Tag: Apollo 14

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 7: The Chat Check

Concept art of two persons chatting about baseball and the Moon

Before carrying on his chat with the Red Lions’ manager, the old man thought it would be a good idea to show it to his wife.

“Hey Carol, take a look at this.”

She put on her reading glasses and read the brief conversation.

“Do you think he smells a rat regarding your choice of name? ” she asked.

“I don’t know. But a little voice tells me that the question about the Apollo 14/Kitty Hawk connection is not an innocent one. He’s fishing for something.”

“So, are you going to answer him?”

“Still thinking it over… You know,  the fact that he made the association makes me wonder if he might be the person for my plan. What do you think?”

“Honey, you don’t even know what this man, or woman for that matter, does for a living. Much less whether he or she has the interest or the capabilities to come through with it. What you want done requires a very specific skill set.”

The old man pondered his wife’s statement and started typing on his computer.

“Wow, that’s a connection few people could make nowadays,” he wrote to the Red Lions’ manager. “What do you do for a living? Are you in any way related to the aerospace industry?”

The answer came fast.

“Hey, I thought I’d lost you there for a while.  I’m in advertising. The Space Race is just a hobby,” wrote the Red Lions’ manager.

The old man kept pushing the envelope.

“Are you one of those conspiracy theorists that believe the whole thing was a hoax?”

“No those are just a bunch of lunatics with too much time on their hands and and even more free space in their brain cavities,” read the answer.

The old man liked what he was reading so far and decided to probe the other end of the spectrum.

“So you’re a NASA fan huh.”

“Not exactly. I’m a fan of the astronauts and the engineers that sacrificed everything to accomplish the seemingly impossible. With regards to NASA I think the bigwigs there in the Sixties were not as truthful as they should have been with the American public and the world audience.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, that the Apollo program was successful in taking mankind to the Moon but the landings didn’t take place the way NASA wanted us to believe.”

“So… you are a conspiracy theorist?”

“I have a theory of what really transpired and it differs significantly from the ones professed by the garden variety of conspiracy theorists. Those are full of crap. If my theory is correct, it would imply that some people over at NASA coordinated efforts to bring forth a plan with the intention of making the public believe something that was not true. I guess that would be tantamount to a conspiracy at NASA. Still, to answer your question: I have a theory yes, and it involves some sort of conspiracy yes, but I refuse to describe myself as a conspiracy theorist ;-)”

“You remind me of Richard Gere tap dancing in the musical Chicago while trying to sell a tricky legal argument,” said the old man.

“Yeah, sorry about that. My daughter’s a lawyer,” said the Red Lions’ manager before adding something that caught the old man off-guard. “By the way, call me Lucas.”

Nope, not yet Mr. Lucas, thought the old man, no name from my end today. But I’ll keep asking questions for as long as you keep answering them.

“Very well, nice talking to you Lucas. Good luck in tonight’s game,” he wrote before signing off.

Lucas felt confident he was on the right track regarding the man’s identity, especially after he avoided giving his name.

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THE ANTARES SECRET – CHAPTER 12: Connecting the Dots

Image illustrating Vega calling her dad to tell him about the email and connecting the dots

Lucas couldn’t wait to share his excitement with Vega so he called her.

“Hey Moonbeam! Whatcha doing for lunch?”

“Hi Dad, it looks like I’ll be having a sandwich on my desk at some point ‘cause I’m knee-deep in stuff that can’t wait. Why?”

“I’ve got very exciting news from our Kitty Hawk,” said Lucas.

“Really? Well, I guess I can step out of the swamp for a coffee break now. Spit it out; I’m all ears.”

Lucas read her all the messages. From the moment he asked about the Apollo 14/Kitty Hawk connection to the Edwin Moon revelation. And finished with his rationale of why he strongly believed that the man was indeed who he thought he was.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know Dad. I think you might be stretching the facts a little. Tell you what. Let me get through all the stuff I have on my desk and I’ll call you when I get out of here.”

“Sure, no problem. We’ll talk later.”

Not long after hanging up with her Dad, David came knocking on her door.

“Hey Vega, some of us are going to Beppe’s Deli for lunch,” he said. “Would you like to join us?”

“I’m up to my ears in paperwork regarding the Chronologix suit. Gotta work through lunch. But if you could bring me a Reuben sandwich, I’d be eternally grateful? Here let me give you the money,” she said while reaching for her purse.

“Don’t worry about it, my treat,” said David. “By the way, did you receive my email about the fantasy leagues?”

“I haven’t checked email in a couple of hours. What about the leagues?”

“Oh just something I got from a friend regarding a scam that’s going on. I thought you would like to put your Dad on notice.”

“Sure, thanks. I’ll take a look at it as soon as I finish drafting this motion.”

As soon as David left for Beppe’s, Vega looked up his email and immediately called her father. She got his voicemail:

“Hey Dad, it’s me again. I just got some information that I need to share with you. In the meantime, please hold off any contact with the Kitty Hawks’ manager.”

She hadn’t hung up yet when Lucas called her back.

“Hey Dad I just left you a message.”

“Sorry I couldn’t pick up, had to visit the little boys’ room. What’s up?”

She told him about the scam and found it odd that her father sounded unfazed.

“Hmm, that seems to tie in with the dark car,” he said.

“What dark car Dad?”

Lucas told his daughter about the mysterious dark car that had been doing the rounds in his neighborhood.

“They wanted me to see them. No doubt. And now you talk to your boss about my fantasy league hobby and all of a sudden you get an email about a supposed scam that sounds exactly like my communications with the Kitty Hawks manager. I’m too old to believe in coincidences.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean coincidences?”

“Don’t you see it? They know about our communications but don’t want to acknowledge that I’m on to something, so they resort to what they do best, intimidation and disinformation. The dark car is intimidation while the email is disinformation. Both with the clear intention of making me stop all contact.”

“Dad, I think you’re not…”

“Sweetie,” he interrupted her, “when have you heard of FBI-like organizations in the United States warning about an investigation in progress?”

Vega had to admit her father had a point.

“Please, just be careful Dad, and keep me posted,” she said.

After hanging up Vega connected some dots of her own. The government-looking characters talking to Mr. Martin and David at The Bar the night before; the email; fantasy baseball. Was David in on it? She thought.

She decided to play along just in case. So as soon as David came back with her lunch she thanked him for the information and told him that he had already advised her Dad to avoid any approach that sounded like that.

“Good advice counselor,” he told her and left her office satisfied that his job was done.  

 

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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 25: Ninth Inning – We’re here

Illustration of Alan Shepard celebrating after hitting a golf ball on the Moon

“There are things that people just don’t see, even though the information is out there for anybody to access,” said Armstrong.  

“Officially, Apollo 13 was supposed to land on the Fra Mauro area of the Moon, and the members of its original crew were Shepard, Mitchell and Roosa. That crew was switched with the original Apollo 14 one. Allegedly, NASA wanted to give Shepard, who had been grounded since being diagnosed with Ménière’s disease in 1964, and his rookie crew more time to train. But the truth is that they were switched because the Apollo 13 mission had been redefined and Apollo 14 was to be, secretly, the real first landing on the Moon.  

“Think about it!  Shepard’s crew is bumped from Apollo 13 to Apollo 14, but their landing site stays the same. Apollo 14’s original landing site in the Littrow region of the Sea of Serenity was not switched to Apollo 13 together with the crew that had been training for it. Obviously, Apollo 13 was never meant to land on the Moon.”  

“That was reserved for the Kitty Hawk mission,” said Lucas.  

The old astronaut smiled at the Kitty Hawk reference. The name he had chosen for his fantasy baseball league team. The very thing that had started all this adventure.  

“The Kitty Hawk mission, that’s right,” said Armstrong. “The name of the command module tells you that it was meant to be the first to accomplish something very special. Just like the Wright Brothers flyer was the first airplane to fly in the United States.  

“It’s always been a burden to be recognized as the first man on the Moon when that honor belongs to someone else. Alan Shepard, the first American in space was also the first one to accomplish such an epic feat. That’s why I chose the name for my fantasy league team. Using the Kitty Hawk moniker wherever and whenever it fits, is my very personal way of tipping my hat to him and his memory.  

“But Kitty Hawk wasn’t the only name with hidden symbolism in Apollo 14. Lunar module number 8, the one assigned to the mission, was christened Antares for a very interesting reason. NASA wants everyone to believe that the name referred to the star on which the LM oriented itself for lunar landings but that’s just misdirection. No pun intended.  

“I never spoke to Alan about it, but I see something else in that name. The term Antares comes from anti Ares. Since Ares was the Greek god of war then anti Ares means antiwar. Remember the Apollo 11 patch design featuring an eagle carrying an olive branch to convey the idea that ‘we come in peace’? Well, Antares is just another illustration of the same message.  

“Beyond that, Apollo 14’s LM hides an overlooked and curious fact. Antares’ number was LM-8. It’s interesting that the first humans to fly to the Moon did so on Apollo 8 and the first humans to land on the Moon did so on another number 8 craft. Did you know that in numerology, 8 is the number of Apollo?”  

“No I did not,” said Lucas enthralled by the old astronaut’s tale.  

“A fun fact, that I believe was just a coincidence,” said Armstrong. “A happy consequence of using ‘lucky’ LM-7 on unlucky Apollo 13.”  

“What about Shepard’s words when he landed on the Moon? That, to me, have always been sort of a smoking gun”, said Lucas.  

“Oh yes,” said Armstrong while proceeding to quote Shepard, “It’s been a long way, but we’re here.  The official NASA story is that he was referring to his personal struggle with Ménière’s disease but I can tell you he was not. He was making a statement for the history books, not for his personal scrapbook. Why people never picked up on that is beyond me.”  

“Maybe because by that time, landing on the Moon was a fait accompli. Nobody picked up on it because nobody was searching.”  

“You’re probably right. You know, Shepard was a smart-aleck and I’m sure he said those words truly believing  he would get away with it, that nobody would see through it. Same with the Coyote mission patch. You know about that, right?”  

“The one done by the backup crew?”  

Apollo 14 backup crew patch“The one and only”, said Armstrong. “My instinct tells me that Shepard himself probably commissioned its design. Remember that he was Chief of the Astronaut Office for 8 years before the Apollo 14 mission. The other astronauts still saw him as a figure of authority. So it wouldn’t surprise me if he had used that reputation to ask a secret favor from his backup crew. The no questions asked type. The alternate mission patch featured the Roadrunner cartoon character already on the Moon as the Coyote arrives. Shepard wore it on his PLSS – his personal life support system – during Moon walks. The symbolism was straightforward; someone else would be forever credited for being first on the Moon.  

“I’m sure that not being recognized as the first man on the Moon was probably behind Shepard’s idea of hitting a golf ball on the surface of the Moon. An act that positioned himself as the only man to play golf on the surface of the Moon and as time has proven, ensured that people would remember his walk up there.”  

“I never thought of that. That was pretty clever of him”, said Lucas.  

“Alan Shepard was a very cunning man”, said the old astronaut while looking towards the stadium’s scoreboard.  

The closer closes

The Reds closer Francisco Cordero needed 23 pitches and faced four batters but managed to keep the Indians from scoring, and just like that, the game was over. Final score: Reds 6, Indians 4      

 

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