Getting a Grip on Apollo 11
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 30 May 2022
Emanuel E. Garcia – TRANSCEND Media Service
25 May 2022 – Since my personal investigations into the veracity of the Apollo lunar missions, having concluded that they were in fact a hoax, several of my friends wondered aloud if I were a Holocaust denier (I am not) or a flat-earther (not one of these either), and have strongly urged me to ‘get a grip’.
So I took their advice by trying to get a better grip on the Apollo 11 Command Module’s EVA (Extravehicular Activity) handles and I discovered an interesting discussion about the handles here.
From this forum a picture emerged of the Command Module Columbia post-recovery, aboard the USS Hornet, the rescue ship:
(http://www.collectspace.com/review/apollo11_cm_radiationlabels01-lg.jpg)
Dr. Phil Kouts has addressed the immense requirements of an appropriate heat shield for re-entry from lunar orbit in his excellent articles here and here, along with the results of NASA’s relatively recent Orion test.
In NASA’s Apollo Operations Handbook one will find a detailed description of the EVA handles from pages 2.12-51 to 2.12-53 and learn that:
“The fixed handles are aluminum, oval-shaped tubes 12 inches long with a support fitting at each end. The handles are used for EVA maneuvering. The hatch has a smaller fixed handle near the hatch mechanism that is used for opening the hatch. All the handle supports are bolted into fiber-glass inserts into the ablative material. They may or may not burn off on entry.”
Here is a helpful view of the EVA handles from the Smithsonian. Please note that the handles currently on display are not the originals, which were shipped off to a radioactive waste dump with the exception of the only remaining handle in the possession of collector Steve Jurvetson, which may be seen here. after it was auctioned off.
As far as I can ascertain, the aluminum alloy used for the EVA handles was 2024-T3510 Aluminum, whose melting point is 1180 degrees Fahrenheit. For comparison’s sake, the melting point of Titanium is 3034 degrees Fahrenheit.
The thermal protection subsystem for the Command Module entries from lunar orbit is discussed in detail by NASA here. In addition there is an excellent video on the construction of the heat shield for the Module, which extended over its entirety.
Re-entry from cis-lunar orbit was one of the principal challenges of the Apollo missions. The Command Module would have struck the earth’s atmosphere at a speed of approximately 40,000 Km/h, and the surface of the Command Module would have risen to 5000 degrees Fahrenheit as it was enveloped by a thermal plasma.
Artist’s Rendering of Apollo Re-Entry
(http://howthingsfly.si.edu/sites/default/files/image-large/Apollo%20Reentry-1_lg.jpg)
How then, may I ask, would the EVA handles, composed of an aluminum alloy whose melting point was far below this intense heat, have survived intact? It is highly doubtful that even titanium EVAs, with a far greater melting point, would not have been burnt off unless re-entry commenced in reality from Low Earth Orbit, when temperatures would have been much cooler.
Apollo 11 After Splashdown
(http://www.apolloarchive.com/apg_thumbnail.php?ptr=683&imageID=S69-21698)
______________________________________________
This is the initial abridged version of a more comprehensive technical article. David Percy, the editor of www.aulis.com, added quite significantly to the longer version. I am also indebted to Mr. James Ward for drawing my attention to the Apollo handles in an email exchange. I have decided that this will be my final ‘word’ on the Apollo missions.
Dr. Emanuel E. Garcia is a Philadelphia-born writer, theatrical director, physician (retired psychiatrist), and a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. He has resided in New Zealand since 2006 and his political essays and poetry have appeared widely on various websites and publications including TMS. His most recent novel, published in 2021, is the story of an Italian wayfarer entitled Olympia. Website: www.emanuelegarcia.com. Email: emanuelegarcia@gmail.com.
Tags: Apollo Mission, Hoax, Moonlanding, NASA, Science, Space science, USA
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 30 May 2022.
Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: Getting a Grip on Apollo 11, is included. Thank you.
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Hey Man,
Skepticism is necessary to a full understanding, but growing up during the buildup of the space program, there was never any question in my mind as to the veracity of the moon missions. My dream was to be an astronaut and I followed events closely, having some unique insights due to spending a childhood around military culture, and having Wally Schirra’s mother as a neighbor.
I may be dead wrong, but the people I was around – submariners, pilots and soldiers – were strong and clear and square, honest as the day is long. They were of a generation who could indeed achieve the success of the lunar missions and wouldn’t need to lie about it. They ran a tight, able organization.
But after Vietnam I lost my faith. It seemed the very rock of our essence had been bastardized and sold out from under us. Where we could have opted for peace, instead a senseless war was imposed, decimating the best of my brothers and classmates, undercutting truth and decency of nation. With that backdrop, Appollo 11 seemed like just another ploy, a fuzzy television parody to hoodwink the public.
So I let it go at that. I supposed it had happened, but it no longer held me as it once had. My dreams of becoming an astronaut vaporized and I shifted my studies from math and science to literature, finished college unremarkable, went on to spend most of my professional life as an advertising photographer.
Then a few years ago all this about the Apollo hoax came back around online. I started looking for earmarks of a studio, perhaps a wire or piece of gaffer’s tape in the wrong place. Finding nothing, I knew there was an angle that would be very difficult to accurately fake: optical physics – photogrammetry.
Knowing the camera the astronauts used, I downloaded as many NASA shots as I could find, put them into Photoshop and measured size relationships between objects to see if they were true. Yep, over and over, the earth’s size in all the scenes was correct. It would be easy to overlook the position of the earth and get it right every time in terms of size within every image if the landing were done in a studio.
So that, along with reviewing all the objections involving photographs, I agree that we actually went to the moon, landed there, and came back. The entry vehicle had a powerful interior cooling system and the ability to boil water in a paper cup without the cup catching fire is why the handles didn’t burn off.
The real takeaway is, yes there were people who could land on the moon. But I know, with today’s generation and such very poor leadership it now seems impossible.
Yer pal,
Larry
Hey Man,
Skepticism is necessary to a full understanding, but growing up during the buildup of the space program, there was never any question in my mind as to the veracity of the moon missions. My dream was to be an astronaut and I followed events closely, having some unique insights due to spending a childhood around military culture, and having Wally Schirra’s mother as a neighbor.
I may be dead wrong, but the people I was around – submariners, pilots and soldiers – were strong and clear and square, honest as the day is long. They were of a generation who could indeed achieve the success of the lunar missions and wouldn’t need to lie about it. They ran a tight, able organization.
But after Vietnam I lost my faith. It seemed the very rock of our essence had been bastardized and sold out from under us. Where we could have opted for peace, instead a senseless war was imposed, decimating the best of my brothers and classmates, undercutting truth and decency of nation. With that backdrop, Appollo 11 seemed like just another ploy, a fuzzy television parody to hoodwink the public.
So I let it go at that. I supposed it had happened, but it no longer held me as it once had. My dreams of becoming an astronaut vaporized and I shifted my studies from math and science to literature, finished college unremarkable, went on to spend most of my professional life as an advertising photographer.
Then a few years ago all this about the Apollo hoax came back around online. I started looking for earmarks of a studio, perhaps a wire or piece of gaffer’s tape in the wrong place. Finding nothing, I knew there was an angle that would be very difficult to accurately fake: optical physics – photogrammetry.
Knowing the camera the astronauts used, I downloaded as many NASA shots as I could find, put them into Photoshop and measured size relationships between objects to see if they were true. Yep, over and over, the earth’s size in all the scenes was correct. It would be easy to overlook the position of the earth and hard to get it right every time in terms of size within every image if the landing were done in a studio.
So that, along with reviewing all the objections involving photographs, I agree that we actually went to the moon, landed there, and came back. The entry vehicle had a powerful interior cooling system and the ability to boil water in a paper cup without the cup catching fire is why the handles didn’t burn off.
The real takeaway is, yes there were people who could land on the moon. But I know, with today’s generation and such very poor leadership it now seems impossible.
Yer pal,
Larry
Thanks for a great comment and even though we disagree we can do so courteously. About photographs — do you know the one where the earth is right about the flag? Some people have looked at this and concluded that it was an impossible shot. Finally: why has no one bothered to go back in so many years??? Why aren’t there hi-rez shots of the landing sites — taking pictures from an orbiting craft without having to deal with an atmophere would make it very easy and definitive, especially when you realise that earth satellites can take shots now with incredible resolution. More food for thought.
In peace and gratitude
I think readers who are interested in looking at the Apollo missions would be well served by reading Randy Walsh’s recent books:
The Apollo Moon Missions: Hiding a Hoax in Plain Sight (volumes I and II)
Here’s an Arizona State U website with LROC images of the Apollo 11 landing site: https://www.lroc.asu.edu/posts/484
This is a fascinating study. A good bucket list goal might be to go to the moon and see for yourself. It probably won’t happen in my lifetime, but maybe you’re still young enough to see the day when a tourist trip around the moon would be possible.
PS Starting bid: I’ll pay $1000 for the Hasselblad camera certifiably brought back from the Apollo 11 site.