First Moon Landing 20 July 1969

De Bellem

44 years ago today from The Sea Of Tranquility those grainy black and white pictures were sent around the world of Neil Armstrongs famous words on stepping on to the Lunar surface . Was the whole event filmed on a Hollywood set or did it really happen.? It seems that Mars has become the new frontier with so many plans for one way trips there. Will we ever go back or was the
first visit (if it happened) a big lie in a cold war era

dvae

De Bellem wrote: »

Was the whole event filmed on a Hollywood set or did it really happen.?

off all the people who thought that NASA faked the moon landing, the Russian space agency never questioned it.

Judgement Day

It was a big yawn - grainy, slow-mo pictures and even early b+w episodes of Doctor Who or Star Trek beat the socks off it.

De Bellem

De Bellem wrote: »

Was the whole event filmed on a Hollywood set or did it really happen.?

While there's no real question that the US government's record of deceiving its own population is pretty dismal, the only thing worse is their record of actually getting away with it. Remember no more than a handful of individuals were in on the Watergate scandal, and look how that played out.

It's estimated that some 400,000 people were employed in the moon landings, which continued into 1972 and involved 12 astronauts (12 that physically set foot on the moon I mean). I simply don't believe that anyone can engineer a scam that big, that complex, and have the entire thing resting on the silence of so many conspirators. Too many people would have to be in on it to make it feasible. Plus the Soviets not challenging it, not even for propaganda purposes, says a lot too.

9959

De Bellem wrote: »

...... Was the whole event filmed on a Hollywood set or did it really happen.? ............... or was the
first visit (if it happened) a big lie in a cold war era

Definitely filmed on a Hollywood set, apparently it was directed by Billy Wilder who was working on 'The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes' at the time and was reportedly quite irked to be, in his own words, "taken off my own set and press ganged into shooting that moon-landing nonsense".

The slightly grainy picture and erratic flickering took some time to perfect with the old technology, and it was only with the assistance of famed photographer Man Ray that a satisfactory 'authentic' look was achieved by Wilder.

The whole story is chronicled in the much maligned "And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon" by Benjamin Wilder (the director's nephew), a fascinating account of, according to the author, "the biggest confidence trick ever played in the history of cinema, or indeed, propaganda".

9959

Yes I know the above is bollox, I just hate conspiracy theories, the first refuge of the unimaginative.

Ken.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0umbmzpQigU

Skid X

A recording of some of the ITV commentary on the moon landing, featuring the late Alastair Burnett.

It is hard to believe how calm they sound, it must have been incredible to be working on such a historic event

De Bellem

" You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue . We're breathing again"....... This is a great archive piece to survive from itv of the occasion. I think this piece of commentary/ comment from Nasa sums up the fear, excitement and anticipation of everyone from NASA to those watching on tv They had to appear calm even though they were not.

cml387

Just to put things in context, I watched the moon landing with my grandfather who in 1969 was 80 years old. From the victorian age to the moon landing.
Will we see such a change?

9959

cml387 wrote: »

Just to put things in context, I watched the moon landing with my grandfather who in 1969 was 80 years old. From the victorian age to the moon landing.
Will we see such a change?

"From the Victorian Age to the moon landing"

Eh, yeah. From Rolo to Mint Rolo!