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Moon Landings

Project Apollo sent 6 two-man teams of astronauts to the surface of the Luna betwixt July 1969 in addition to Dec 1972. Roughly 10–20 per centum of Americans at nowadays believe, however, that no human has ever gear upwardly human foot on the moon, in addition to that all prove for the landings is constituent of an elaborate hoax staged yesteryear the National Aeronautics in addition to Space Administration (NASA).

Skepticism nigh the landings began to surface almost equally presently equally they took house in addition to has remained steady for iii decades since. Supporters of the hoax theory debate that careful scrutiny of silent pictures, films, in addition to radio transmissions reveals telltale signs of the deception.

Critics of the hoax theory dismiss the idea of a thirty-year-long conspiracy involving hundreds or thousands of people equally plainly absurd. The “anomalies” inward lunar photographs are, they contend, products non of a shadowy conspiracy exactly of the volition to believe inward one.

Origins in addition to Context

Belief that the Luna missions were faked entails belief inward 2 dissever premises. The firstly is that it was possible, inward 1969, to imitate a lunar landing in addition to the “moonwalks” that accompanied it. The 2nd is that the U.S. regime deceived the populace nigh ane of the defining events of the century. Between 1968 in addition to 1973, events exterior the infinite computer program rendered both premises to a greater extent than plausible, to far to a greater extent than people, than they would remove hold been a decade earlier.

Stanley Kubrick’s celluloid 2001: Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Space Odyssey (1968) signaled a revolution inward motion painting special effects and, specifically, inward the simulation of infinite move on screen. John Sturges’s Marooned (1969) in addition to Douglas Trumbull’s Silent Running (1971) showed that 2001 was to a greater extent than than a brilliant fluke. All iii films stood equally far beyond Destination Moon (1950) equally that film, revolutionary inward its time, had stood beyond the unsmooth Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s. The novel films’ extraordinarily realistic “look” made it slow to believe that the simulated infinite flying could at nowadays live passed off equally real.

The 5 years betwixt 1968 in addition to 1973 also saw the rapid erosion of the U.S. public’s trust inward the federal government. The optimistic pronouncements of politicians in addition to generals nigh the state of war inward Vietnam were repeatedly undercut yesteryear the testimony of journalists in addition to returning veterans. The 1970 publication of the Pentagon Papers—the government’s ain “secret history” of the war—damaged regime credibility further, equally did the 1970 revelation of a hugger-mugger bombing receive against Cambodia.

The Watergate Scandal of 1973–1974 destroyed the Nixon management in addition to farther damaged the federal government’s credibility. The cognition that the president in addition to his advisors had systematically abused the mightiness of their offices for political gain, in addition to so systematically lied nigh their actions, permanently soured many Americans’ attitudes toward their elected officials.

The thought of a trip to the Luna had, equally belatedly equally the belatedly 1950s, seemed to many Americans a distant dream at best. Many continued, inward the early on 1970s, to uncovering the thought implausible. Disbelief inward the Luna landings coalesced unopen to those doubts.

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 poll taken yesteryear Knight Newspapers inward July 1970, a twelvemonth afterward the firstly landing, revealed that 30 per centum of those polled doubted the landings had been real. Doubts ran especially high where trust inward the federal regime was especially low. In poor, dark neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., one-half of those polled believed that the landings had been a hoax.

Cynicism nigh the regime diminished trivial afterward the early on 1970s. The healing effects of fourth dimension in addition to fading memories were repeatedly offset yesteryear fresh scandals. Americans born since the mid-1960s hence remove hold solely vague, secondhand memories of the Apollo missions exactly vivid memories of regime duplicity. “I’d ever suspected something similar that” is a mutual reaction amid high schoolhouse in addition to college students encountering the hoax theory for the firstly time.

The Community of Believers

The hoax theory, fifty-fifty according to its critics, is accepted yesteryear tens of millions of Americans. It has been shaped in addition to promoted, however, yesteryear a much smaller grouping of nub believers. The members of this nub grouping are responsible for collecting, analyzing, in addition to publishing what they reckon equally compelling prove of regime deception amongst honour to Project Apollo.

They grip on what constitutes this torso of evidence, on how the private pieces of prove should live interpreted, in addition to on the thought that the populace tape of the Luna landings was falsified. They disagree nigh the extent of, in addition to the reasons for, that falsification.

Some hoax theorists, similar William Brian, debate that U.S. astronauts did dry soil on the Luna inward 1969–1972, exactly that they discovered prove of an alien culture that has been ruthlessly suppressed. Other theorists, similar David Percy, debate that the landings broadcast on tv set to worldwide audiences of millions were fakes. The existent Luna landings, they believe, were carried out inward full secrecy yesteryear a shadowy “black infinite program,” in addition to that in that place is no populace tape of it or them.

The most pop view—narrowly believed amid dedicated hoax theorists in addition to widely amid rank-and-file believers—is that humans never went to the Luna at all. NASA faked the landings, according to this view, because it was incapable of truly carrying them out yesteryear the halt of the 1960s, equally President Kennedy had challenged them to create inward 1961.

The leading advocate of this “mainstream” version of the hoax theory is Bill Kaysing, who has been promoting it since the early on 1970s. Ralph René’s majority NASA Mooned America (1994), James Collier’s video Was It Only a Paper Moon? (1997), in addition to Bart Sibrel’s video A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon (2001) stake out positions similar to Kaysing’s, patch offering similar arguments in addition to evidence.

Kaysing’s forthrightly titled majority We Never Landed on the Luna (1974) was the firstly extended give-and-take of the hoax theory to appear inward print. It remains inward impress at this writing, having been expanded in addition to republished several times, in addition to spawned a series of videos that introduce its declaration visually.

Kaysing’s ideas were also featured prominently inward the Hollywood suspense celluloid Capricorn One (1978)—the storey of NASA’s endeavour to mistaken the firstly manned landing on Mars. Except for the alter of destination, the film’s fictional scenario is virtually identical to Kaysing’s purportedly existent one. Even the spaceships are identical to those used inward Project Apollo.

Kaysing has actively promoted the hoax theory on radio talk-shows and, inward 1997, achieved fleeting fame yesteryear suing ex-Apollo astronaut James Lovell for referring to him equally “a wacko” (a gauge dismissed the accommodate equally baseless). The Fox tv set network’s hour-long documentary Conspiracy Theory: Did We Go to the Moon? (2001) gave Kaysing’s ideas a thorough, in addition to thoroughly uncritical, airing.

The Case for the Hoax Theory

The mainstream version of the hoax theory is built unopen to iii fundamental ideas. The firstly is that NASA, incapable of truly sending anyone to the moon, never allowed the Apollo astronauts to teach beyond the Earth’s orbit. The 2nd is that official NASA photographs in addition to films from the Apollo missions demo telltale signs of their creation on an earth-bound audio stage.

The 3rd is that NASA, in addition to its coconspirators elsewhere inward the government, remove hold kept those amongst cognition of the conspiracy tranquillity for xxx years. The residuum of the hoax theory consists of a spider web of suppositions in addition to “likely stories” connecting those iii ideas.

Proof of NASA’s inability to demeanour off a existent lunar landing lies, believers argue, inward the contrast betwixt the space agency’s functioning before in addition to during the Apollo missions. NASA’s early on attempts at infinite flying inward the belatedly 1950s in addition to early on 1960s were oft spectacular failures.

They achieved a stair out of success amongst Earth-orbiting flights during the Mercury in addition to Gemini programs, exactly Apollo was plagued yesteryear problems amongst character control, amongst coming together deadlines, in addition to amongst spacecraft performance.

As belatedly equally Jan 1967, iii astronauts died on the launch pad when burn downward broke out inward the cabin of a poorly designed Apollo spacecraft during a test. Yet, get-go amongst the flying of Apollo 8 unopen to the Luna inward Dec 1968, mission followed flawless mission amongst solely ane (nonlethal) failure—Apollo 13.

Hoax theorists debate that real, successful lunar missions are far less plausible than faked ones inward which (according to ane scenario) empty Apollo spacecraft were launched in addition to and so “parked” inward footing ambit for the required number of days before beingness returned to footing nether remote control.

Proof that the Luna landings were staged on footing rests, according to believers, on clearly visible “anomalies.” Why, they ask, is the “moon rock” shown inward ane NASA photograph marked amongst the missive of the alphabet “C”? Why is the soil beneath the engine nozzle of the lunar module solely slightly disturbed? An engine so powerful should remove hold blasted out a crater deep plenty to live noticeable.

Why create photographs supposedly taken on the lunar surface demo objects lit from to a greater extent than than ane direction? There should live solely ane source of calorie-free on the moon: the sun. Why are the stars non visible inward the lunar sky? With no atmosphere to obscure them, they should smooth clearly.

Why, inward celluloid footage that shows an astronaut planting the U.S. flag, does the flag appear to moving ridge equally if inward a breeze? It should, on the airless lunar surface, hang limply from the rod that supports its top edge.

Proof of a post-Apollo conspiracy of quiet lies, believers argue, inward the fact that no ane connected to NASA has spoken out on the subject. They reckon it equally peculiarly meaning that Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo eleven in addition to the firstly someone to gear upwardly human foot on the moon, declines to give interviews in addition to that other astronauts remove hold specifically refused interviews amongst hoax theorists.

Some (including Bill Kaysing) teach further, suggesting that the iii astronauts who died inward the mid-1960s bird crashes, the iii who died inward the 1967 Apollo cabin fire, in addition to the vii who died inward the 1986 Challenger disaster were murdered yesteryear NASA to maintain them quiet.

The Case against a Hoax

The hoax theory, according to its critics, is a tissue of faulty assumptions, specious “evidence,” in addition to bad science. The Apollo flights to the moon, though successful, were far from the flawless exercises that Kaysing in addition to others suggest.

Apollo 11, the firstly to land, came inside seconds of crashing on the lunar surface. The explosion that crippled Apollo 13, in addition to many of the problems that resulted, were products of flawed or inefficient design—the same kinds of problems that NASA had faced throughout the 1960s.

The purported “anomalies” on which believers rely so heavily are, inward fact, readily explained without a hoax. The “C” appears solely inward a unmarried re-create of the photograph inward question, non on the master film.

The lunar module’s rocket engine fires solely briefly when the ship is unopen to the lunar surface, in addition to non at all for the terminal seconds of the descent. The shallow craters it leaves inward the lunar soil reverberate this. The rays of the Sun illuminate objects on the lunar surface directly, exactly also yesteryear reflecting off the soil, the lunar module, in addition to other light-colored objects.

The stars are non visible inward the dark lunar heaven for the same ground they are non visible to observers standing close a vivid street light: the street calorie-free (or, inward lunar photography, the sun) overwhelms them. The flag moves afterward its pole is planted non because of breeze exactly because of inertia. The deed of driving the pole into the footing shakes the stuff and, for a minute or two, it continues to shake.

No introduce or quondam NASA employee has “blown the whistle” on the hoax, critics argue, because in that place was no hoax. It defies belief that the hundreds or thousands of NASA employees who would remove hold been aware of some constituent of the hoax would all remove hold kept quiet for iii decades.

It is, on the other hand, far from surprising that astronauts would turn down to verbalize to hoax theorists who bill them of beingness brainwashed dupes at best in addition to bald-faced liars at worst. Neil Armstrong’s reticence nigh the firstly lunar landing mirrors his similar reticence nigh his fighting missions inward the Korean War in addition to his exam flights of the X-15 rocket plane.

Buzz Aldrin in addition to Michael Collins, who flew amongst him aboard Apollo 11, remove hold both written extensively nigh their experiences on the moon. Unless the existence of a hoax is assumed, critics betoken out, cypher nigh the expiry of 6 astronauts inward the mid-1960s or vii aboard Challenger suggests foul play. Space move is, equally fifty-fifty hoax theorists readily admit, a unsafe business.

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Moon Landings

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Space Exploration

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the first satellite, the Russian Sputnik, launched by rocket on October 4, 1957

Humankind’s exploration of space began in the 1950s, with the first satellite, the Russian Sputnik, launched by rocket on October 4, 1957. It was followed on November 3 by another, carrying a dog named Laika.

The United States moved into space exploration on February 1, 1958, with Explorer I. A stream of similar robotic craft followed from both countries, carrying instruments that made various important discoveries.

Early space pioneering efforts built on the works of pre–World War II inventors such as the Russian schoolmaster Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, whose writings set out the basic principles for rocket propulsion, suggested multistage vehicles, and proposed liquid hydrogen as a fuel.

In the United States, Professor Robert Goddard suggested a method for reaching the moon. Goddard built rockets too, and in 1935 successfully launched one that reached a height of two kilometers.

Rocketry in World War II saw the invention of the V2 missile, with a range of around 300 kilometers, a top speed of 6,000 KPH, and a payload of over a ton. Following the war many German rocket engineers, including Wernher von Braun, were brought to the United States, while Soviet forces captured personnel and equipment from the V2 launching site of Peenemunde.

On April 12, 1961, the Soviets again led the way with the launch of Yuri Gagarin, a Russian cosmonaut, into space to become the first human to leave Earth. His mission lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes; he made a single orbit of the planet. The United States countered with a Mercury space capsule carrying Alan B. Shepard on May 5.

The effects of space travel on humans were of course largely unknown. The early manned missions resulted in considerable study of the physical damage of g-force, radiation, and weightlessness.

Rapid developments in hundreds of areas followed, as spacesuits, living quarters, and methodologies for delivering food were all pioneered, along with rapid improvements in the speed, range, and payload of rockets.

The first ever man made thing to be sent to the Moon was the USSR’s Luna 2 in 1959

Meanwhile, robot explorers were recovering more data to inform manned missions. The first probe to journey to the Moon was launched on September 12, 1959, by the Soviet Union. Luna 2 reached its destination in 34 hours. The U.S. probes in the main were spurred by President John F. Kennedy’s address to the U.S. Congress on May 25, 1961.

The Ranger probes explored the Moon’s surface, photographing it before crashing into it; the probe therefore provided transmitted data that resolved images of around half a meter across, in contrast to the best telescopes of the time, which could only resolve to around 500 meters.

There was much debate on what the surface of the Moon actually looked like and whether it could support the landing of a heavy manned craft. Was the surface so rough no spacecraft could touch down without damage? Was the Moon dust so thick that any spacecraft would sink into huge drifts?

The Lunar Orbiter series of probes were designed to map the surface of the Moon so the best sites for exploration could be chosen. By the end of the five missions, 99 percent of the moon had been photographed to a resolution of 66 meters or better, and smaller areas had been photographed to within one meter.

The space race saw the Americans and the Russians competing as to who could reach the moon first; the dual projects were underscored by the cold war and the military implications of mastering space flight. In the end, the Russians never put a man onto the surface of the Moon but instead landed several robot explorers.

Lift-off of the Saturn V rocket.

Both sides were, by the mid-1960s, progressing further down the road of manned spacecraft that could carry more than one astronaut. The rockets to launch the progressively heavier spacecraft began to increase in size, with the eventual development of the Saturn series, which still remain some of the most powerful lifting devices ever built.

In the United States, the Mercury one-person spacecraft was followed by the two-person Gemini craft. The three-person Apollo vehicles were developed, a two-part craft that included a lunar lander as well as a command section that would stay in orbit while the lander descended to the Moon’s surface.

The Russian jadwal saw many achievements. The first female in space was Valentina Tereshkova, who completed 48 orbits in the Soviet Union’s Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963. The first space walk—a weightless venture outside a capsule—was achieved by Aleksei Leonov on March 18, 1965. The walk lasted for 10 minutes.

However, the Soviet Union’s space jadwal was not without human cost: On April 23, 1967, the landing parachutes of the Soyuz 1 space capsule failed and cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed. On January 27, 1967, the new U.S. Apollo jadwal experienced tragedy when a fire broke out in the command module during a launch of the first piloted flight, designated AS-204.

Three astronauts died: Mercury and Gemini mission veteran Virgil Grissom; Edward White; and Roger Chaffee, an astronaut preparing for his first spaceflight. The subsequent investigation and report saw substantial improvements to mission safety. The AS-204 mission craft was renamed Apollo 1 in honor of the crew.

Powered by the enormous Saturn V three-stage rockets, the Apollo missions grew in their ability to take the astronauts further from the surface of Earth. On October 11, 1968, the first manned Apollo mission flew successfully; around the same time Russian spacecraft carrying live animals were successfully orbiting the Moon before returning to Earth.

Apollo 8 made the first human-manned circumnavigation of the Moon in December 1968. Apollo 10 was a "full dress rehearsal" of the proposed landing and carried out all of the proposed operations short of an actual descent to the lunar surface, although it descended to within nine miles of the Moon in the detached lunar module.

On July 20, 1969, after a four-day trip, Apollo 11’s lander separated from the main spacecraft with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on board, while Michael Collins remained in orbit. The lunar module, named Eagle, successfully touched down, and, shortly afterward, filmed by the remotely controlled camera attached to the outside of the spacecraft, Armstrong emerged to back down the short ladder to the surface.

His steps were watched by millions of people via a television signal beamed back to Earth, with many millions more listening via radio. As Armstrong’s foot touched the surface of the Moon, he spoke the words, "That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind". Mankind had reached another world.

Neil Armstrong becomes the first astronaut to step onto
the lunar surface, July 20, 1969.

A total of seven lunar landings were made, with significant achievements made on each mission. Some 381.6 kilograms of lunar rocks were brought back to Earth, and each successive landing after Apollo 11 left behind an automated surface laboratory. The last three missions carried extremely sophisticated mapping cameras, and other instruments measured magnetic fields, chemical composition, and radioactivity.

Craft Failure

Apollo 13’s mission was aborted due to craft failure. An oxygen tank on the spacecraft had blown up and the normal supply of electricity, light, and water to the craft was lost around 200,000 miles from Earth.

A unique and innovative jadwal of rigged repairs and procedure invention followed, resulting in the eventual safe return of the three astronauts to Earth. Apollo missions continued until December 1972, with different sites visited and a wheeled lunar rover successfully deployed to carry astronauts further from the spacecraft.

The missions increased the duration of time spent on the surface from hours to days. Twelve astronauts walked on the lunar surface. The last astronaut to leave the Moon was scientist Jack Schmitt.

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

Further space exploration programs commenced with Skylab, a section of a Saturn V rocket that was successfully placed in orbit and visited on several occasions by teams of astronaut/scientists who stayed in residence for ever-lengthening periods to conduct experiments. The jadwal terminated in 1979.

A Soviet-American rendezvous in space, the Apollo-Soyuz mission, took place in 1975. The development of the space shuttle, a reusable craft capable of returning in a glide to Earth’s surface, began in 1970, centering around the idea of a cheaper alternative to previous craft.

The jadwal used these spacecraft from their first flight in 1981 until the present. The shuttle fleet can each carry a payload of 30,000 kilograms to orbit. Mission loads have consisted of satellites, experiments, and materials for the International Space Station.

The Russian Space Station MIR

The Soviets also pursued a permanent presence in space. A series of space stations called Salyut were launched, using Soyuz spacecraft on ferry missions. In 1986 Salyut was followed by the modular space station Mir.

Following improved relations between Russia and other nations at the end of the cold war, Russian cosmonauts joined with the other countries contributing to, and working within, the International Space Station.

Stark Reminder

Space flight is not without its hazards, as was discovered in the early days of space exploration with the loss of the Soyuz 1 and Apollo 1 crews. Improvements in safety through redesign and development of spacecraft and propulsion systems have greatly reduced risk of catastrophic failure.

Nevertheless, the severe stresses placed on spacecraft and their systems, together with the risk associated with the application of cutting-edge technology, continue to make manned spaceflight inherently dangerous. Stark reminders of this were the loss of the spacecraft and crew of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia.

Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope is the largest astronomical telescope ever sent into space. Launched in 1990 by a space shuttle, the telescope’s placement outside Earth’s atmosphere gives it a unique view of the universe.

Hubble Space Telescope

Built by the Lockheed Missiles and space company, the space telescope has a length of 13.3 meters, or 43 feet 6 inches; a diameter of 3.1–4.3 meters, or 10–14 feet; and a weight of 11,600 kilograms, or 25,500 pounds.

NASA named the world's first space-based optical telescope after the U.S. astronomer Edwin P. Hubble. Dr. Hubble confirmed an "expanding" universe, which provided the foundation for the big bang theory.

With a mission duration of up to 20 years, Hubble is visited regularly by space shuttle crews for regular servicing. At an altitude of 380 miles (612 kilometers) in a low-Earth orbit, the telescope completes an orbit of Earth every 97 minutes. Sensitive to ultraviolet through near infrared light, the telescope relays to Earth three to four gigabytes of information per day.

Powered by two 25-foot solar panels, the telescope has revealed new information on the age of the universe, made findings on black holes, and provided visual proof that dust disks around young stars are common, reinforcing the assumption that planetary systems are plentiful in the universe.

Hubble's Replacement

Scheduled for launch in 2011, the James Webb Space Telescope is intended to replace Hubble. This telescope will see objects 400 times fainter than those visible with Earth-based telescopes. By contrast, the Hubble can see objects 60 times fainter than those visible with Earth-based telescopes.

The first components for the International Space Station were taken into orbit in 1998, and the station received its first crew on November 2, 2000, marking the first day a permanent human presence in space was achieved.

The space station has grown and evolved into an unprecedented laboratory complex. Offering a microgravity environment that cannot be duplicated on Earth, the station furthers knowledge of science and of how the human body functions for extended periods of time in space.

By the time the station had been operating for five years, 89 scientific investigations had been conducted. A complete characterization study of the radiation environment in the station was done, with evaluation of models of radiation shielding by the station’s structure.

With 15,000 cubic feet of habitable volume assembled by late 2005, the space station at that point had more room than a conventional three-bedroom house. Astronauts and scientists from a variety of nations have visited and worked in the space station.

Civilian and private missions into space have been achieved. The California millionaire and former NASA rocket scientist Dennis Tito was the first private space tourist to visit the ISS for a 10-day excursion in April 2001.

Test pilot Mike Melvill took the privately built rocket plane SpaceShip One to an altitude of more than 100 kilometers, the acknowledged point at which space begins, on July, 12, 2004.

Robot explorers have also achieved an enormous amount in the conquest of space. The first interplanetary explorer, the United States’ Mariner II, was launched on August, 26, 1962, to explore Venus and successfully reported a high surface temperature and the absence of a magnetic field.

In January 2004 two NASA robot explorers named Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars. The six- wheeled craft crawled over the surface, measuring, photographing, and analyzing, and surprised their controllers by continuing to function for over a year, during which time they traveled for several miles.

On December 25, 2004, the NASA Cassini spacecraft, nearing Saturn, released the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe toward the surface of the ringed planet’s largest moon, Titan. Parachuting to the Moon’s surface, the probe’s cameras and spectrometers analyzed the chemical composition of Titan and transmitted data back to scientists on Earth.

Other probes have been sent to all of the planets in the solar system, including distant Pluto with the launch of the New Horizons probe in January 2006. Some probes have had lengthy careers and considerable success.

The Pioneer space probe, launched on March 2, 1972, was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt and the first spacecraft to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter. It made its closest encounter with Jupiter on December 3, 1973, passing within 81,000 miles.

Pioneer’s last, very weak signal was received on January 23, 2003. Pioneer 10 continues into interstellar space, heading for the red star Aldebaran, about 68 light years away. It will take Pioneer over 2 million years to reach its destination.

Another development of the post-Moon jadwal has been the space community’s understandings of asteroid dangers. A "dinosaur-killer" strike is now thought to be avoidable, due to a jadwal of surveying and tracking all heavenly bodies.

Such ambitious ideas have been supported by the success of missions such as the Stardust spacecraft, launched in 1999. This mission managed to capture particles from a comet beyond the Earth-Moon orbit and return them to Earth.

Other aspects of space exploration are numerous. The discovery of other planets orbiting distant stars has been made possible; the Earth is ringed by satellites enabling advanced communications and a Global Positioning System (GPS); and superior meteorology and detailed imaging have been developed. Various spin-offs from the space jadwal for the everyday world include such variables as the development of freeze-dried foods and materials such as Teflon.

Progress has been not as fast as science fiction written from the 1930s to the 1980s depicted—space flight has proved expensive and difficult, and the manned Moon bases and Martian cities have not happened.

However, other nations besides the United States and the Soviet Union—a collective European approach and manned missions from China—have begun space exploration and plans are under way to see a human presence on both the Moon and Mars.

Two basic difficulties have to be overcome if human exploration of other stars and their solar systems is to succeed. The first is the speed of the spacecraft. The fastest vessel ever built (by 2006) was the New Horizons probe, which achieved a speed shortly after launch of 10.07 miles per second, or 36,256 MPH. The nuclear-powered craft crossed the Moon’s orbit around nine hours after liftoff. Even at this speed, the estimated mission duration to Pluto is around nine years.

If the mission were manned, this would mean an overall duration of 18 years traveling plus the exploration time. If this craft’s speed were applied to reach the nearest star system to Earth, the mission time would be hundreds of years. Therein lies the second major problem—the duration humans can withstand space conditions.

The long-term effects of weightless space flight are still being studied, but it is doubtful that such missions could be withstood by a human crew. Scientists believe the craft would have to have some sort of gravitational compensation. A manned, one-way, long-term mission is also an unknown, although science fiction has done a great deal to explore both of these issues.

Indeed, space flight may have provided some answers by extrapolating various scenarios from the work of physicists that may get around interstellar exploration problems.

If space is not an empty vacuum and contains distortions, as has been proved, then the "warps" in space may provide points where great distances can be surpassed, rather in the way a fly can travel from one end of a curved scarf to the other end by simply flying between the two points rather than walking the entire length of the scarf.

There may also be ways to build spacecraft that fly at much faster speeds; light sails, antimatter rockets, and drives utilizing alternative theories of gravity and electromagnetism might allow much greater speeds. But then other problems arise: that of the relativity time-space equation, for example, and how to get humans to cope with the acceleration and deceleration speeds such a spacecraft would demand.

Although the difficulties of exploring beyond the solar system are great, they may not be insurmountable. One fact remains: If humans want to survive beyond the certain degradation of our own star and its planetary system, then space exploration must be continued.

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Opinion Polls Most Conspiracy Theories

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most Americans today grip that the scenario posed past times at to the lowest degree i pop conspiracy the Opinion Polls virtually Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy Theories

According to polls, most Americans today grip that the scenario posed past times at to the lowest degree i pop conspiracy theory is rattling probable or somewhat likely.

On 25–29 June 1997, a survey was conducted of 1,009 people nationwide, alongside participants from every state as well as the District of Columbia. Guido H. Stempel III, distinguished professor of the EW Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University as well as Thomas Hargrove of the Scripps Howard News Service conducted the survey.

The results convey a 4 percent margin of error alongside a 95 percent confidence interval, pregnant that the results are projectable to all U.S. households 95 times out of 100 addition or minus 4 per centum points. At that time:

More than one-half (51 percent) believe it is rattling probable or somewhat probable that authorities officials were “directly responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy.”
More than one-half (60 percent) believe is probable that armed forces officials covered upward the dangers of the Agent Orange chemical.
Four-fifths (80 percent) believe it is probable that armed forces officials are roofing upward data virtually U.S. soldiers’ exposure to nervus gas or germ warfare inward the Gulf War.
More than one-third (40 percent) believe it is probable that the FBI burned downwards the Branch Davidian chemical compound inward Waco, Texas.
More than one-half (52 percent) believe it is probable that the CIA allowed drug dealers from Central America to sell fissure cocaine to African Americans inward U.S. inner cities.
More than one-third believe it is probable the navy shot downwards TWA Flight 800 either intentionally or accidentally.

Respondents were asked if the higher upward situations were probable to about degree. The higher upward responses included the “very likely” as well as “somewhat likely” answers. Note that believing that something is “somewhat likely” may hold out the admission of possibility, non a theater belief.

JFK Assassination

JFK earlier assassination

Most Americans say that to a greater extent than than i mortal was involved inward the JFK assassination. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Gallup Poll was conducted 26–28 March 2001 alongside telephone interviews of a randomly selected sample of 1,024 adults aged eighteen as well as older. The results are projectable to all U.S. households alongside a 95 percent confidence as well as 3 percent margin of error. At that time, when asked, “Do you lot retrieve that i human being was responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy, or arrive at you lot retrieve that others were involved inward a conspiracy?”—with the possible answers “one man,” “others involved” as well as “no opinion”:

Fourth-fifths (81 percent) responded that they believed that other people were involved inward a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy, an all-time high.

In the 1997 Scripps Howard News Service/Ohio University nationwide poll, the inquiry concerned non to a greater extent than than i person, only authorities officials alongside direct involvement inward the assassination of President Kennedy inward 1963. The poll discovered:

More than one-half (51 percent) of Americans believe it is rattling probable or somewhat probable that authorities officials were “directly responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy.”

AIDS as well as Drugs

Aids

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 sizable number of people would grip alongside at to the lowest degree i of the accusations that the authorities manufactured AIDS or made drugs available inward inner cities to assault African Americans. In a 1990 poll, reported inward the 29 Oct 1990 edition of the New York Times:

Nearly one-third (29 percent) of dark New Yorkers indicated belief that AIDS was “deliberately created inward a laboratory inward companionship to infect dark people,” versus i inward 20 (5 percent) amid white New Yorkers.
More than one-half (60 percent) of dark New Yorkers indicated belief that the authorities “deliberately” made drugs available to pitiable dark people, versus a petty to a greater extent than than i inward 10 (12 percent) amid white New Yorkers.

In about other 1990 survey, reported inward the two Nov 1995 edition of the Boston Globe:

More than one-third (34 percent) of dark churchgoers polled inward 5 cities agreed “the AIDS virus was produced inward a germ warfare laboratory.”

The 1997 Scripps Howard News Service/Ohio University nationwide poll discovered:

More than one-half (52 percent) of Americans believe it probable that the CIA allowed drug dealers from Central America to sell fissure cocaine to African Americans inward U.S. inner cities.

Pearl Harbor

About i inward 3 Americans say that President Roosevelt knew virtually the assault on Pearl Harbor inward advance. The Gallup Organization reports that inward Dec 1941, 84 percent of Americans said the president had done “everything he should convey to forestall state of war alongside Japan,” alongside solely nine percent disagreeing.

Fifty years later, inward 1991, Gallup flora that nearly one-third of Americans (31 percent) agreed alongside the statement, “Roosevelt knew virtually Japanese plans to bomb Pearl Harbor only did null virtually it because he wanted an excuse to involve the U.S.A. on the side of the Allies inward the war,” alongside 47 percent disagreeing as well as 22 percent alongside no opinion. As an interesting side note, xix percent said they withal convey non forgiven the Japanese.

Moon Landings

The conspiracy theory that the moon landings were a mistaken is less popular. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Gallup Poll was conducted 13–14 July 1999 alongside telephone interviews of a randomly selected sample of 1,061 adults aged eighteen as well as older. The results are projectable to all U.S. households alongside a 95 percent confidence as well as a 3 percent margin of error. When asked, “Thinking virtually the infinite exploration, arrive at you lot retrieve the authorities staged or faked the Apollo Luna landing, or don’t you lot experience that way?”—with answers being, “Yes, staged,” “No,” as well as “No opinion”:

Less than i inward 10 (6 percent) believes that the landing was faked piece nearly nine inward 10 (89 percent) arrive at non believe that the lunar landing was faked or staged.

Time/CNN/Yakelovich Partners, Inc., conducted a similar poll 19–20 July 1995, alongside virtually identical wording, as well as produced similar results:

Less than i inward 10 (6 percent) believes that the landing was faked piece to a greater extent than than four-fifths (83 percent) arrive at non believe that the lunar landing was faked or staged.

UFOs

Many Americans say that the authorities is hiding data virtually UFOs. In the 1997 survey conducted past times Guido H. Stempel III of the EW Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University as well as Thomas Hargrove of the Scripps Howard News Service mentioned above, nearly one-half of Americans (47 percent) indicated that it is rattling probable or somewhat probable that “The U.S. Air Force is withholding proof of the existence of intelligent life from other planets.”

Another study, sponsored past times the SCI FI Channel as well as conducted 23–25 August past times RoperASW, flora that 72 percent of Americans believe the “government is non telling the populace everything it knows virtually UFO activity,” as well as 68 percent believe the “government knows to a greater extent than virtually extraterrestrial life” than it says. The study was conducted amid a instance lawsuit of 1,021 adults aged eighteen as well as over, alongside a margin of error of +3 percent.

Further, lx percent of respondents inward the RoperASW poll said the authorities “should non withhold data virtually UFO sightings,” piece 58 percent said the authorities shouldn’t conceal data virtually “potential encounters alongside extraterrestrial life.”

Trust inward Government

The higher upward RoperASW study also discussed the number of trust inward government. The same poll flora that virtually one-half of Americans (53 percent) say their “level of trust inward the authorities has remained stable over the past times 5 years,” piece 29 percent say they trust the authorities “less than they did 5 years ago.” More than one-half of Americans (55 percent) said the authorities “does non portion plenty data alongside the populace inward general.”

After the Oklahoma City bombing, a poll was conducted past times the Gallup organization that flora that 39 percent of Americans believed that the federal authorities had function also powerful as well as large as well as so was a threat to the freedoms as well as rights of average citizens.

In 2000, this number increased to 45 percent, alongside 51 percent disagreeing that the federal authorities poses such a threat. The 2000 study was conducted 7–9 Apr 2000 amid a randomly selected national sample of 1,006 adults aged eighteen as well as over, alongside a margin of error of +3 percent.