Is space travel really a hoax?

Capricorn One (1977)

Director: Peter Hyams

With the confidence of singlehandedly defending the motherland against the German soldiers in Operation Barbarossa in 1941 and essentially stalemating Hitler in the Führerbunker, Russians knew they were no pushovers. Stalin's forced post-war industrialisation efforts skyrocketed the Soviet Union into space exploration.

The Americans, coming out of World War 2 smelling of roses, after being able to turn the war around after their participation, felt they had to be numero uno. After all, after the Second World War, the US of A was the wealthiest nation around. On top of it, the war forced the migration of top scientists from Europe to America.

The 1960s saw rabid competition between leaders of the free world and the communist bloc to outdo the other in space exploration. The race intensified when the Soviets sent their first cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, to orbit the Earth in 1961. That spurred JFK to declare that America, the leader of the free world, would send a man to the moon by the decade's end. He asserted, 'We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.' in 1962.

After the disastrous 1967 Apollo I fire, which killed all three crew members, their ability to send a man to the moon and back became suspect. So in 1969, when the USA suddenly announced to the world, with photos and TV transmissions, many sceptics insisted that the Moon Landing was staged in a studio here back on Earth. Flying a man in a tin can, forcing themselves out of the g-forces of Earth, and exposing themselves to deathly ionising radiation that encapsulated the planet was not humanly possible, in their minds. So, when this movie came out, I guess the Moon Landing deniers must be telling everyone, "I told you so!"

Even with the American space programme, funding was always the problem. The Indians later showed they could do all the Americans did for a fraction of their budget. That is another story. Safety was another issue. With the lack of fall-back backup, no rocket would be approved in the 21st century. What they did back then can be termed space charlatans today, promising more than they actually could. 

Due to faulty supplies (as in the Apollo I mission), the life support system in Capricorn One was faulty. To avoid embarrassment, the Agency decided to fake their mission to Mars. The film shows, in a relatively poor execution of storytelling, direction, acting and script writing, how the world is hoodwinked into believing the journey is complete. In fact, the astronauts did not even leave the launch pad.

We see a relatively young James Brolin, Sam Waterson and O.J. Simpson in this 1977 film.

We have come a long way since the 1960s. Now, we are offering space tourism to the rich and high-heeled, just for the kick of it. If you do not mind burning a large hole in your wallet or the long waiting line, those interested should contact Elon Mask or Richard Branson.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The other side of the coin?

The Great Global Warming Swindle (2007)
Channel 4; UK.

I thought that it is a given thing, that Man's existence is the reason for nature's degradation, that our carbon footprint is leaving irreparable damage to the ecosystem, that our reaping and raping of its resources for our selfish needs is going leave our descendants cursing at our lackadaisical attitudes, that our mere existence is going to increase the atmospheric carbon dioxide content and raise the global temperature. That was the prophecy that had been pushed down our throats all this while. Well, now a group of scientists say that this is not the whole truth.

That is the problem in the post-truth world where nothing is so clear cut anymore. For any argument, there is always another equally convincing counter-argument. The listeners are left baffled, confused and come to understand that the truth is a multilayered animal that is neither black nor white!

This polemic documentary film is emphatic that the threat of global warming is actually a well-synchronised hoax perpetrated by developed countries with their own self-serving agendas. For a start, world leaders wanted to keep the coal workers unions in check and avert petroleum usage when its price skyrocketed in the 70s. They brought up the idea that increased CO2 levels in our atmosphere may lead to a catastrophic rise in world temperatures. From then on, it became a mantra the world over, to exert domination of the West on the newly developing economies who just wanted to catch up with their past colonial masters.

The opponents of this global warming theory insist that Earth has been going through cyclical periods of warming and cooling over the centuries. It is now going through a 'heating up' period. It is not related to industrialisation as the world actually went through a cooling period between 1940 and 1975 even when the CO2 levels increased. The scientists reviewed old data over the centuries to posit that there is a lag of ten years between the rise of temperature and increased levels of CO2. Carbon dioxide levels increase due to global warming when the oceans release more of them rather than being the cause of warming!

Space probes that had been sent as far as Pluto had shown universal warming of all planets. This is probably due to increasing the sun's nuclear fission activity, as evidenced by visualising more sunspots on its surface. This explains the increase in Earth surface temperature. The correct measurement of global warming is measured in the troposphere via satellites or weather balloons. It shows a low rate of increase.

The film emphasises that CO2 emission by human activity is minuscule compared to the natural decomposition process (like falling of leaves, animal excrements) and volcanic activity.

The vocal scientists in the documentary assert that the whole global warming fiasco is an organised plan by anti-capitalistic, neo-Marxist, anti-US, environmentalists and imperialists to use authentic-sounding authority like Interplanetary Climate Change (IPCC) to put forward their climate research to hoodwink the public, hiding their financial, ideological and political interests.

This film is proof that there are always two sides of the coin. The democratic way is to assess both sides of the arguments judiciously and to draw your own conclusion.