HAVE THE MAN WALKED ON THE MOON?

PART III: ANALYSIS

Article published on 2 Nov 2020

       The Soviets were not able to send men to the Moon, despite their amazing achievements in space exportation. Van Allen belt limited their freedom of movement in space. The Americans succeeded to cross the belt. Did they have the necessary technology to protect living thing from the cosmic radiation, beginning with 1968? They might have it, but this brings up many questions.

          Personally, as an amateur analyst who approached this subject, I cannot state if NASA succeeded or not to send men on the Moon. I can only propose a hypothesis, based on the aspects described in the first two parts of this article.

          Cold War was a tough confrontation between the two groups of states, led by USA and USSR. We know the end: USSR collapsed, especially due to economic reasons, but after a worldwide conflict, which was conducted by using a wide range of means – economic, political, psychological, informational, diplomatic and military ones. The confrontation also took place in the outer space. Each space mission was both a show of force, especially in a technological way, and an attempt to gain advantages over the adversary. At the same time, both superpowers launched military satellites, which were pieces of a huge reciprocal threat system, based on nuclear weapons.  

          First signs of the Cold War were already noticed in 1945. In a few years, the conflict intensified, especially during the Korean War, and the danger of a nuclear war became great. In 1957, the Soviets launched first artificial satellite – Sputnik. This was a great achievement for USSR, which demonstrated its technological superiority, but this hit hard the USA and its allies. The space race began in this way, and it was dominated by Soviets during its initial period. The US gains were quite modest then, by comparing with the Soviet ones. The Soviets made important sacrifices to succeed, and this negatively influenced their economy. One should not forget that the 2^nd World War had ended in 1945 and USSR was dramatically affected, by comparing with USA. Taking into consideration this, the Soviet achievements were amazing!

In 1960, a reconnaissance plane, U-2 type, which was considered invulnerable, was downed in USSR, by a sol-air missile. The plane was destroyed, but the pilot was captured. The Soviets immediately put on a very well planned show. They announced the crash, but did not provide further details. Supposing that the pilot died, US officials denied and stated that the plane was lost and its mission was a meteorological one. The Soviets waited for the US officials to deliver a lot of speeches regarding the plane and to try to cover the real mission, but, after a while, they presented the pilot, who recognized the real purposes of his flight above USSR. This was a humiliation which greatly impacted on the US forces, as well as on the US and Western public. The Soviet technological superiority, which could generate modern military capabilities, was demonstrated again.

In 1961, another event hit hard the USA and Western European states. On 12 April, the first flight in space of a man took place. Soviet supremacy in the space race was proved again. This also demonstrated Soviet supremacy in the military field. In order to understand the phenomenon, one needs to approach it by taking into consideration the specific factors of that period. Today, we know that USA caught up and overtook the Soviet Union in the space race, USSR collapsed, USA and its allies won the Cold War, the threat of a nuclear war diminished after 1990, the communist system proved to be a failure and so on. But none of these were known at that time. Sputnik and the next devices demonstrated that the communist system was workable. Most important, those devices that the Soviets sent into space could create the opportunity to place nuclear warheads on Earth’s orbit. This was a real nightmare for USA and Western states. Panic spread through the US people. Until then, US territory had been invulnerable. From that moment, the enemy could hit without warning from space, and there was no possibility for retaliation. US society was marked by anxiety and this lasted up to Apollo 11. Those who have watched US movies which were produced during that period noticed an interesting detail: many US citizens built a bunker (usually, in the basement of their hoses), in order to protect themselves from a nuclear war, where they stored food and survival essential stuff. A lot of books about a possible nuclear war were written. Many movies, about the same subject, were also produced. All of these demonstrate the public concern for a concrete threat. The enemy red flag were no longer fluttering far away; it was fluttering right above USA, in space.

There is also another matter which deserves attention. After landing, the astronaut Iuri Gagarin performed a worldwide tour (for propaganda purposes, of course). People from all the countries found out that an agricultural workers family, who were working at a collective farm (kolkhoz[1]), grew and educated a child who enrolled an Air Force Academy, graduated as a pilot and became the first man who flew in space. That was the best propaganda subject. The success of the communist system, both technological and social, was again demonstrated. That posed a danger for capitalist countries, because there were a lot of sympathizers of communism there.

US leadership needed urgent actions to diminish the panic and to make the people to trust the political leaders, armed forces and NASA. They also needed to demonstrate, for the allies and partners, that US could catch up and overtake USSR in all the fields. Worldwide, the situation was getting worse: Cuba became a communist country, the Bay of Pigs invasion had just failed, the Vietnamese crisis became a major one and so on. All of these could have serious consequences after a medium or a long period, inside USA and abroad. US reacted quickly: on 5 May 1961, NASA sent its first man in space. The astronaut Alan Shepard flew at a height of 186 km, for 15 minutes, onboard of the space ship Mercury Freedom 7[2]. For the History, this was the first US manned flight in space but, nevertheless, some scientists contested that, arguing that a flight at an altitude of 186 km is not a flight in space. However, even it was a space mission, it could not be compared with the Soviet one, because its parameters are much inferior:         

Mission	Type of flight/height	Period	Communications
Mercury	Suborbital/186 km	15 minute	NO
Vostok	Orbital /2,000 km	108 minute	YES

 The information presented in the table show the advance of the Soviet space program. The American answer was not successful. USA needed a much more adequate answer, for a greater impact. On 25 May, US president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, announced the ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade[3]. Frankly speaking, there was not another way to break the impasse. From that moment, US leaders and NASA could no longer step back and find another way. They needed a successful mission on the Moon, either by staging it or by really performing it.

One of my friends gave me a clue. In fact, this was a very interesting question. A stage for a mission on the Moon involved many people and, at that time, there were not modern computers like nowadays. A great number of people involved increase the risk to unveil the secret. So, it is less probably for US leaders to assume such a risk.

I can explain. Despite the great number of individuals involved, it is possible to keep the secret by taking a low risk. It is true that, for such a stage, a great number of individuals are needed: directors, camera operators, electricians, decorators, mechanics, drivers and so on. We also need to add the security personnel. But we should not forget that those individuals were federal agencies’ employees and had signed confidentiality commitments. The federal laws were very tough and this diminished the risk but nevertheless, did not eliminate it. In this case, one should take into consideration cover operations. What are these? In a secret action, those who effectively act are usually few. But, on the other hand, they receive support and protection, which means cover, from others, who can be tens or even hundreds of mates. For instance, an intelligence officer who conduct an action pretending he is a businessman. For this, he needs a faked identity and someone must make a faked passport for him. Others must set up a company which has employees and partners, makes business, print documents and so on. An efficient faked identity also supposes a ”family”, “relatives” and “friends”. To do all of these, a huge number of individuals work hard.

In a secret operation whose purpose is to stage a Moon landing, the cover is quite simple. Generally speaking, in order to land on the Moon and to explore it, the astronauts must train hard, by studying every move and every detail. Any mistake may result in a catastrophe. This is why they need to train in a production set which reproduces the Moon environment with fidelity. For this, the best specialists are recruited, in order to build the production set and to film the astronauts who are training, by rehearsing the activities on the Moon, step by step. Film cadres are carefully analyzed and any mistake is identified. The astronauts and the directors make the corrections and start the activity again. Most of the people involved know that they participate at a very important event preparation: first man on the Moon. Only a few ones know the truth.

---

[1] In Russian language – колхо́з. Abreviation of  коллекти́вное хозя́йство – collective farm.

[2] Article Humans In Space, publicația on-line Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, on Internet at https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/apollo-to-the-moon/online/early-steps/humans-in-space.cfm.

[3] Article The Decision to Go to the Moon: President John F. Kennedy's May 25, 1961 Speech before a Joint Session of Congress, on-line publication National Aeronautics and Space Administration, secțiunea NASA History Office, on Internet at https://history.nasa.gov/moondec.html.