Walking on the Moon? - by Radha-Mohan dasa

Walking on the Moon?
By Radha-Mohan dasa

CHAKRA (Bhaktivedanta Manor, England) - July 12, 2001: British television last month aired programs on Channels 4 and 5 expressing doubt about whether the Americans ever went to the moon. The programs were viewed by millions of Britons.

Experts in their fields expressed their conviction that the NASA moon landing in 1969 was actually a clever hoax, a sort of American Cold War public relations stunt of huge proportions filmed, according to those on the show, somewhere in a remote desert in the United States.

Did NASA fake the moon landing? A program aired on British television explored the possibility

This subject matter is naturally interesting to many devotees because Srila Prabhupada himself was doubtful about the moon landing.

A section of the program was dedicated to analyzing NASA photographs, which curiously depict shadows that are inconsistent with the direction of the sunlight. The program clearly proved that shadows in the photographs fall at different angles and at different lengths in the same pictures, as though illuminated by more than one light source close to the scene. Had they actually been on the moon, of course, this would have been impossible as there was no other light source other than the sun. Some photographs taken of the astronauts facing in the shadows are illuminated as if by fill-in lighting.

Experts quoted on the show pointed out that the moon pictures were perfectly framed and exposed even though the cameras used had no viewfinder or exposure meter and were strapped to the astronauts' chests.

According to moon landing skeptics, there are also numerous inconsistencies between the live TV record and the photographs that were published later.

For example, several photographs, which were supposed to be taken on different parts of the moon's surface, have identical background landscapes. This suggests that they used the same backdrop for several photos supposedly in different areas. Some rather amusing NASA film footage includes the American flag apparently flapping in the wind, a strange phenomena given that, at least according to the modern understanding, there is no atmosphere and therefore no wind on the moon.

One of the most convincing arguments used against the moon landing relates to an official NASA photograph of the Lunar Module on the moon's surface. The photograph shows that there was clearly no sign of disturbance on the soft lunar surface caused by the exhaust of the Lunar Module's powerful descent engine. A crater should have been created in the soft lunar dust.

In response to these accusations, a NASA spokesman on the show said, "There are too many seeming inconsistencies for me to answer to right now. "

Sadaputa das, in his book "Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy" writes on this subject in a sub-chapter entitled “Moon Flight.” I will summarize it's contents:

Srila Prabhupada often said that the astronauts have never actually visited the moon. His reasoning was that 1) Demigods do not allow human beings to enter the higher planets because human beings are not qualified to do so. 2) The astronauts did not experience the celestial opulences actually existing on the moon, and therefore could not have gone there.

Srila Prabhupada also described the attempt of the scientists to reach the moon as being as demoniac as the attack of Rahu (SB 5. 24. 3p), and said that Indra would bar such travel. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto 6, Chapter 4, purport to text 6 and Canto 8, Chapter 5, purport to text 34, he comments that since the moon-god is the presiding deity of vegetation, there must be vegetation on the moon. Yet the scientists say it is a barren desert.

Srila Prabhupada also made statements suggesting that higher-dimensional travel is needed to reach the moon and he refers to the futility of trying to use mechanical spacecraft. Finally, he indicated that to reach the moon it is first necessary to cross the Manasa Lake and Sumeru Mountain.

So as ISKCON devotees we are left with various possibilities:

1) Astronauts did indeed land on the moon, but they did not perceive the world of the demigods (Candraloka) because it is invisible to gross sense perception.

2) The astronauts were deluded by the demigods at some stage in their journey and diverted to the planet Rahu. (SB 4. 29. 69p)

3) The entire moon-landing story is a complete conspiracy, which has fooled millions of people all over the world for over 30 years. (Some say that they filmed the “moon's surface” in a place in America known as Area 51, according to the TV program.)

Perhaps in the near future we will never know for sure, but it is logical to suggest that at some time in the future we will. If the truth is indeed different to how NASA has been portraying it, ISKCON is in a prime position to say something about it.

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