Actor Mitch Pileggi ("The X-Files") hosts (not just narrates) this speculative documentary that is difficult to accept, but simply can not be dismissed. The evidence that is presented is there and it is what Pileggi and the researchers who have brought it up say it is. There are photographs and motion picture footage showing the U.S. flag flapping as if caught in a breeze, but in what is supposed to be the airless environment of the moon. Photographs ostensibly taken on the surface of the moon have objects supposedly yards in front of the camera partially obscuring crosshairs on the camera's lens. And some scientists state categorically that there is nothing capable of shielding astronauts from the deadly radiation of the Van Allen belts that surround this planet at an altitude greater than any strictly orbital spaceflights have attained. Other points are, admittedly, less convincing. Early on, an ex-NASA technician explains why there are no blast craters beneath any of the LEMs. And a previous user comment realized the probable explanation of why visual records taken of two supposedly separate lunar locations, admitted to have been made on the same mission, are inarguably of the same place. The fact that the camera angles are absolutely identical support the theory that the footage was mislabeled. IMDB registered user "grelat" stated, "Everything in the film has been completely disproven." I would certainly like to know just when and where this took place and what the specifics of the "disproof" are. The only interpretation of the partially obscured crosshairs that I can see is doctoring the pictures in a photographic lab. NASA had the opportunity to explain any of this (and/or deny that the flapping flag or covered crosshairs appear in any materials as they released them) in the program, but their spokesman said that there were so many things that any attempt to refute a few of them "would be futile," and stood on the agency's denial of hoax/fraud. This explains why, as IMDB user "yortsnave" wrote, "The token NASA spokesman/rebuttal expert gets little airtime [sic]." He got little air time because he had little to say that was relevant. His statement was inaccurate on more than one level, as well. There were not all that many different points; some of them just had quite a number of examples. Also, had he solidly refuted something, ANYTHING, then NASA's position would have some degree of credibility, so it wouldn't have been "futile.". As it is, his showing up to take part in the program and then refusing to discuss the evidence is at least as suspicious as if NASA had simply said "No comment," if not more so. Indeed, about a year previous to this Fox broadcast, a segment on NBC's "Dateline" newsmagazine briefly addressed a different piece of evidence to the same issue. A photograph of an astronaut walking on what was supposedly the lunar surface was shown. The "theorist" pointed out the high angle from which it had been taken. The LEM could be seen directly to the astronaut's right, so the high vantage point wasn't attained by climbing up on it, begging the question, just how was it done? A NASA spokesman replied that the other astronaut jumped up in the moon's low gravity and snapped the shot before dropping back to the ground. At this point, the host wrapped up the segment. I have no way of knowing if the first man was given an opportunity to reply or not (none was aired), but the NASA guy was wrong! In the faceplate of the astronaut's helmet, the other astronaut is clearly reflected, standing on the ground! If the photo was actually taken by putting the camera, operated by a timer or remote control, on top of a tall pole or something of the sort, why didn't NASA say so in the first place? In any case, I eagerly await a video release of this fascinating production. Perhaps, like that of another Fox speculative documentary, "Alien Autopsy," it will contain the totality of footage merely excerpted here.
Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?
(2001 TV Movie)
It's hard to believe, but impossible to dismiss
29 July 2001