Tag: Apollo 12

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 5: The Tell Tale Missions

Psychodelic juxtaposition of the Apollo 13 crew against a scene from Hair

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. Apollo 12 mission patchFurthermore, 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 mission patchApollo 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.

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 19: Third Inning – Who’s on First?

The third inning started, and Lucas’ list of questions increased with every pitch.  

“Who decided which astronauts were to carry out the secondary protocol missions?”  

“One simple directive guided the selection process: they had to be the ones most likely to keep their mouths shut,” said Armstrong. “Military background was preferred although in my case it was more of a psychological profile thing.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“In August 1968 George Low, Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, had a secret meeting with Bob Gilruth, head of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Chris Kraft, Director of Flight Operations, and Deke Slayton, who as NASA’s Flight Crew Director was the person tasked with making crew assignments. They were Apollo program’s four senior administrators, and by that time had become an unofficial committee that got together often in Gilruth’s office to discuss and make decisions on the future of the program. Not much happened that didn’t originate with them.

“Well, in that August meeting Low convinced the group that the only way to meet Kennedy’s goal was to send Apollo 8 around the Moon on December of that year. It was a Hail Mary pass that would allow NASA to fulfill in one mission many of the program objectives needed to land on the Moon.

“That meant reshuffling the other missions and the crew assignments. The original Apollo 8 mission became Apollo 9 and in the process Buzz, Michael and me, instead of being back-up crew of Apollo 9 became back-up for Apollo 8. Something that meant that our place in the rotation suddenly had us in line for the prime crew of Apollo 11, which was, at the time, scheduled to be the first G-type mission. In other words, the first Moon landing mission.

“At the time I thought that such a realignment of missions had been simply a lucky break for us, but I found out shortly thereafter, that I had been chosen not to be the first man to actually land on the Moon but to be the commander of the mission with the secondary protocol to tell the world that we had landed on the Moon. Very big difference, believe me. And the reason I was selected for that was that Gilruth, Low, Kraft and Deke saw me as a person who did not have a large ego. Chris Kraft wrote about that in 2001 as part of his autobiography.”

“So, in June 6, 1968, LBJ gave the order to put the secondary protocol in motion,” said Lucas, “and in August, the Big Four laid out the whole plan. Right?”

“Pretty much. That Apollo 8’s crew, was the first to train for a secondary protocol. The crews of Apollo 7 and 9 were kept in the dark. Their missions were about testing the spacecrafts on Earth orbit and as such, were of little or no use to the overall plan.

“Only seven astronauts were aware of the whole secondary protocol: Commanders Frank Borman of Apollo 8, Tom Stafford of Apollo 10, Pete Conrad of Apollo 12, Jim Lovell of Apollo 13, Alan Shepard of Apollo 14 and myself on Apollo 11. Nobody else was made aware of the whole plan; it was just us. As a matter of fact Lovell carried out two secondary protocol missions; the only astronaut to do so. We were all members of the New Nine group except for Shepard who, as you know, was one of the Mercury Seven; the first American to go into space way back in 1961.”  

“What about their crews? You said that the commanders would brief their crews only to the extent of their mission and did not include any information regarding the role of other missions. Didn’t they have questions? How was that handled?”  

“There was a total of 10 crew members involved in the secondary protocol missions; all were military men. They knew how to follow orders without questioning them. Plus there was always the ‘that’s classified’ response,” said Armstrong with a smirk. “Actually, two of them, Young and Cernan, did get to walk on the Moon in later missions. And a third one, Dick Gordon was in line to do the same in Apollo 18 until his mission was cancelled due to budget cuts. I’m sure they didn’t need much more motivation to keep their mouths shut.  

“All astronauts involved were given a lifetime mission that transcended the primary mission objectives. Our mission would not be completed until we have taken what we know to our graves. It’s a very heavy burden I’ve come to regard as unjust, not for me, but for the ones who were not given the credit they deserved. Look Lucas,  I’m convinced that it was the right thing to do in the context of the era, but we now live in a different world. It’s time for people to know the truth.”  

Over on the field

The third inning was a testament to the pitching duel in front of us that day with only one hit between the two teams and no runs scored. Reds still leading 1-0 after three.      

 

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 21: Fifth Inning – Heads and Tales

NASA Administrator Thomas Paine in 1969

While on the playing field Reds pitcher Edison Volquez manhandled the Indians lineup on the top half of the fifth inning, Armstrong continued his tale.

“In October 1968, NASA Administrator James Webb who had been informed about the secondary protocol plan by the big four, Gilruth, Low, Kraft and Slayton, stepped down from his post,” said the old astronaut. “Although the official version for his resignation was that he wanted to give the next President space to name his own director, some say the decision was prompted by his strong opposition to the deception.

“He was succeeded by Dr. Thomas Paine who oversaw the Apollo 8 to 13 missions. It was rumored among the astronauts in the secondary protocol loop that Dr. Paine was not made aware of the plan when he took over. It became obvious later that, being an engineer, he had figured out the deception somewhere along the line and that was why he quit after the Apollo 13’s opera of a mission. I think something else was at play too.

“Dr. Paine had been in charge of acquiring the sentiments of world leaders for the Apollo 11 Goodwill Messages which were meant to rest on the lunar surface. He personally corresponded with the heads of what became seventy-three participating nations, and coordinated the efforts to enshrine their messages on a tiny silicon disc. By the way, it’s interesting to note that Lyndon B. Johnson’s message was written as if the Moon landing was a future event and not an accomplished feat. Something along the lines of: ‘We expect to explore the Moon… The purpose of the American people remains unchanged… and so on.’

“To this day I can’t figure out why he did that. It was too risky, but time proved him right I guess; nobody noticed anything fishy about that. Anyway, I digress. Going back to Paine, I think that, once he figured out the deception, he got really upset with NASA. It must have been frustrating to spend so much time in a purely cosmetic endeavor. One that amounted to nothing in the end. I’m sure he felt used. He resigned and left NASA a couple of months after the conclusion of the congressional review on the Apollo 13 mission.

“Then came Dr. George Low,” said Armstrong.

“The man historians deem responsible for saving the space program. Instrumental in the development of a safe Apollo spaceship after the Apollo 1 fire. And originator of the idea to turn Apollo 8’s mission into a circumlunar one,” said Lucas.

“Again, right on the money with your NASA history. The timing of his appointment and tenure are very revealing because he only oversaw the Apollo 14 mission. The chief savior of Kennedy’s dream was in fact the one in charge during the mission that accomplished the feat, albeit not within JFK’s timeframe. I don’t think that was a coincidence. Remember he had been one of the architects of the secondary protocol, a shady but program-saving initiative as well. So, his appointment at the time seemed like NASA’s way of showing him the appreciation he deserved. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. There were seven other missions before Apollo 14.

“As I mentioned earlier, Apollo 7 had no secondary protocol. Their mission was to test the command module on Earth orbit. Apollo 8’s mission, on the other hand, was critical. Besides the political statement regarding the U.S. leadership position in the Space Race, it was meant to test whether communications from Moon orbit could be distinguished from the ones coming from its surface. Something that the Soviet Lund-5 prank had already proved  impossible. Regardless, NASA believed they had a game-changer for that approach.

“They tested the ability to use the Surveyors’ communication equipment as relay stations between the Apollo command module and mission control on Earth. They also tested the already obsolete “Moon bounce” technique which was developed in the late 40’s and which entailed reflecting a radio signal from the surface of the Moon. It turned out these were not their only options.

“The game-changer was the unified S-band transponder General Dynamics had been developing for the Apollo spacecraft. One of its functions was to provide the link for the surface of the Moon broadcast. But the most interesting aspect of this was that this piece of equipment served as a communication relay station between the astronauts and mission control. After all the tests performed by Apollo 8, the unified S-band transponder approach became plan A for the secondary protocol deceptive communication with Earth. They kept using the Surveyors’ communication systems as back-up plan which is why the Apollo landing sites matched the Surveyors’ locations.

But before that, Apollo 9 had to render a verdict.

On the field…

Things got worse for the Indians on the bottom half of the fifth inning. The Reds increased their lead to 4-1 thanks to RBi singles by Ken Griffey Jr. and Brandon Phillips.        

 

 

 

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 24: Eighth Inning – Perfect Setup

Headlines of the Apollo 13 situation over a picture of mission control

“After Apollo 12’s mission in November 1969, with the decade coming to an end and Kennedy’s dream believed to be fulfilled, Americans were fast losing interest in the space program. Amazingly, they would rather watch the TV show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In than a live broadcast from outer space,” said Armstrong.  

“I never understood how that level of disinterest could be possible with such an amazing human endeavor,” commented Lucas.  

“Well, today it’s even worse. What do you think people would rather watch tonight, a live broadcast from the surface of Mars by one of the rovers there right now, or Desperate Housewives?”  

“Touché. It’s embarrassing… it’s gotten worse.”  

“Anyway, that apathy from the American public was what motivated the Apollo 13 successful-failure type mission,” said Armstrong. “The heads behind the secondary protocol were 99.9% certain that the next mission would be able to finally land on the Moon.  And they believed such an accomplishment deserved a big audience. So, to rekindle public interest in the Moon missions, they came up with a plan for a dramatic preamble. A story that would set up the truly historic event.  

“Enter Apollo 13’s Odyssey. Just like the setup man in baseball who comes to pitch in the eighth inning with the mission to keep the opposition in check and set the stage for the closer in the ninth.  It was pretty clever really. After all, why not take advantage of the number 13. Use its bad luck reputation to put some excitement back in the space program. Especially when, by happenstance, the lunar module assigned to that mission was number 7; lucky number 7 for unlucky number 13!  A fortuitous circumstance that, in their view, was not to be wasted.  

“It was the simulation of all simulations. The astronauts’ secondary protocol mission called for them to activate an alternate telemetry feed to mission control which would show the catastrophic events that are now in the history books. Everybody at mission control thought they were dealing with a real situation, and the astronauts played their parts brilliantly.  

“The plan banked on the media to mount a huge show around the potential catastrophe, and they didn’t disappoint. They hyped it all the way up in their endless pursuit of higher ratings. The whole world got wrapped up in the event.”  

The Reds setup man gets the job done

The Indians started the eighth inning with a hard hit to deep left field by pinch hitter Ryan Garko who tried unsuccessfully to stretch it into a double for the first out. This was followed by a fly out to right and a ground out to third and the Reds’ setup man Jared Burton got out of the inning with his mission accomplished.

“What about the names of the command and lunar modules? I have a theory about them,” said Lucas.  

“Oh yes, those. Jim Lovell chose the name Odyssey because he liked the word and its definition: a long voyage with many changes of fortune. Coincidence? Of course not. That was Jim’s way of telling the world as much of the truth as he could get away with. And the name Aquarius for the LEM… Well, that came about because of a generalized peeve within the astronaut core. The lyrics of the song Aquarius tell us that ‘The Moon is in the seventh house’. Alan Shepard was one of the original seven astronauts. Deke Slayton wanted a Mercury 7 astronaut to make the first Moon landing.

“Landing on the Moon had always been in the house of the Seven. Does this conform with your theory?”  

“It’s compatible,” said Lucas, “I missed the house of seven reference though.”  

“The Apollo 13 mission was intentionally structured to be the official media preamble for the real first landing of man on the Moon,” said Armstrong. “And it was so obvious that to this day I can’t believe people didn’t see right through the deception. I mean, they named the command module Odyssey and kept the number 13 instead of just skipping it like they do in buildings.  

“The media craved stories that boosted their ratings and NASA gave them a hell of a good one. Whereas unbeknownst to them, the mission was a huge success!  Apollo 13 recaptured the imagination of the American people and brought their attention back to the space program. So, after such an emotional roller coaster, everyone was once again glued to their TV sets when the time came for the Apollo 14 historic voyage.  

“In the meantime, there was some house cleaning to take care of.  What happened had to be investigated and I was assigned to serve on the investigation panel. As part of it, and being aware of the secondary protocol, I opposed the investigation report’s recommendation to re-design the service module’s oxygen tanks, which were the source of the explosion. I knew it had all been a simulation and couldn’t just sit there and watch them spend unnecessary tax dollars on such a pointless endeavor.  

The bottom of the eighth

The Reds made the Indians pitchers work in their half of the inning with a couple of walks, but they also came out empty. After 8 innings the Reds still lead 6-4.      

 

 

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