As fate would have it, while Vega was going through the Apollo missions’ patch collection, Lucas was watching the Indians game on TV and reviewing some of his old notes on the Apollo program. His theory on the hidden missions of Apollo 12 and 13 still sounded valid after all these years.
In the summer of 1969 NASA was not ready to land on the Moon. They had known since 1968 that it was nearly impossible to do so, but the pressure to fulfill Kennedy’s dream was enormous and there was no room for failure in that respect. The President’s words were crystal clear: “Land a man on the Moon before this decade is out.” The end of the given timeframe was approaching fast and the powers that were at the space agency panicked.
By December of 1968 the lunar module was still not ready. That’s why Apollo 8 went all the way to the Moon without it during Christmas. The first manned test of the lunar module in space didn’t happen until March 1969. The problems with the machine were widely known through all spheres at NASA. So, they developed a secondary protocol of missions. One that would be put in motion if the primary mission couldn’t be carried out due to any type of malfunction on the lunar module. This secondary protocol was structured to foster the public perception that NASA had been successful in achieving Kennedy’s goal.
After all these years Lucas still hadn’t figured out exactly how they did it but he had a general idea of what the plan entailed. And he did because the astronauts had been good soldiers but better fellow citizens. They had worked through the NASA smoke screen to leave clues as to the true state of the endeavor. Starting with Apollo 11 and following up with 12 and 13.
He truly believed that Apollo 11 never landed on the Moon. And some of the most compelling proof is found in the clues left by the astronauts of the next two missions.
The astronauts, besides meddling with their mission patches, had a lot to say regarding their spacecrafts’ call signs as well. The name of the Apollo 12 command module was “Yankee Clipper” and its lunar module was “Intrepid”. Employees of the ships’ prime contractors suggested both monikers. It felt almost as if the astronauts didn’t have much interest in it. 
Furthermore, the mission patch had a clipper ship sailing around the Moon as if to convey the idea of never stopping at that port. But, with regards to that mission, what knocked the ball out of the park for Lucas was the fact that the video camera got damaged. There was no video feed from the Moon!
From Apollo 11 the world saw a very grainy video supposedly from the “surface of the Moon”, and from Apollo 12 got plenty of visuals from inside the spacecraft and nothing from our satellite’s surface. How convenient!
Apollo 13 seemed more obvious. So much so that it makes the world back then look extremely naive. By April of 1970, since public perception was that the U.S. had already beaten the Soviets in the Space Race, American society was rapidly losing interest in their own nation’s Moon landings. Lucas believed NASA designed this mission to heighten public interest on the program again. The truth is that, in hindsight, everything about it seems pretty well planned from the communications standpoint. Starting with the selection of “Odyssey” for the command module’s call sign. It was as if the astronauts knew beforehand what their voyage would become.
But even more revealing was the lunar module’s number. It was LM-7. Lucky seven! Apollo 13 had lunar module number 7. As if they knew that particular spacecraft was going to be their lucky charm and lifeboat for the unlucky 13th mission. Add to that the name “Aquarius” and you have a Hollywoodesque script.
The Age of Aquarius
Remember this was the spring of 1970, and just a year earlier a song titled “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” from the musical “Hair” was topping the charts. Lucas had written some of the lyrics of the song in his notebook:
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
Aquarius
Aquarius
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind’s true liberation
Aquarius
Aquarius
The first verse mentions the Moon, the planets and the stars and ends with the statement that this is the dawning of a new age – the Age of Aquarius. Then the second verse tells us what that age is all about including “no more falsehoods and derisions, golden living dreams of visions”. Lucas did not buy for a moment that this was a coincidence. It was obvious to him they selected the name “Aquarius” because that particular lunar module was pivotal in the astronaut’s assignment’s drama. The center stage from which they were to pave the way for the truly historic mission. The one that would both end the phase of lies and finally see Kennedy’s dream come to life. It represented the last lie and thus the dawning of the age of truth.