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Product Name: A Short History of the Space Program:

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Let us just wildly assume for a moment that we did not actually go to the moon yet. Let us assume, for sake of establishing our theory, that we have not sent any other missions or 'voyagers', 'probes', et al, into deep space. Let us assume that all deep space missions and explorations were 'faked'. That would pose a flood of many questions, but, lets approach several major questions this would raise: Like, Why? Why fake the lunar landing missions? And why fake any space exploration missions that followed it? Another good question: Is the entire space program 'faked'? I will answer the above questions in the course of this essay. But, in order to understand some of those answers we need to first explain some history of the space program. Understanding what the real space program was, and why we even took on the project of trying to go to the moon, would help to explain why we would have tried to fake some of it. When did the Space Program start? In the USA or elsewhere? How about in Russia? Excuse my lack of references, as I stated above, I am writing this based on memory of previous research. I can't recall the Tzar's name, or the exact date (but it was in the 1800's). It was either the last, or close to the last, Tzar of Russia. He funded what is probably the first government space program (of modern time). It's mission was to construct a rocket that could house facilities for a group of men that could blast off from earth, fly to and land on the moon, and return. The drawings I saw (in a book which mentioned this) were detailed and showed a large 'fat' rocket with several floors of rooms for the cosmonaughts who were to travel aboard it. This was, remember, back in the 1800's, about the same time that Jules Vern was writing his book 'Journey to the Moon', and the drawings looked similar. This was not a farce, but real research and effort was made back in the 1800's by the government of Russia to build a rocket that could fly men to the moon and back. The Russian's really had a jump on the rest of the world. In the 20's - 40's Germany had many scientists engaged in rocket research. Although the main drive was for military use, much research also went into the idea of space exploration. In America, a scientist called Goddard (oh well, can't recall his first name) pushed for rocket science and space exploration funding in the 1920's, but without much response. It was World War II that suddenly brought rocket science and near space flight to the sharp attention of the US military, especially since Germany was far more advanced in this field than either the US or Russia. During and even before the War with Germany the US used open and covert means to lure, or even kidnap, leading German scientists to come to America. I do not recall how Einstein came to the US, but he was originally from Germany. So, too, was Werner Von Braun, who I think came to the US after the war. After the war the US and Russia grabbed up the leading German scientist to further their own research. Another technology that was developed during the war effort was Jet powered aircraft. With Jet Propulsion came the ability and the quest to go faster and faster. To challenge the very speed of sound itself. But, approaching the speed of sound had it's problems. Existing aircraft were not constructed well enough and when entering into Mach I, or the speed of sound, the crafts would literally tear apart at the seams and disintegrate. Chuck Yeagar is credited as being the first 'LIVING' man to exceed the speed of sound. Notice, the term the military often used was the first 'living' man. One might presume (and I do recall reading about Britons, I am sure there were Americans and Germans as well) that there may have been others who surpassed Mach I before Yeagar but never lived to tell about it. During the war many such incidents took place under the blanket of war-time secrecy. After WWII and the Korean War there was the cold war. There was always a need for secrecy. Now that the US had the ability to build crafts that could exceed Mach I, the next quest was, how fast and high can we go? However, jet engines had limitations. They required air to both burn the fuel and to pass through the turbines to make the thrust. This meant that jet engines could not operate outside of earth's atmosphere. In the late 1940's the US Air Force and Navy began to design several experimental 'rocket' planes. These were winged aircraft that were powered by solid fuel rocket propulsion. Rocket fuels include oxygen as one component, thus the rocket will still burn even outside of the atmosphere. Thus, rockets were the engine of choice for any purposed space vehicle. Later on the rocket planes became known as the X rocket planes (X = experimental), the most famous being the X-15. Werner Von Braun was among the leading German-American scientists working on this project from the beginning in the very late 1940's. From that time, the late 40's to early 1950's Werner Von Braun developed the underlying basis of deep space travel that became the basis for the US space program, which has not changed that much to this very day!!!! It was in the late 40's to early 50's that Von Braun envisioned a use for these eXperimental Rocket Planes. He foresaw them being used as 'Space Shuttles' that could ferry up into space men and materials in order to build orbiting space stations far above the earth. This was Von Braun's, von Brain storm. But, Von Braun was a man well before his time. The US military worked on building and perfecting the X-rocket planes and were met with one major technological and/or political obstacle after another. There were a number of previous X-rocket planes, but the X-15 was designed to become man's first Space Craft. It was to be the first man-made craft (rocket-powered, manned, manually controlled and designed for re-entry and landing) to enter outer space. It was designed in or around 1952-53, on paper. But, it had many problems. Problems with the rocket engines (there were originally going to be 2 or 3, very powerful rockets, but this had to be scaled down to 1 not so powerful rocket). Attempts were made all through the 1950's, 55, 56, 57. Pre-flights were made, but not using the engine full bore. When it was used full-bore one of it's missions was to aim for outerspace - and take it to the outer limits (or the twilight zone). During this same time the Russians were hard at work on ballistic missile rockets. Their idea was based on their original space exploration work of over 100 year history, to build a rocket that could house men to travel into space. (Where as the US idea was similar, except that the rocket had wings and flew like a plane in earth's atmosphere, and like a rocket in space). Both the Russians and US were working on missile war head rockets in which an explosive device (nuclear being the most powerful) would sit atop a rocket. The goal was to make a rocket that could travel from one continent to another (InterContinental Ballistic Missiles, or ICBM's). Russia was far ahead of the US in ICBM technology. In the mid 1950's they proved this by successfully performing numerous launches using large and powerful rocket engines. At that time, however, the way in which the 2 countries conducted business was quite different. Russia did not publicize any of their attempts until after the fact. After they made successful launches, only then did the state run news agency release the films and disclose the work. But, in the US, each time the Air Force or Navy was to make a launch attempt, the press was invited to attend. One time after another, after another, after another, in full public view, with news press cameras running and reporters reporting, the US attempts failed. Some missiles never left the pad, they simply exploded. Some, just after leaving the pad, exploded. Others went off hay-wire after lift off and crashed in non-predetermined areas. It was an extremely embarrassing time for the US military. But, this embarrassment did not stop with just a few red-faces. It was costing the US very vital and valuable world influence and political alliances. In the 1950's Russia was clearly ahead of the US in the area of rocket technology. Imagine if you were a wealthy Sheik of a Middle East country which was swimming in oil money and you wanted to buy new military hardware. You have the money, so, you want only the best. Would you decide to go with a country who has successfully shown they have the technology to blast a missile war head from one continent to another, or a country whose public attempts to do so have, for the most part, been one failure after another? This was the far-reaching embarrassment the US was feeling, politically and economically and militarily through-out the developing world. Whoever you bought your military gear from, you would also develop strong political ties to as well. And it wasn't just a small handful of oil rich countries, it was any and all countries who needed to buy everything from guns and ammo, to tanks, jet fighters and helicopters. A hundred countries complete with their political allegiance and their military buying budgets were at stake. This was considered high priority, high-stakes technology. Because space and rocket technology was at the forefront of science and military needs at the time, rocket science and it's uses became tightly wrapped in secrecy for the protection of government interest and national security. Those two words, 'National Security' are the catch all words that demand and call for air tight, water tight, light tight security in all phases of rocket and space technology. The very security of the future of the nation lay at stake. In Russia, they had combined their space rocket research with their ballistic missile research and by attaching a 'satellite' to the top of a ballistic missile they were able to hurl it up and out into space. Before the US could even get a good ICBM off the pad, before they could get the X-15 rocket plane operating properly the Russians successfully launched 'Sputnik'. The first known man-made object to venture into earth near outer-space and enter into orbit about the earth. In the view of the world, the Russians were clearly the leader in this new and modern technology - Rocket Science and Space Exploration. The US was running a far behind second place. At this point, a no show second place. The X-15 project had more problems and was running more and more behind. (I can't recall the year Sputnik went up, or later dates for X-15's partial successes - 1957 ?). Even though the US was behind in Ballistic missile research, the word came down from top government and military personnel to 'do something' to show to the world we are not a 'second rate' world power. We are not second rate in technology. We were not going to be beaten by those Red-Commie Russians. Even though US scientists balked at the idea of putting objects on top of ballistic missies and hurling them up into space, even though they laughed at the idea, the word came down to blast something, anything, into space. If the Russians were successful hurling objects up on top of big rockets, and our X-15 program was running way behind, then we should use their same technology to do the same. We couldn't let the Commie Russians out do us. US scientists were scrambling to make a powerful and successful ballistic missile anyway, without the same success as the Russians, now they were told to strap 'things' on top of a big rocket and 'do something'. Just get something up in space. I mean, what if Russia were to put a man in space before us, we would become the second rate country and Russia would become first-rate. Emphasis for the space program got side tracked. The real US space program was to get the X-15 rocket into space, then keep refining it until we could get a Space Shuttle that could take men and loads up. Now funding for that project was put on the back burner as more funding was spent on ballistic missiles and putting cargo's on top of them. Finally, the US made a few ballistic missiles, we were getting somewhere. But not soon enough. The Russian's sent a dog into space. Oh God, they got a living entity into space first. The US was just starting to send our first satellites up. In the eyes of the world, especially the political-military developing nations, Russia was ahead of the US in technology. The US government and political powers were getting frantic. This was the Cold War, and the US could not be beat by the Communists. This was the cold war, and at this point the US was falling behind, we were getting beaten. The US was struggling with trying to build a reliable large ballistic missile, trying to strap 'things' on top of it. This became priority over the problem prone Space Shuttle and X-15 type projects. Russia, basically, had only one program going, their ballistic missiles. We were getting closer with the X-15, and we were getting somewhere with the ballistic missiles. But, leading US space scientists felt that it was entirely too primitive and madness to think of putting a man, or even a dog, in a small capsule and put them on top of a large ballistic missile and then blast him off into space. Unlike an airplane - or rocket plane, there was no pilot, no manual navigation controls. It was just a big rocket blasting off at full bore, no way to maneuver it. US scientist felt it was too crude, too primitive. Rather, the X-15 and future craft like it seemed to be more real and practical. A rocket with wings that a pilot has full control over, that can fly in earth's atmosphere like a jet plane, and travel in outer-space like a rocket. But, the mad scientists in Russia went ahead and did it anyway. They actually went ahead and put a man in a little capsule and blasted him off on top of a large ballistic missile and sent him flying out into outer-space. That was it, the US had egg all over their face. Even though US space scientists objected and tried to thwart the efforts, the word from high command came down, 'Put a man on top of rocket and blast him into earth orbit'. They said, 'look, the Russians are doing it, they've done it, it works, at least for the publicity of it, for the 'political effects' of it, we have to do it. Put a man in a box and blast him off on top a rocket. Just do it.' So, that was the order. The X-15 project, however, was ready, about 5-6 months too late. The first US man in Space was not Allan Shepard. It was a pilot flying the X-15 into space and re-entering. But, this did not make the same headlines and sensation as the capsules on top of the rockets did. The X-15 and it's subsequent projects took a back seat and became less public. We started the Mercury program, and that became our publicized space program effort. We put Allan Shepard in a small box and blasted him up into space on top of a big ballistic missile. How primitive. Then we blasted up Glenn in a Mercury capsule and he became the first man to orbit the earth. He was not the first man into space, that was a Russian, and he wasn't the first American into space, that was an X-15 pilot, then Allan Shepard, but he was the first man to orbit the earth. (at least, that is what the world was led to believe - that America was no second rate nation - the world had to know that American's had 'the right stuff'.) Now, what did the US do with that. The US acted like a sleek New York Avenue marketing firm. They hailed this as a major milestone in technological feats. They hailed Glenn as the pioneer of space exploration. But, this Uri,,, or whoever, the Russian, he was the first man in space. About this fact the US tried to belittle it, locally in the US it was known, it was mentioned, but when we sent Shepard and Glenn into space, that was, somehow, much more important, more valiant, more advanced. And we tried to convince the world of this too. But, actually, we were simply playing catch-up with Russia. And did we really do what we said we were doing?

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Maney people would have a real hard time believing or even entertaining the idea that we did not go to the moon. After all, it has been over 30 years since we, supposedly, sent our fist unmanned space missions to the moon. Having been so long, it... more