The Apollo 18 Moon Conspiracy

By on September 3, 2011 in News 30

apollo 18It’s probably just hype around the release of the “documentary” Apollo 18 that just opened in theaters across America, but Space.com is reporting on a purported conspiracy about the astronauts finding signs of alien life and that being the reason we never again sent humans to the moon:

Apologies to anyone whose bubble will burst, but “Apollo 18,” the film opening Friday (Sept. 2), is fictional.

The film, purporting to be produced from footage kept secret by NASA and leaked to the media, chronicles a NASA mission to the moon that went awry when astronauts encountered signs of alien life there.

Whether because the studio actually believes anyone will be fooled or simply because it makes for a fun marketing angle, the Weinstein Co., which produced the picture, is calling it a “documentary.”

“Decades-old found footage from NASA’s abandoned Apollo 18 mission, where two American astronauts were sent on a secret expedition, reveals the reason the U.S. has never returned to the moon,” reads the movie’s official tagline.

The premise does begin in fact. NASA originally planned an Apollo 18 mission to the moon (along with Apollo 19 and 20), but those flights were canceled in 1970 due to budgetary constraints. The last NASA mission to the moon was Apollo 17, in December 1972.

The studio has been pushing the “reality” aspect of the film, going so far as to offer up a “famous scientist and researcher of UFO phenomena,” Stanton Friedman, for interviews.

“People ask why was there no Apollo 18 mission,” Friedman said in press materials. “I ask, what happened to Apollo 18 and Apollo 19? They were both paid for and astronauts were trained. What happened to these missions?”

Friedman hasn’t been allowed to view the film yet, according to the Los Angeles Times, but said he’s open to the possibility that the Apollo 18 mission did occur and that NASA’s been covering it up.

“One of the things the secret keepers take advantage of is ego,” Friedman told the L.A. Times. “I’m not saying that this footage exists. I’m saying it’s possible that there’s a whole classified side to this and that it would make sense. I allow for that possibility.”…

[continues at Space.com]

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  • Dueyv9

    This WOULD be a interesting way of releasing the truth to the public and at the same time discrediting it. This movie would definitely muddy up the waters. The questions still remain? Why did we stop going to the moon? I’ve heard people say that there is only so much we can study on the moon. Meanwhile we know nothing about lightning and other phenomena on our own planet and we still study our own rocks, so I’m calling bullshit on that.

  • DeepCough

    Why did we stop going to the moon: don’t you know, we never went in the first place, because the Nazis already built moonbases before the U.S. did! I mean, hasn’t that ever occurred to you, man?

  • Yith

    The moon is believed to have been part of a planet that was destroyed billions of years ago; that planet may have had life on it — bacteria-like life — and it may be fossilized deep under the lunar surface. 

    Another interesting possibility (for a sci-fi novel or movie):  let’s say you are an advanced alien civilization, and one day you discover the planet Earth through your telescopes.  You see that it has all the right attributes to support life; and maybe you even see evidence for life (e.g. ratios of gasses in the atmosphere).  What do you do, given that you can’t travel faster than the speed of light? 

    What I would do is send a teeny, tiny probe the size of a coke can or smaller to the moon to observe the Earth’s development.  Small, because the lower the mass, the less energy it takes to send it to Earth at high velocity, and the lower the chance of impact with space debris.  And I would send it to the moon, instead of Earth itself, because the moon has a shallower gravity well and no atmosphere — softer landing; easier to leave the surface if need be; easier to transmit reports without atmospheric interference.

    Now think about it:  if our galactic neighborhood (say a 100 lightyear radius) had even just ONE advanced civilization arise within the last 3.5+ billion years that noticed our planet, what are the chances that it sent a tiny probe to our moon to observe us?    If such a probe exists, it probably is close to the surface, and could be found with high-resolution satellite imaging (in various spectra).

  • ICE

    its freaken made of cheese. we are just waiting for the production of the perfect amount of wine.

  • Wanooski

    Why we didn’t keep going back? Because it was goddamn expensive, with no return on investment, that’s why.

  • Wanooski

    So, Russel’s teapot?

  • Okarin

    the truth IS out there

  • ICE

    and thanks for explaining it a fictional film not a documentary. we be dumb like that…… 

  • Anonymous

    Exactly.  The US and Russia had gotten everything they needed out of the space race.  They got to do R&D on propulsion and navigation systems for ICBMs and lift vehicles to put satellites in orbit.  We were never going to colonize dead rocks with no water, air, or mineral wealth.

  • Yith

    LOL… perhaps. 

    Incidentally, Michio Kaku had a similar idea to what I wrote above (since I had the idea independently of him, I decided not to cite him!)… with one important difference:  Kaku’s idea was that the probes could be nanobots; in fact, a whole fleet of nanobots (to reduce the probability of failure), networked together, watching us from the moon.  Hard to see how to make that into a compelling story or movie, though…

  • Wanooski

    Well, there was an episode of x-files, about how there were these “cockroaches” that may or may not have been alien probes. 

  • Wanooski

    The mineral wealth point is up for debate. But The risks and the initial investments really are too high to make it any kind of practical endeavor, when automobiles and all manner of other relatively simple machines and devices fail on a regular basis, how could you hope to have vastly complex and incredibly expensive space craft would all perform perfectly all the time?

  • Wanooski

    The mineral wealth point is up for debate. But The risks and the initial investments really are too high to make it any kind of practical endeavor, when automobiles and all manner of other relatively simple machines and devices fail on a regular basis, how could you hope to have vastly complex and incredibly expensive space craft would all perform perfectly all the time?

  • Bob Bob Durand

    What they found on the Moon… A Domino’s restaurant that had time traveled back in time. No shit!

  • http://stationsixunderground.blogspot.com Station.6.Underground

    I don’t believe the footage is authentic, but I do believe the premise is plausible. It is documented that on previous Apollo missions, at least once that I recall, a UFO was reported to be pacing them. And of course, that is not the only authenticated UFO report from NASA flights either. Of course, later they tried to debunk these authentic reports for whatever reasons, but come on. Who really believes the phenomenon is imagined? for me, the question is not “if” there is alien life, but what do they want?

  • Anonymous

    It wasn’t aliens they found, it was Nazis. Iron Sky is the documentary, not this crap.

  • Jonathan Fields

    This `humour’ is so lazy, can you try a bit harder please?

  • Elmyr23

    that planet was earth

  • Elmyr23

    they do this all the time, swordfish,mothman, the men who stare at goats,anything about area 51 until google mapped it. You tell someone somethign and they say yeah i saw that movie.

  • Elmyr23

    they do this all the time, swordfish,mothman, the men who stare at goats,anything about area 51 until google mapped it. You tell someone somethign and they say yeah i saw that movie.

  • Wanooski

    How about you try a little harder, you know, instead of sniping someone else’s comment, you could be original.

  • CosmicAmazing
  • Tuna Ghost

    The only actual footage is of an astronaut saying “hey, the goddam thing’s hollow!”  Hollow moon.  The moon is hollow.  Empty inside, like Tom Cruise. 

  • Liquidstar

    It’s sad what Stanton Friedman is doing for them here.  Doesn’t go a long way for his reputation as a ufologist.

  • Wanooski

    I could find area 51 well before it was labeled on google maps.

  • http://bubbat.myopenid.com/ BubbaT

    They found aliens taking a dump because the moon is the galaxy’s port a potty. If someone walked in on you taking a dump you’d be pissed too.

  • http://bubbat.myopenid.com/ BubbaT

    They found aliens taking a dump because the moon is the galaxy’s port a potty. If someone walked in on you taking a dump you’d be pissed too.

  • Eroc_live
  • Eroc_live

    you watched that story in apollo 18. how do you knolw those creatures did not have the ability to send info back to another planet. they could have been nano technology

  • Dynas2001

    film makers should not be allowed to release something claiming it’s fact or based on true events when it’s complete fiction. In my opinion their should be laws that force film makers to put clear statements in the film stating its fictional.