeptics, a number of events, including strange ones, are connected with this conspiracy.

1) 1967-69 - the beginning of the policy of détente. In 1972, President Nixon, who arrived in Moscow, signed or planned to sign 12 agreements between the USA and the USSR, extremely beneficial for the Soviet Union.

2) Agreements on missile defense and strategic weapons removed a considerable part of the burden of the arms race from the USSR.

3) The embargo on the supply of Soviet oil and gas to Western Europe was lifted, and currency flowed into the USSR.

4) Supplies of large volumes of American feed grain to the USSR began at prices lower than world prices, which allowed the USSR to significantly increase the production of meat and dairy products and caused discontent in the United States itself, as it led to rising food prices.

5) Chemical plants were built at the expense of the United States in exchange for their finished products. The USSR received modern enterprises without investing a penny.

6) The USSR’s refusal in 1970 to prepare a manned flight around the Moon on the Proton rocket with the Soyuz spacecraft.

Skeptics explain this refusal by the fact that if the flyby had taken place, the USSR would have had to answer the question: did the Soviet cosmonauts see the American landing sites on the Moon? The USSR could not limit itself to the silence provided for by the conspiracy. He would have to either withdraw from the conspiracy, or take the path of outright lies, confirming the American version.

7) In 1970 soviet ship caught in the Atlantic an empty model of the Apollo capsule being lowered to Earth. There is a photo of the layout on the Internet taken by a Hungarian journalist. The USSR quietly transferred a mock-up of the capsule to the United States, which, according to skeptics, serves as direct confirmation of the existence of collusion.

8) In 1974, despite the objections of specialists and leaders of the space industry, the leadership of the USSR curtailed the Soviet lunar program and the development of the N1 lunar rocket. The explanation is the same as in paragraph 6): as a result of the conspiracy, flights to the Moon for the USSR were, in fact, ordered.

9) In 1975, flights to the Moon and Soviet automatic stations were stopped. Since then, neither the USSR nor present-day Russia have approached the Moon.

Skeptics conclude: Russia, as the successor of the USSR, is fulfilling its obligations under the “lunar conspiracy” of the late 60s of the last century.

10) In 1975, the Helsinki Treaty was concluded, which affirmed the inviolability of borders in Europe after the war. He removed all possible claims against the USSR regarding the “occupation” of Western Ukraine, Bessarabia, East Prussia, and the Baltic states.

The first and only joint orbital flight "Soyuz-Apollo", which took place in the same 1975, was needed by the United States, according to skeptics, as an indirect confirmation on the part of the USSR of the US space victory.

Some skeptics suggest that the United States had serious compromising evidence against the leadership of the USSR, which contributed to the conspiracy. If we accept this assumption, then, in my opinion, something connecting the dissolute daughter could serve as such compromising evidence Secretary General Central Committee of the CPSU Galina Brezhnev, a lover of diamonds, wine, men and “ beautiful life", with American intelligence. Such a connection could be the result of a provocation by American intelligence services. The publication of compromising evidence threatened the USSR with an unprecedented international scandal. In the face of his threat, taking into account US proposals that were also beneficial for the USSR, including the policy of détente, the USSR leadership agreed to a conspiracy.

Regarding the defense of the NASA version by some Soviet cosmonauts, skeptics suggest considering the following:

1) The astronauts limit themselves to the statement that “the Americans were on the Moon,” but do not try to refute the specific arguments of the skeptics. By the way, in view of the obvious forgery of “lunar film materials,” in particular, American flags fluttering in the lunar wind on the atmosphere-less Moon, the cosmonauts are forced to admit that these materials were “filmed” on Earth.

2) Cosmonauts are military people. They swore an oath to keep state secrets known to them. And the collusion between the USSR and the USA is still protected as the greatest secret by both the USA and Russia.

3) Astronauts are also people, there are also selfish individuals among them, not all of them could resist the temptation to support NASA’s lies, not without benefit. One of the former cosmonauts, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, who visited the USA many times and was friends with American astronauts, is now deputy director of a large bank and one of richest people Russia, even expressed his admiration for the oligarch Abramovich, who managed to make a multi-billion dollar fortune out of thin air.

4) Among Russian cosmonauts there are cautious skeptics who do not show off their skepticism for the reason stated in paragraph 2.

For the first time, the North American Space Agency (NASA) has posted high-resolution photographs of the Apollo lunar program on the Internet. Over 9,000 shots high resolution, which no one except specialists had ever seen before, were recently posted on the Flickr photo hosting site for free use. According to NASA, this is only the first step towards popularizing photographic documents of the Apollo program, and other photographs will be made publicly available in the near future.

The Apollo program operated from 1961 to 1975. During this period, 11 manned expeditions were sent to the Earth’s natural satellite, of which 9 reached the Moon, 6 successfully landed on its surface, and one, due to an accident, was forced to fly around the Moon without landing and return home (the other 2 carried out preparatory tasks and landed on The moon was not provided). The cost of the thirteen-year program was $25 billion (139 billion in 2005 dollars), which is almost 10 times less (!) than the costs of the 9-year war in Iraq.

The six successful expeditions were Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16 and Apollo 17. Apollo 13 almost suffered a tragedy due to an accident on board. It was decided to cancel the landing on the Moon, the crew was ordered to transfer from the service module to the landing module, and were emergency sent back to earth.

Especially for the readers of this blog, I posted all 9,000 photographs and made a selection of photographs from several expeditions of the Apollo lunar program.

02. Apollo 11 Expedition - July 20, 1969 First successful landing on the Moon| The lunar lander carrying Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin has undocked from the service module and is heading towards the surface of the Moon. The third crew member, Michael Collins, remained in the service module.

03. The first photo of the surface of the Moon after landing.

04. Unfortunately, this collection does not contain photographs of the exit of Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon. From the porthole, the staircase down which Armstrong was descending was not visible. His exit was recorded only by a television camera mounted on an external stand, through which a live broadcast was made to Earth. A few minutes later, Armstrong moved her to another location. All that Edwin Aldrin could photograph in those minutes was the American flag that Armstrong stuck into the lunar soil and a television camera standing in the distance.

05. If a photojournalist had been on the Moon at that time, Armstrong’s exit he filmed might have looked something like this. Here Armstrong filmed Aldrin's entrance. At this moment it was important not to slam the hatch behind us. There was no handle on the outside of the exit hatch. If the hatch had slammed shut, the astronauts would have been unable to enter the module and return to Earth.

06. As you know, the first words that Neil Armstrong uttered when he first stepped onto the lunar surface were: “One small step for man, but giant leap for mankind.”

07. Footprint of one of the astronauts in the lunar soil.

08. Few people know that the first object that the astronauts threw onto the surface from open door, there was a bag of garbage (!). Very human, isn't it?

09. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin walk on the moon. One poses, the other takes photographs.

10. Lunar workdays have begun. Edwin Aldrin installs a solar wind collector screen. It was a sheet of aluminum foil 30 cm wide and 140 cm long and was intended to trap helium, neon and argon ions.

12. Edwin Aldrin deploys a seismometer.

14. Soil samples are taken.

15. Edwin Aldrin poses next to the flag. This photograph has been the subject of heated debate for many years. Conspiracy theorists argued that the supposedly waving flag indicates that the filming was done not on the moon, but on the earth, and here the action of the wind fluttering the flag is evident. Fortunately, anyone can now go into the photo archive of this expedition and view all the photographs that were taken that day. The bend of the flag fabric is the same in all photographs, which eloquently demonstrates the absurdity of conspiracy theorists’ suspicions. When the wind moves the fabric of the flag, its shape will change every second and it is almost impossible to repeat it.

16. It is known that when preparing the first expedition to the Moon, engineers proceeded from the assumption that over the billions of years of the moon’s history, a layer of dust several feet thick had accumulated on its surface. Therefore, the “legs” of the landing module were made long, with the expectation that during landing they would drown in dust. To the surprise of NASA developers and engineers, the layer of dust on the Moon turned out to be no more than 3-5 cm. Does this indicate at a young age The Moon, and therefore the Earth? There's a lot to think about.

17. The astronauts spent 2.5 hours on the lunar surface. When they returned to the lander, they threw away a few more items that they no longer needed - portable life support packs (the same ones they carried with them), lunar outer boots and a camera (the tapes with the footage were, of course, saved ). This was necessary to minimize the take-off weight of the module.

18. Commemorative plaque: “At this place, people from planet Earth first set foot on the Moon in July 1969 AD. We come in peace on behalf of all mankind.” The lower block of the landing module, on the stand of which the sign was attached, remained on the Moon.

19. The road home. The Apollo 11 lunar lander, after taking off from the Moon, approaches the command module that was waiting for it in orbit.

20. Apollo 12 Expedition - November 19, 1969. Second moon landing| Earth rising over the Moon.

21. Another Earthrise. Continuous phrase: "Earthrise."

22. View of the lunar surface from the landing module window.

23. Night on Earth.

24. One of the main tasks of the Apollo 12 crew was to find the robotic Surveyor 3 spacecraft, which landed on the Moon 2.5 years earlier. The crew successfully completed this task and landed the lunar module 200 meters from the Surveyor. In the photo, crew commander Charles Conrad stands next to the Surveyor 3 spacecraft. The astronauts removed some parts from it and took it with them to earth. Scientists were interested in how these objects were affected by their long stay on the Moon. The Apollo 12 lander is in the background.

25. Apollo 15 Expedition - July 30, 1971. Fourth moon landing| This expedition was the first time a lunar vehicle was used.

26. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin spent almost three days on the Moon. During this time, they made three trips to the surface with a total duration of 18.5 hours.

27. Wheel tracks of a lunar car. The astronauts traveled 28 kilometers on it.

28. One of the astronauts installs scientific equipment.

29. The lunar car was developed by Boeing engineers. The wheels are made of woven steel wire. The car ran on electric batteries and could reach speeds of up to 13 km/h, and even more. However, high speed was undesirable, since under the conditions of the Moon the lunar car weighed 6 times less than on earth, and at high speed it was tossed strongly on uneven surfaces.

30. Relatively weak gravity was the reason that when walking, a lot of lunar dust rose, which settled on clothes. Pay attention to the astronaut's feet, black with dust.

31. Apollo 16 Expedition - April 21, 1972. Fifth moon landing| Unlike previous landings, which were made on more or less flat surfaces, Apollo 16 landed in a mountainous area, on plateaus.

32. Morning jog?))

33. The astronauts have clearly gotten comfortable on the Moon. A lunar car parked near the landing module, scientific equipment, and a working astronaut. There is no longer that wariness and uncertainty that is visible in the photographs of Apollo 11.

34. One of the astronauts got the lens dirty.

35. A beautiful shot of the Earth suspended in space. We humans live somewhere on this planet. We are born, we die, we create something, we fight for some reason.... How petty and insignificant all this seems from afar, from space.

36. The surface of the Moon as the lunar module approaches.

37. Apollo 17 Expedition - December 11, 1972. Sixth and final moon landing| Thanks to the lunarmobile, astronauts were able to move several kilometers away from the landing module and descend to the bottom of huge craters.

38. During the next landing in the lunar vehicle, crew commander Eugene Cernan hooked the wing above one of the wheels with a hammer sticking out of his pocket and tore it off. If on Earth such a breakdown is not considered serious, then on the Moon everything is different. Due to the absence of a wing, dust rose during movement, which settled on the astronauts’ clothes and on the instruments of the lunar vehicle. The black color of the dust attracted heat and created the threat of overheating. The astronauts had to urgently look for a way out of the situation. They managed to attach the wing using duct tape.

39. Collection of soil samples. The astronaut's clothes are stained with lunar dust.

40. Lunomobile against the backdrop of one of the mountains.

41. Lunar relief.

42. Return of the last lunar expedition. Dawn on Earth.

43. Huge ocean spaces. Oh, if only part of these spaces were dry land.

44. Our dear blue ball.

46. ​​The relief surface of the Moon and the rising Earth.

48. The astronauts who visited the Moon were the only people who could look at the lunar craters without a telescope.

49. During the Apollo 17 expedition, the astronauts drilled 8 wells 2.5 meters deep. Explosives weighing from 50 grams to 2.5 kg were placed in the wells. After the astronauts left the Moon, on command from Earth, the explosives were detonated and scientists used instruments to measure the speed of propagation of seismic waves.

50. On his way home, astronaut Ronald Evans performs a routine inspection of his spacecraft.

52. Crew commander Eugene Cernan and astronaut Ronald Evans.

53. What kind of device is so unusual? Looks like someone's brain under glass.

54. Ronald Evans shaves on his way to Earth.

55. The Command and Service Module America awaits docking with the lunar module that last launched from the surface of the Moon. The flight of Apollo 17 became the longest manned flight to the Moon. A record number of lunar rock samples were brought to Earth. Records were set for the duration of astronaut stay on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit. Apollo 17 was the most productive and almost problem-free lunar expedition.

56. More than 40 years have passed since the last time man walked on the moon. Will people return to the moon again? And is there any point in flying to the Moon again if it is now known for certain that there is nothing valuable there?

57. The Apollo lunar program is completed. The last look at the mountain range on the surface of the Moon, which rises above the Earth every night and illuminates our fields with its white light, is reflected as a light path in our seas, and shines through our windows while we sleep.

Photos: NASA

A photo archive of all 9,000 photographs in full resolution can be found on photo hosting

August 15th, 2012

I can’t bring anything new to this topic except the ability to analyze and the ability to see the situation from a certain angle. Perhaps you will find this worthy of your attention.

Background of the Moon Race

First space satellite Earth, the first station to reach the surface of the Moon in September 1959, the first orbit around the Moon by the Luna-3 station in the spring of 1960 and photographs taken by it reverse side, finally, the first manned flight into space - all of these steps belonged to the Soviet cosmonautics and took place against the backdrop of a series of failures that plagued the American space program.

Falling behind in the space race dealt a severe blow to America's image as the undisputed world leader and undermined the carefully cultivated image of the socialist system as lacking evolutionary meaning and promise. Only a mega-breakthrough could correct the shaky authority.

That is why, soon after Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space, Kennedy’s famous speech, risky in terms of publicly assumed obligations, appeared, promising the nation that the American lunar expedition would land on the Moon before the end of the 60s.

“If we want to win the battle that is taking place around the world between the two systems, if we want to win the battle for the minds of people, then we cannot afford to allow the Soviet Union to take a leading position in space.”

“We must be leaders [in space exploration] because the eyes of the world are now looking into space, to the Moon and beyond, and we have vowed that we will not see an enemy flag of conquest on the Moon, there will be a banner of freedom and peace.”

Plot inconsistencies

When you begin to become more closely acquainted with the American lunar program, its results, the events that accompanied it and the events that followed later, there is a feeling of breaks in the series storylines, which naturally raises questions. Unlike, for example, the Soviet lunar program, which looks harmonious and logical, without such breaks.

To make the material clear, let's focus on three storylines:

• organizational and technological
• geopolitical
• detective-humorous.

The latter was generated solely by NASA’s approach to presenting evidence of its astronauts’ presence on the Moon.

Organizational and technological gaps

Let us list the points that can be attributed to breaks in the organizational and technological plots.

1. As part of the full-scale testing program for the Saturn-5 launch vehicle, only two unmanned test launches were performed. The second final test on April 4, 1968 was unsuccessful - the main part of its program in terms of preparing the flight to the Moon was failed. There was a premature shutdown of two of the five engines of the second stage, which did not allow the command module to be launched into orbit with a planned apogee of 517,000 km. Instead, using Apollo 6's own engines, the module was launched into orbit with an apogee of 22,235 km. As a result, it was not possible to check the quality of long-distance radio communications, to practice returning to Earth from the second cosmic speed, and most importantly, the reliability of the propulsion system of the Saturn-5 spacecraft remained unconfirmed. No more unmanned tests were carried out, the next flight immediately became the first manned flight around the Moon in December 1968 with a crew of three people, mind you - not turtles. The level of risk for manned flights is unacceptable. In principle, they don't do that. In Soviet cosmonautics, there was a rule: before a manned flight, two completely successful launches of an automatic analogue of the spacecraft must take place. And this rule was not only fulfilled, but also exceeded. Americans, in general, are also reasonable people.
2. Skipping the testing stage with an unmanned lunar landing and return of the lunar module to lunar orbit. A completely independent stage of full-scale testing of a complex unique apparatus, critical in terms of weight and strength characteristics, is mandatory for such a program. Instead, the Americans got away with undocking, maneuvering and docking the return module in lunar orbit - tests, which in themselves are a separate stage, testing the technology of docking and orbital maneuvering, without eliminating the need for an unmanned landing and lunar launch. Desperate guys.
3. The Americans never gained the experience of landing ships on Earth from the second cosmic speed due to the mentioned problems with the final test run Saturn 5, an experience they quite wisely planned to get. A complex stage of the flight, requiring the same development as the landing and take-off of the lunar module from the surface of the Moon, as well as the stage of docking with the mother ship.
4. Lack of redundancy during the return phase of the lunar module. If during the first flight such an approach can still be explained by competition, then for subsequent mass and already “non-priority” flights such a disregard for safety is inexplicable and absolutely meaningless. As a comparison, we note that within the framework of the Soviet lunar program, to ensure the reliability of return, it was initially planned to use a backup lunar rover and a backup lunar module. The reserve module guaranteed return from the Moon in the event of a failure of the regular lunar ship, and the reserve lunar rover, equipped with a supply of oxygen, was intended to deliver the astronaut to the reserve module. The approach is quite reasonable, keeping the plot intact.
5. In 1970, at the height of the lunar program, the chief designer of the Saturn 5 rocket, Wernher von Braun, was relieved of his post as director of the Space Research Center. Marshall and was effectively removed from the leadership of missile development. A person was removed from the program who, being the coordinator of all parts of a huge complex project, was obliged to carry out operational duty at the MCC for the entire duration of each expedition in case of emergency situations, while remaining loyal to the program. In addition, from a moral point of view, the winner was robbed of the moment of universal recognition and the highest triumph in life among his comrades. Let us imagine, as an example, that S.P. Korolev in 1963 or in 1964 would be transferred to deputy minister.
6. Technological failure in the creation of launch vehicles and powerful rocket engines- the actual loss by the Americans of advanced technologies developed as part of the Saturn-5 project. The Soviet Union was able to repeat the American success in terms of creating a rocket with approximately the same payload capacity as the Saturn 5, only 20 years later in 1988 with Energia. Unfortunately, the program collapsed along with the Soviet Union. But the technologies remained: on the basis of the Energia RD-170 engine, the RD-171 engine was created, which is used for Zenit launch vehicles, and the RD-180 engine, which is supplied to the USA for heavy Atlas-5 launch vehicles. This is despite the fact that the technologies implemented in the F-1 engines for the Saturn-5 are more advanced than those implemented in the RD-170. With similar power, the F-1 engine is single-chamber, while the RD-170 is four-chamber. Weight characteristics all other things being equal, single-chamber engines are better, and they are also more compact. However, the larger the combustion chamber, the more difficult it is to ensure stable combustion in it - this is an extremely difficult task. Soviet and then Russian engine designers were never able to create a single-chamber engine similar to the F-1. At the very least, it is surprising that the Americans, who have such advanced technology and have gone through the stage of its successful serial replication and use, have been ignoring it for many years and buying less advanced engines based on Soviet technology.

Summarizing the features of the organizational and technological plot of the American lunar program, we can say the following: a fantastic technological breakthrough, an inexplicable subsequent rollback from the achieved technological level, a fantastic, incomprehensible depth of preliminary engineering study of the problem, fantastic recklessness and fantastic luck. Since December 1968, the organizational and technological plot of the American lunar program has undergone a number of breaks from the “real” category to the “fantastic” category. Some of the generally accepted “rules of the game” in space programs were flagrantly violated without any consequences.

Breaks in the geopolitical plot

However, the main miracles happened in the geopolitical arena.

Beginning in 1969, the harmonious, clear and understandable geopolitical plot of the uncompromising confrontation between irreconcilable opponents breaks in an incomprehensible and radical way: America began to play along, as it were, with the Soviet Union, and this playing along continued for several years.
It all started with a gas pipeline to Germany (link):

“On the cold morning of February 1, 1970, at 12:02 a.m., glasses of champagne clinked in the conference room of the Kaiserhof Hotel Essen. German Economics Minister Professor Karl Schiller and Soviet Foreign Trade Minister Nikolai Patolichev signed an unprecedented agreement to begin supplies of natural gas from the USSR to West Germany.

But just about a year ago, when Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko unexpectedly proposed this project at a fair in Hanover, official Bonn then considered it another bluff of the Soviets.”

This is how direct participants in the process comment on the event.

Andreas Mayer-Landrut, German Ambassador to the USSR in the 80s:

“This deal was, of course, very important for the development of East-West relations. For the first time, Germany acted not as a “tail” of the Americans, but as an independent political player. US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger did not want the Germans to play a special role in the policy of rapprochement between the West and the East, he wanted to keep it under his control. But we are ahead of him with our Eastern policy.”

This comment is clearly intended for German mass consumption - so that the tail, which suffered a lot of humiliation after the 1st and 2nd world wars, thinks that it is wagging the dog.

Nikolai Komarov, first deputy minister of foreign trade in the 70s:

“There was no need to push through this idea, there were no political problems, everyone was interested, and the people at the top agreed quite quickly. There were no political problems."

What is noteworthy in this commentary is the remark about the absence of political problems at the top, while all previous attempts to build pipelines from the USSR to the West were decisively suppressed. For example, under the pretext that in the event of hostilities they could provide supplies to the advancing Soviet army flammable. Let us add that this is a time of fierce geopolitical confrontation against the backdrop of a striking event in the world liberal media cult - the Prague spring of 1968. and the indirect clash between the Soviet Union and America in the Vietnam War (1965-1973).

There were Soviet military advisers and specialists in North Vietnam who helped create an air defense system that virtually did not exist at the beginning of the war. The USSR also provided assistance with weapons and fuel. For the Americans, the result was catastrophic: during the war, according to various sources, from 3,500 to 5,000 US Air Force aircraft were shot down. In 1966, the Pentagon, with the approval of the US President and Congress, authorized commanders of carrier strike groups to destroy Soviet submarines detected within a hundred miles of the group. And this is in “peaceful” times. In 1968, the Soviet nuclear submarine K-10 in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam for 13 hours, unnoticed at a depth of fifty meters, followed under the bottom of the aircraft carrier Enterprise and practiced simulated attacks on it with torpedoes and cruise missiles, running the risk of destruction (or maybe Perhaps the Americans wisely decided not to notice it). Enterprise was the largest aircraft carrier in the US Navy and flew the most bombing missions against North Vietnam. Such is the American-Soviet friendship.

In September 1967 In Moscow, further agreements were signed on the USSR providing assistance to North Vietnam, and in 1968. The Soviet Union continued to supply aircraft, anti-aircraft missiles and anti-aircraft artillery weapons free of charge, small arms, ammunition and other military property.

In such a situation, completely unexpectedly for everyone, America blesses its “younger European brothers” for a deal extremely beneficial for the Soviet Union, overcoming the Vietnamese resentment, the trampling of Czech democracy and the instinctive panic attitude of the Anglo-Saxons to strengthening infrastructure and trade ties between the continental Western Europe and Russia, as undermining the foundations of their world domination. Compare the Soviet gas blitzkrieg with the colossal multi-year efforts of the Russian leadership to lay Streams, the purpose of which is to remove Russian exports from the control of America, which has the ability to manipulate vassal transit countries. And this is in the absence of direct geopolitical confrontation and indirect military conflict between the parties.

Practice does not know and does not tolerate such wonderful and kind breaks in geopolitical plots, such as what happened in 1968, especially on the part of the cruelest pragmatists who lead the global project. These kinds of events always have a hidden motive.

The first time information about the possibility of a gas contract was publicly announced by Andrei Gromyko six months before the Americans landed on the Moon. Naturally, the Germans, taught by the bitter experience of previous bans, were skeptical about it, realizing that decisions on the implementation of such projects are made overseas. However, completely unexpectedly for the Germans, the contract did not meet any resistance from the Americans; they did not seem to notice it.

Any events that fall under the category of “not to be noticed” are actually thought out, prepared in advance and decisions taken, and belong to the category of geopolitical exchanges. Since one part of it lies on the surface, and the other is carefully camouflaged from us, let's try to reconstruct it.

By allowing something, the Americans certainly had to get something no less significant in return. Realizing that the chances of losing the lunar race were far from zero, the Americans could decide to insure themselves against an unacceptable development of events and begin to work on the option of an illusory landing on the Moon. The main risk of this scenario was that the Soviet Union had the technological capabilities to disavow the event. Therefore, the wise Americans decided to prepare an option for an exchange - about a year before the planned date of a real or illusory landing, it depends how it goes, through unofficial channels they hinted to the leadership of the Union that they would not object to an extremely profitable deal with a gas pipeline to Germany. Now, if the Soviet Union had doubts about the authenticity of the event, the Americans had at their disposal a serious bargaining item - a large and tasty carrot that could be taken away.

An additional prize that the Soviet Union negotiated for itself in the exchange process was an unprecedented release of pressure in the exhausting arms race.

May 26, 1972 American President Richard Nixon visited Moscow. The event was extraordinary in itself, since it was the first visit of an American President to the USSR since the end of World War II. Before this, only in June 1961. A short working meeting of the Soviet and American leaders Khrushchev and Kennedy took place on neutral territory in Vienna.

The result of the visit was the signing of an indefinite agreement on the limitation of systems missile defense. A delayed consequence of the visit was the conclusion of the Treaty on the Limitation strategic weapons- SALT-1, which regulated the maximum number of stationary ICBM launchers and ballistic missile launchers on submarines. The agreement legally enshrined the principle equal security in the field of offensive strategic weapons. Let us note that the principle of “equal security” is unacceptable in Anglo-Saxon and then American geopolitics - for a player carrying out global geopolitical projects, following this principle is simply nonsense.

After Nixon visited the USSR, the only and last flight within the framework of the American lunar program was carried out, closing it in December 1972. Apparently, the visit fixed the final terms of the exchange, and the Americans finally managed to bring lunar soil, which we will return to a little later.

There is another option for reconstructing the part of the plot veiled from us with an exchange. Since in that strange period everything looked as if the Americans recognized the USSR as equal to themselves in strength and status, there is an opinion that the Soviet leadership outplayed the Americans then, that the Soviet Union seemed to have deceived everyone. Nevertheless, such a reconstruction option looks, at least, naive - the level of mastery of technologies for manipulating an opponent, the level of skill, resource availability and, finally, the traditions of the two sides in the conduct of the geopolitical game are incomparable.

Therefore, only the assumption that the USSR has implicit, weighty arguments for a geopolitical exchange can translate the miracle that happened into the category of reality. Those interested can try looking for others.

One small nuance can be added to what has been said. In 1967 China has already ostentatiously fallen out with the USSR since 1968. began to make active curtsies towards the United States. The American leadership has been slow to respond for several years, despite the consistently professed principle: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Only after a secret visit in July 1971. Kissinger to China, followed by Nixon's visit in 1972, which gave the green light to mutual cooperation. Its main condition was a guarantee from China of complete renunciation of cooperation with the Soviet bloc. Most likely, the American elite, realizing the unequivalence of the exchange with the USSR, decided to delay the beginning of rapprochement with China, so that in a difficult situation for itself once again do not irritate the Soviet leadership and are guaranteed to take the Chinese “gift” beyond the scope of the ongoing bargaining, despite the danger of losing it (a change in the Chinese leader, his sentiments or the activation of the USSR).

The inconsistencies of the detective-humorous plot

As already mentioned, such a plot appeared solely due to NASA’s very peculiar attitude towards the issue of confirming the reality of landing American astronauts on the Moon. For NASA, it is beneficial and convenient to move the discussion into a similar plane. Indeed, the positions of the parties are indicated, then why frown seriously, let's have fun and laugh.
It is pointless to discuss perspective, scenery, light and shadow inconsistencies in photo and video materials - this is like playing as amateurs in a professional field, i.e. close to the giveaways. Any serve will be parried or pointedly missed with clown antics. Therefore, it’s better to limit ourselves to the same plot inconsistencies:

• traces of astronauts in lunar dust under the landed module
• circus with moon rocks.

The presence of traces of astronauts in the lunar dust under the module looks more than strange to someone who has read K.E. Tsiolkovsky (first picture). Those who are familiar with his works naturally think that, given the distance of the jet in the absence of an atmosphere, such a photograph is possible only after landing on the Moon with the engine turned off from a height of tens of meters. Otherwise, all the dust within a radius of many meters should have simply been blown away. After all, the thrust of the landing stage engines at the time of landing is about two and a half tons, and the speed of the jet stream relative to the module is 4700 m/sec (link). In this place of logical reasoning, legitimate fear for the life and health of the astronauts creeps in, it even takes your breath away. But familiarization with the transcript of negotiations with the command module relieves anxiety and allows you to breathe out calmly. In their audio communications, the astronauts prudently report the dust mass raised by the engine, which interferes with landing until the surface maneuvering is completed. So, well done - they didn’t turn off the engines after all. But before you have time to come to your senses, the insidious question of the origin of the dust under the lunar module comes up again.

The dust could not settle, since in the absence of an atmosphere it does not swirl, but scatters along parabolic trajectories or flies into space, since the first escape velocity for the Moon is only 1700 m/sec. It remains to admit the incredible - that on the Moon one of Murphy’s laws, unknown to us, is in effect, according to which particles of lunar dust have some unthinkable property mutual attraction and, not wanting to fly apart, they attracted each other and settled in the same place from where they were blown away. Then it is surprising that the pillows of the supports remained pristinely clean from the lunar dust that stubbornly settled in its rightful place, which is especially clearly visible in the second photo. It remains to put forward one more hypothesis in addition to the constantly evolving model of the world within the framework of Murphy’s laws: particles of lunar dust are fundamentally not deposited on physical objects of alien origin. One pleasant consequence immediately follows from this law: post-lunar quarantine is not needed, because it is meaningless, contact with the Moon does not seem to occur.

You can push after alternative hypothesis: lunar dust particles have high intelligence, and they were just interested in looking at aliens from other worlds, so they didn’t fly away. But they didn’t want to fly into the unknown on the supports of someone else’s ship. If this is so, then it is urgent to create the “Society of Lunar Soil Defenders”, the program goal of which should be to return smart lunar particles imprisoned on Earth back to the Moon. Fulfillment of this condition is the key to the success of the future Contact.

The main evidence of a successful manned flight to the Moon was to be large lunar rocks. Unlike lunar rubble (regolith), they could not be delivered to Earth by an automatic station. At that time, they could only be assembled by human hands.

The circus began with the stones. The Americans have classified all their stones.

It would seem that in the context of the ongoing persecution, present them, and all the questions of spiteful critics will disappear. But no, gentlemen are taken at their word. And from photographs.

“As reported by the Associated Press, Dutch experts analyzed the “moon rock” - an object officially presented through the State Department to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Willem Dries by the then US Ambassador to the Netherlands William Middendorf during the “goodwill” visit to the country of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin after their completion of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

The date of delivery of the precious gift is known - October 9, 1969. After the death of Mr. Driz, the most valuable relic, insured for $500 thousand, became an exhibit at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

And only now studies of the “moon stone” have shown that the gift from the United States, officially exhibited next to Rembrandt’s paintings, turned out to be a simple fake - a piece of petrified wood.

The Rijksmuseum staff plans to keep it in the museum in the future - however, naturally, in a different capacity.

William Middendorf, who is still alive, apparently became an unwitting accomplice in the embarrassment - the most precious relic, symbolizing both the technological power of the United States and the openness of its space program, was handed to him at the US State Department.”

Let us recall that the first automatic delivery of lunar soil (regolith) by the Soviet Luna-16 station took place on September 24, 1970, i.e. a year after the original American “gift” was given. The situation looks as if the Americans did not expect such a dirty trick from the Soviet lunar program they killed and imprudently donated the stone.

Again, the easiest way would be to minimize moral costs and remove suspicion of global fraud by offering a real stone instead of a fake gift. Think about how you would crawl away if you thought of giving your woman jewelry under the guise of a multi-carat diamond, and later the forgery came to light? But no, NASA's lunar program considers standard plot twists trivial and unworthy of itself. Americans choose their favorite path of indirect illusory arguments. A piano turned up in the bushes - the Indian lunar satellite Chandrayaan-1. It turned out that literally a few days after the embarrassment, the satellite on September 3, 2009. without any accepted in such cases preliminary announcements completely unexpectedly for everyone, he photographed the traces of the American landing on the moon (if you have trouble with jewelry, show the footage of a street photographer who accidentally photographed the moment when you entered a prestigious jewelry store). As they say, accidentally flying past:

“The Indian lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 photographed traces of the landing of the American spacecraft Apollo 15 on the Moon on Thursday,” the Times of India newspaper cited Prakash Chohan, a specialist at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Images of the landing site and wheel tracks of the lunar vehicle were obtained by the HySI spectrometer installed on Chandrayaan, operating in a wide range of electromagnetic radiation.”(Link)

Apparently, in order to avoid surprises, the photographs were promised to be published in a few months, after they had been further processed. The result of a long pause was indistinct photographs in which arrows indicate darkening and are accompanied by inscriptions: the landing site of the lunar module, traces of the lunar rover.

However, it is pointless to find fault with the content of footage from the Indian satellite. To confirm the authenticity of the lunar program, photographs of the chains of traces left by the astronauts are needed, since there is no doubt that the American return module visited the Moon - NASA was still able to confirm the presence of regolith. The main question - whether the module was carrying astronauts or whether it landed on the moon in unmanned mode - remained open as usual.

To the above we can add the disappearance of the original footage of the moon landing in NASA archives.

“NASA has recreated footage of the man landing on the moon, reports the Associated Press. It is reported that the original tape of the landing was lost many years ago. The priceless footage was stored in NASA's film vault along with thousands of other films, NASA officials said. In the 1970s, the American aerospace agency experienced a shortage of film stock and periodically took some films from the archive, washed off the old image from them and prepared them for new shooting. As a result of a three-year search for the original, NASA experts came to the conclusion that, most likely, the film with the landing of man on the Moon suffered this fate.

NASA, together with a professional film restoration company, recreated the old film. For these purposes, they used original footage preserved in the US National Archives, the Australian Archives and the CBS Television Archives, as well as modern restoration tools.Experts say that the image quality on modern film is much better than it was on the original.”

Well, poverty has tormented NASA and now claims to the authenticity of one of the main materials are not accepted - it really is not authentic.

Thousands of magnetic films with original recordings of expedition materials have also been lost. NASA cannot yet even determine what materials are lost. Translated into the language of communications, this means that “exactly those materials that you currently need have been lost,” i.e. from the point of view of protection from suspicion - everything.

Each of the interested parties can only sympathize with each other and once again marvel at the originality of the plot.

Lunar soil

A small plot involving the exchange of lunar soil requires special attention.

After their first flights, the Americans categorically refused to provide the USSR with samples of lunar soil, even as confirmation of the reality of their lunar mission, citing the fact that they had nothing to offer in exchange for the most valuable samples.

September 24, 1970 The automatic station Luna-16 returned to Earth with samples of lunar soil. This put NASA in a difficult position - further refusal seemed unmotivated. Finally, in January 1971. an exchange agreement is signed (why an agreement?), after which the exchange was postponed for another year and a half.

Apparently, NASA planned to be able to deliver soil samples in early 1971, which is what the agreement was signed on. But something went wrong with the delivery, and the Americans began to drag their feet with the most basic operation.

In July 1971 The USSR, in good faith, unilaterally transfers 3 g of soil from its 100 g to the United States, without receiving anything in return, although officially NASA already has 96 kg of lunar soil in its storerooms. The Americans continue to drag their feet for another nine months.

Finally, on April 13, 1972 an exchange of samples took place, which were delivered to earth by Luna 16 and Apollo 15, although eight months had already passed since the latter returned to Earth. Of its 173 kg of lunar rocks delivered by that time, NASA presented 29 g of regolith for exchange. Naturally, there was no talk of making sure they had moon rocks and then returning them.

If we consider the plot with the exchange of lunar soil from the standpoint of the reality of the American landing on the Moon, then for some unknown reason it is clearly torn. If we accept the event of the moon landing as illusory, then the plot with the soil becomes consistent and logical.

Why was this possible?

The development of events indicates that there are serious reasons to consider the final stage of the American lunar program, namely the landing of man on the Moon, as an illusory mega-project.
Such a step could have been prompted by real successes in the Soviet lunar program and the unpleasant consequences of a possible loss in the lunar race from the point of view of justifying its geopolitical leadership.

Kennedy's speech showed that the American elite perceived the lunar race as not a competition, but a battle, and promised to win this war without fail. And in war, as we know, all means are good, which made it permissible to use tactics to achieve an illusory victory in a “war” that cannot be lost.

Having a unique industry, having a highly qualified apparatus and extensive practice in creating virtual images, it is quite logical to use them in geopolitical battles, the success of which largely depends on the player’s ability to sculpt his virtual image in the eyes of the world and the enemy. Therefore, it was difficult to resist achieving a guaranteed win.

All confirmations and refutations of the lunar mission are indirect. Although, taken together, the refuting evidence looks depressing.

So far, the situation has been suspended both by the lack of direct evidence and the lack of direct refutations. And the abilities and capabilities of the American elite to control and put pressure on other people’s lunar programs preserve the current status quo.