Amazingly, we’re up to number five.

Interestingly, at the start of doing these articles on the “Nine Space Oddities”, I did wonder if they were still relevant – to the point where I almost started debunking elsewhere. However, over the course of the time spent on these “oddities”, I’ve noticed that some points from the original David Milne article are still Googled – almost in their entirety. In fact, the sixth most popular search term bringing people to this blog is: “apollo 16 who did the filming?” which is a reference to this oddity. It would seem the original article, despite its age, is still very relevant to the hoax theories.

5. The Moon landings took place during the Cold War. Why didn’t America make a signal on the moon that could be seen from earth? The PR would have been phenomenal and it could have been easily done with magnesium flares.

Uh-huh.

Right, we’ll need to go through this step by step:

“… The Moon landings took place during the Cold War…”

Indeed. However, I fail to see why this is relevant, as it doesn’t seem to tie in with the continued point. The statement is started with this as if the Soviets needed the see a “magnesium flare” to believe the landings had happened. But… they already believed a landing happened. No such stunt would help convince anyone, even if a doubt did exist. It’s not like NASA kept the landing secret – the Russians knew what was going on.

“… Why didn’t America make a signal on the moon that could be seen from the earth?”

How about “because there’s no point”?

I touched on this above. Russia knew what NASA were attempting, as did the rest of the world. Why would NASA feel the need to do such a thing? Ah -

“… the PR would have been phenomenal…”

One of many Apollo 11 front pages.

Yes, because NASA really had a problem with public relations during Apollo 11 as it was. NASA needed the press! America needed everyone to know what had been achieved – by lighting a big magnesium flare! NASA basically had no one remotely interested in Apollo 11. Actually, I do believe it was heard in a newspaper room:

Reporter: “So tomorrow, should we put a picture or something of that guy Arm-thingy walking on the moon?”

Editor: “No, that’s totally not important.”

Reporter: “I agree. Who cares?”

Editor:  “I would have, if they’d taken some magnesium flares.”

Reporter: “Yeah, that totally would’ve sealed the deal for me. I can’t bring myself to care that man walked on another world – because there’s no light show. Idiots.”

Editor: “Yeah, let’s run that story about the parrot that can waterski instead, far more interesting.”

Now, the above is a somewhat overly sarcastically made point, but a point nevertheless. NASA had plenty of attention, and everyone in the world was aware of the impact the landing had on global politics.

“… and it could have been easily done with magnesium flares…”

Huh? Easily? Easily?

So… NASA would have packed up some magnesium flares, and sat these explosive flares atop the Saturn V rocket. Heck, maybe they would have put them under the astronaut couch in the cockpit. Completely ignoring the fact that weight is everything when it comes to launching a rocket, and the fact that there had been a fire not three years previously which had nearly ruined NASA. Oh no, they’d have tucked those magnesium flares in, no problem, no safety concerns.

Off blasts the Saturn V, carrying with it its brave crew of Michael Collins, CMP, Buzz Aldrin LMP and Neil Armstrong Chief Firework Lighter. On July 20th, the Eagle would set down on the surface. Armstrong would then rush outside and… what? Set the “magnesium flare” up? To prove what exactly?

And when would he detonate it? If it had to be “seen from earth”, that’d make it pretty dangerous for Armstrong and Aldrin to be anywhere near the thing as it went off. So they’d need to have remote detonated it, probably from orbit, which would have meant man had done nothing but put a flare on the surface of the moon and detonate it. Proving precisely nothing, as that could have been done with a probe?

Oh, and there’s the whole issue of oxygen being needed to light a flare in the first place – oxygen being something of a limited commodity on the moon. Or should I say, non existent, hence the back packs that were needed during EVA. So such a thing would have been impossible even if the above points were completely ignored. I’m sure there are chemicals able to react and produce a flare in the lunar environment, but the article is specific – and, lest we forget, this would all have been easy!

Despite:

• Absolute danger to the crew – who knew when such a device may have a fit and decide to explode?
• Extra weight that the Saturn V couldn’t afford.
• The entire thing being complete waste of time given, oddly, most people were more impressed with photographs of men walking on the moon than some big light show in space.

Now, I could have gone through this properly. I could have sat and squinted at encyclopedias and forced my mind to understand some science, until I could say just how big a magnesium flare would need to be and how – scientifically – it would be completely impossible. I could have tracked down daylight times from 1969 and pointed out how half the world would not have seen any magnesium explosion due to it being daytime.

However, sometimes there isn’t any need. This is easily the most pointless “oddity” of them all, as it says nothing, and it proves nothing. Would conspiracy theorists have been satisfied if such an event had existed? Of course not, most of them are aware that such a thing would be completely superfluous. This is basically like saying: “Neil Armstrong could have worn a big hat that was visible from earth!”. Of course he could have – it isn’t impossible, though I’d like to have seen the hat – but it would completely take away from the point of the mission.

Which was, of course, to land a man safely on the moon and return him to earth. Nothing about expensive and dangerous magnesium flares. It’s nonsense, but clever nonsense nonetheless.

No conspiracy theory is complete without things like this. They all need elements of half-truths, which rely on the lack of knowledge from their audience to convince – things like not seeing stars in the photographs. Yet conspiracy theories also need something else, something that everyone can identify with. And in a world where publicity stunts are the absolute grip of normality, many of us will think: “jeesh, why didn’t they?” without thinking any further. We’d skip to the next “point” and remain convinced, another layer of nothing at all masquerading as a conspiracy laid.