Apollo UFO
The Science Channel aired “First on the Moon- The Untold Story” this afternoon, and it’s full of holes – according to the Bad Ass astronomer, Phil Plait, and his NASA nerd friend, David Morrison. I really wanted to believe that Apollo 11 astronauts saw a UFO, but according to David at NASA:
I just talked to Buzz Aldrin on the phone, and he notes that the quotations were taken out of context and did not convey the intended meaning. After the Apollo 11 crew verified that the object they were seeing was not the SIVB upper stage, which was about 6000 miles away at that time, they concluded that they were probably seeing one of the panels from the separation of the spacecraft from the upper stage. These panels were not tracked from Earth and were likely much closer to the Apollo spacecraft.
Dr. Phil… er, the good Bad Astronomy guy says there’s more unexplainable to explain:
As another quick example, they also talked about flashes of light that the astronauts saw in their eyes – these turned out to be subatomic particles (really, atomic nuclei) from space interacting with the fluid in their eyes. This is fairly well understood now. The show implies – it even comes right out and says – we don’t understand this phenomenon, which isn’t true.
TV shows need to be more like blogs, ya know? In the sense that real scientists could have swept in and commented on where that program went wrong. Instead, we’ll have people out there believing that many of the “facts” presented in the show were researched and documented appropriately. Where is there a (single) Web site on which viewers could easily fact-check programming like this?!
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9 Comments
Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer
July 31st, 2006
at 11:42am
Where can people fact-check TV?
Um. http://www.badastronomy.com? :-)
Gary
July 31st, 2006
at 1:13pm
Lest hope the show gets aired in Australia, over there the libel laws extent to organisations, concepts and published works.
That means like the Creationalist who went there a while back, these guys can be dragged into cort for telling untruths.
This story reminds me of the spate of Handycam recorded diamond shaped UFO’s that appeared a while back.
Even though on one programme a Sony engineer proved what was being recorded was a virtual focused image of handycam iris when the camera is pointed at a point source and left on Auto. I still see the other ‘documentaries’ showing the same old videos of supposed diamond UFO’s TEN years later.
I trust the media with science only as far as I can spit out a fully grown rat.
seaeagle
August 1st, 2006
at 9:23am
As far as I can recall, the book “Space” by James A. Michener quite a few years ago covered the “flashes of light” correctly. He even went as far to explain that the sub-atomic particles streaming from the Sun caused “pits” in the metal of the astronauts’ helmets. That book was written in 1982, so you would think that the Science Channel would have caught up by now.
John Howard
August 2nd, 2006
at 7:56am
“real scientists could have swept in”
HOLD ON THEIR – Mr Kiss Ass Dickwod!
What scientist tell the facts… gee, Chrissy, run that idea
over a few so called topics in the world of science… like
say Global Warming, Nuk Power, B1 Bomber design,
Weapons of Mass Bullshit… bla bla…
Sweep in 8)
What a tool!
Miss_Lain
August 5th, 2006
at 6:06pm
Yeah, nothing too mysterious here to talk about. Buzz was on Coast to Coast AM late night talk show here last week talking to George Snoory, errr Noory. Buzz said the same thing as the Bad Ass Astronomer. Aldrin did not, repeat, did not see any UFO that tried to dock with their spacecraft. I doubt if he saw an alien gas station on the moon, either. The flashes of light had something to do with fluid in the eyeball and they saw these flashes with their eyelids closed. The people who spread these rumors rarely talk to the people involved. They rely on heresay and what they conclude in their own limited research. Similar to the “proof” that the we-never-went-to-the-moon people use. Statements taken out of context and logic conceived out of their league of expertise.
BTW, Chris. Is Phil “The Bad Ass Astronomer” Plait EVER going to brain-battle on Coast to Coast that wack job Richard C.(onspiracy) Hoglund? The same guy who sees a face on Mars even though that’s been disproven. Someone needs to put R.C.H. in his place, sitting next to the other lunatics. Snoory, err Noory is Rich’s promoter and thinks Rich know his stuff. Noory wants Phil and Rich to go head to head, in fact. Right after Buzz got done dispelling these crazy rumors, R.C.H. came on and said “If you would have asked Buzz if they had seen signs of ancient civilizations on the moon then maybe…” Some people won’t take no as no.
Gary
August 8th, 2006
at 1:37am
“The flashes of light had something to do with fluid in the eyeball”
WHAT!
Gee give this a go Miss Lain… Pheeeee
Apollo 11 ‘UFO’ – Buzz Aldrin
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=6647204125621625190&q=apollo
UFO’s Are Real, says Buzz Aldrin by The Gossip Rag
August 16th, 2006
at 5:00pm
[...] Apollo UFO ~ Chris PirilloI just talked to Buzz Aldrin on the phone, and he notes that the … In the sense that real scientists could have swept in and … me of the spate of Handycam recorded diamond shaped UFO’s that … [...]
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Dude
July 21st, 2009
at 6:44am
Buzz admits that the Apollo 11 crew saw a UFO.
He does not offer any other explanation for what was seen, only that it was a UFO.