Episode 1007 · Nov 27, 2002 · 2h 52m
November 27, 2002: Apollo Moon Hoax - Marcus Allen
Key Moments
Open transcriptWhy is the Apollo film so clean?Marcus Allen pivots from biology to photography: radiation fogs film, yet Apollo's published photos are 'brilliant.' He argues NASA took no special shielding precautions for the cameras.
REM dosage primerAllen walks Art through radiation exposure scales - 0.5 REM background, 5 REM annual nuclear-worker limit, 35 REM nausea, 500+ REM fatal - to estimate what Apollo crews would have absorbed.
The marked moon-rock samplesAllen claims labs were sent rocks pre-labeled 'moon rock,' 'Columbia River,' and 'Hawaii' rather than blind samples - and that the few grams distributed couldn't constitute a real comparative test.
The low-Earth-orbit hoax scenarioAllen lays out his preferred explanation: Saturn V launches really happened, but the crewed capsule stayed in low Earth orbit while pre-filmed simulation footage filled the eight-day mission.
Ed Mitchell'more like a dream than reality': Art recounts asking Apollo 14 moonwalker Edgar Mitchell about his lunar experience and getting back the unsettling answer that the time he spent on the moon feels more like a dream than reality.
Allen also raises questions about the Apollo photography, pointing out that Kodak Ektachrome transparency film would show visible fogging at radiation levels far below what astronauts reportedly encountered, yet the returned photographs are remarkably pristine. He notes that no lead shielding or protective containers for the film were carried aboard due to strict weight limitations on the spacecraft.
Art pushes back throughout the conversation, pressing Allen on why the Soviet Union never exposed a hoax and whether protective measures could have been taken. Allen responds by citing Bernard Lovell of Jodrell Bank, who reported the Russians themselves refused to send cosmonauts beyond the radiation belts until safe return could be guaranteed.
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