Moon Hoax (Hoax Trilogy Book 1)

by Paul Gillebaard

  Secretary Russell couldn’t take any more. Without being called on he stood and stated loudly, “This is a ridiculous accusation and China is just trying to humiliate the United States.”

  Mr. Chen ignored the secretary and went on. “America has always claimed their biggest proof of landing was the moon rocks they brought back. China has similar rocks as America’s, which came from various meteorites found in China over the last thirty years. We elected to keep this information secret until we were able to get visual proof, confirming America never landed on the moon. We are confident that America’s rocks did not come from the moon, but instead from similar meteorites, probably found in Alaska or Nevada.”

  Again the secretary stood and with his face hot from anger yelled out, “These are all lies. There is no way China’s rocks are of the same origin as America’s moon rocks, and besides, there is additional proof separate of the rocks that proves the landings occurred. Such as all of the pictures and film taken on the moon.”

  “Done in studios,” the councilor said smugly into the microphone as he stared in the direction of the secretary. “In fact NASA even claims to have lost the original film of their first landing. How could any responsible agency with documentation of one of the greatest achievements of mankind lose that film? China feels the Americans made that first film in haste after it was realized they would not be able to land on the moon, and NASA officials knew if experts ever had the original film to study they would easily disprove it. It was only on later missions, after NASA accepted the fact they would not be able to land, that they perfected the illusion of movement looking like it was taking place in microgravity, and thus produced more realistic films for later flights. We received intelligence on how this was done in the ’70s, and have been able to duplicate this on film with Chinese actors. We would be happy to present a copy of these films to the UN to study and compare to America’s films.”

  “Ridiculous,” snapped the secretary, who continued to stand. Andy, sitting next to Steve, was also visibly disturbed by what Mr. Chen was claiming, but whispered the secretary was going about questioning Mr. Chen in the wrong way. He insisted the United States should follow protocol and respond directly to the UN after the session, petitioning the statement. But since the secretary had seniority over him, he had to let Steve handle it his way. So he just sat, listening and taking notes. Steve barked back to Mr. Chen, “What about the mirror device we placed on the moon, which has been verified by the scientific community by aiming a laser at it and the reflection it returns to Earth?”

  Mr. Chen was pressing his lips into a thin line while the secretary was allowed to speak out of turn. He looked toward the UN president for help or to intervene. The president basically gave a look that said he had to deal with it on his own. Mr. Chen turned back in the direction of the secretary and responded strongly, “China does not discount America’s ability to fly into deep space. In fact we feel you were on the same level as Russia back in ’69, both capable of sending mechanical devices to the moon, and even men. We question that you were ever able to land a man on the lunar surface and return him safely back to earth. So to address your question, we feel you sent up a robotic device that deployed the mirror experiment.”

  “This is ludicrous. This is just wasting the UN’s time,” said the secretary, looking around the audience for approval. “Our rocks will not only be different by origin, but they will also show no effects of atmospheric friction. Keep in mind we have over 800 lbs of these!”

  The Chinese councilor was starting to get red in the face himself, and looked directly at the secretary. “We have over 300 lbs of these rocks we have collected over the years in secure stowage. We would be happy to supply a large sample of these to the UN to be inspected by the top scientists of the world.” He started pointing at the secretary, wagging his finger. “If our rocks are proven to be of the same origin and in similar condition as America’s rocks, would that be proof enough the United States never landed on the moon?”

  The secretary of state was being put on the spot in front of all the member states in attendance and was having a hard time taking any of these statements seriously. Without consulting with his government, he spoke out confidently. “If independent scientists which the United States feels are qualified to make such a verification state the rocks are of the same origin and of similar condition, then it will definitely put in question our moon landings.”

  5

  OVAL OFFICE

  It was early morning at the White House. Secretary Russell hustled down the long hallway for his meeting in the Oval Office. Unlike himself, he was running late. As he rushed along he was surprised at the number of people already busy working. He figured it must be because of this latest crisis. He approached the president’s secretary sitting outside his office. Seeing it was he she waved him on by. He gave her a frustrated look. “I hate being late to see Bill.” The door to the president’s office was closed. He gave a slight knock as he slowly pushed the door open and walked in.

  President Bill Edwards sat behind his desk, intently studying a file on his desk. Across from him sat the head of the CIA, Jack Dawson, and the NASA Administrator, Doug Rose. They both looked up at Steve, but the president never lifted his head. Steve had worked with Jack on many occasions, but had only met Doug a few times. Steve quietly walked to the last remaining leather chair between Doug and Jack and briefly shook both their hands before sitting. The president was focused on what he was reading and it was obvious that what he read disturbed him. The three sat in silence staring at the president. Steve could smell freshly brewed coffee, but did not dare get up. He eventually got Jack’s attention and looked at him with a quizzical look. Jack said nothing, just shrugged and turned back to the president.

  Finally the president looked up, breaking the silence with sarcasm. “Glad you could join us, Steve.” The president normally had a great personality. He loved to joke and kid around with his cabinet members, but the president was all business now. Steve knew from his many years working with the man that when Bill was serious, there was no excuse for being late. He said nothing.

  All three were there to answer questions regarding the absurd lies put forth by China, and help the president decide what course of action the United States should take. Bill had a press conference scheduled later that day to address these accusations and wanted to be prepared on what America’s response would be as well as questions that would be asked. These three men would be able to supply him with that information.

  The president felt betrayed by China, a country he had supported ever since he was elected to office. In fact it was his call to the head of the Olympic committee that kept the Olympics in China after the backlash from the terrible work conditions and brutal treatment of their citizens. The premier of China, Hu Junlong, personally called the president to say thank you, saying his country owed America for helping them keep the Olympics and get the opportunity to show the world what an advanced culture they had become. Now China was making up these bold-faced lies, or were they? The president needed to first make sure there was nothing so top secret it had been hidden from presidents. So Bill turned to Doug, NASA’s chief, and sternly asked, “Is there any truth to what they are stating?”

  Doug straightened in his chair and confidently responded, “Absolutely not, Mr. President. We did land on the moon, and we have plenty of proof to discredit whatever they bring forward. I have no idea why they would make such an accusation. They can only lose this fight and ruin their recent good standing among the world.”

  The president got up from behind his desk, pen in hand, walked around to the front and leaned back. Looking directly at Doug he asked, “What proof do we exactly have? Can’t we just aim one of our high powered telescopes, like the Hubble, and see some of the hardware left on the moon, and end it right there?”

  Doug was now looking up to the president, his neck craned awkwardly. “Unfortunately, the world does not have a telescope powerful enough to see any
of the hardware left on the moon.”

  The president, surprised to hear this asked, “You’re kidding me! We can see light years away outside our own galaxy, but we can’t see a goddamn car on the moon?”

  “That is correct, Mr. President. In fact, it’s as if you were flying in Air Force One and you tried to look down with your naked eye and pin point a grain of sand. Just impossible with the technology we have today.”

  “So it sounds like the only way to verify the hardware and footprints is to send a rocket to the moon.”

  “That is correct, Mr. President.”

  “Unbelievable. And China is the only country to have done that in forty years,” the president said, crossing his arms.

  “Not exactly, sir. A few countries in the last ten years have sent unmanned rockets to the moon, like Japan and India. Of course Russia sent the Luna probes up in the ’70s to gather lunar samples, but after that program the moon was ignored for almost twenty years. We sent up probes in the ’90s to determine if there were any ice reserves, but our last rocket to the moon was in 1999. There were no pictures taken on any of those missions or on missions by the other nations to verify the landing sites. There just hasn’t been a need to do this since no country ever questioned us landing before.”

  “Well, it looks like we have a country questioning us now!” the president said dryly. “China knows what they are doing. They are purposely claiming this now, after we have retired the Shuttle and are years away from having a rocket ready to get men back in space. I hate having to rely on the Russians to fly us into space.”

  “I hate relying on Russia too,” responded Doug. “But as you know, due to the budget cuts set up by congress and past administrations, NASA was forced to stop flying the Shuttle to allow for the development of the next generation of manned rockets. Unfortunately SpaceQuest has been behind schedule and has forced us to rely on the Russians. But as you know, many of us at NASA have been very concerned and vocal this gap would exist between when the Shuttle was discontinued and when the next generation of rockets would fly. We all have been nervous counting on private enterprise to prevent this gap.”

  “Too bad that decision wasn’t made during my watch,” said the president. “I can’t believe the past administration was comfortable relying on private companies to launch astronauts and supplies to the space station when they were still years away from testing their rockets. I would have extended the Shuttle past 2011 to insure there was an overlap with SpaceQuest’s rockets or whatever commercial firm was used.”

  The president turned and walked back around to his chair, not saying a word and sat, in deep thought. The room was quiet for a moment. Bill, in frustration, said to no one in particular, “I still can’t believe there is not an easy way of verifying the hardware left on the moon. If we could just do that, we could end everything right now. Instead we have to rely only on evidence here on Earth, and since China just flew to the moon and claimed they did not see our hardware, they probably now have the world behind them and will only question whatever evidence we bring forward, or say. It’s our word versus theirs.”

  Doug responded encouragingly, “Well sir, we are in the process of sending up a lunar orbiter to the moon later this month. It’s called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. It will be our first mission to the moon since 1999, but unfortunately it is not designed to take detailed pictures of the landing sites. Its mission is to scout the moon and work out the best landing sites for future explorations. That’s why I was hesitant to bring this up. However, we do plan on putting the LRO in an elliptical orbit where it will fly over and take pictures of each one of our landing sites. These pictures are only being done because we need to test the cameras and the project team thought it would be cool taking pictures of each site, kind of a nostalgic thing. But due to the altitude of the LRO and the cameras used, the hardware left will look like specs in the pictures, hardly something we could use to discredit China’s claims. However, I believe we may be able to modify the LRO to take more detailed pictures, but it would probably require a lower orbit with a stronger camera. I will need to discuss this with the project managers to see if we can do this, and do it fast.”

  “Well that’s encouraging,” said the president. “I want a report on my desk by tomorrow morning stating if it can be modified.” The president leaned back in his chair. “What other proof do we have to satisfy the world?” There were many hoax proponents saying the moon landings were faked and how they had proof. He never took them seriously, but now one of the leading nations of the world made this claim. This was cause for concern and needed a response. In the file in front of him, one of the items he read was the latest Gallup poll showing millions of Americans believing the moon landings never happened. Americans! He figured the number was much higher outside the United States. With many nations either upset with or jealous of America, it would not take much for the world to go along with China

  “The best evidence we have right now, sir, are the moon rocks,” stated Doug.

  The president slammed his fist down on his desk, and barked at Doug. “Well how can China say they have similar rocks? Is that possible?”

  Doug jumped in his chair, and responded anxiously, “No sir, it is not. If their rocks came from a meteorite as they claim, the rocks would have frictional burns from entering the atmosphere. Obviously our moon rocks were not subjected to such frictional damage since they did not fall to Earth, but instead were carried in our capsule with the astronauts. Any travels they may have encountered were done in the vacuum of space. This alone should be evidence enough. Also, I doubt they have 300 lbs of these rocks. Scientists have searched the world over looking for moon asteroids, and have found only 20 lbs combined. Finding 300 lbs would be very unlikely. The United States does have a small amount of moon rocks that we did get from meteorites, but we are talking about pebbles.”

  Bill, sensing he made Doug uncomfortable, leaned back in his chair and questioned him in a calmer voice. “So, then how are we able to prove our rocks came from the moon?”

  “First, the moon rocks are over 600 million years older than Earth rocks. Second, the scientific community has never disputed the fact that our rocks were from the moon. Finally, Russia did send up robotic missions to the moon to retrieve samples. They did three of these missions successfully back in the ’70s. The samples brought back were compared to our rocks and proved to be of the same origin and makeup. However, Russia was only able to bring back a total of 11.5 ounces of samples over three missions versus the over 820 lbs we have, that is basically one one-thousandth. So I am very confident the rocks China has will not even compare to ours, and everything should end right there.”

  Bill leaned forward on his desk and looked Doug directly in his eyes. “Well I am glad you’re confident, but I’m not. I don’t underestimate the Chinese. They’re up to something. They would not bring these accusations in front of the UN and the whole world unless they knew what they were doing. I feel they have something up their sleeves.”

  The president turned and pointed his finger at Secretary Russell. “How could you say the moon landings would be in question if their rocks were similar to ours?”

  Steve, shrinking in his chair as the president asked the question, nevertheless responded confidently. “Mr. President, these are outrageous accusations brought by China. At the time, in the UN, I felt we needed to make a strong and confident response to Councilor Chen’s proposal. In fact, listening to Doug now, I feel even better about my response. I too am confident that if the appropriate scientists are selected to compare the rocks, the outcome will be they are not of the same origin.”

  Bill disliked Steve’s arrogance and snapped back, “So then why do you think China is making these accusations, if they know they will be proven false?”

  “I can not answer that, Mr. President. It’s a mystery to me.”

  He shook his head and turned his attention back to Doug. “What about this mirror thing we spoke of?”


  “It’s called the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment, or LLRE, and was deployed during our first moon landing,” replied Doug. “It allows us to shoot laser pulses and get reflections back. It is used for many reasons, but one is to get accurate distances to the moon as it orbits the earth. Though it was put there by our astronauts, it could have been deployed by a robotic mission. This will not help us much, but we can not discount the many photographs and videos taken.”

  “Possibly,” said the president, “but as you know, for years hoax proponents have said they were done in studios, and though it is tough to prove, it is not cut and dry. So, I would hate to just rely on that.”

  Jack had sat quietly the whole meeting. He now interjected, “Mr. President, don’t forget there were hundreds of thousands of people who worked on the moon landing missions. It would be virtually impossible for all to keep quiet if the moon landings were a hoax.”

  The president turned and looked at Jack. “Jack, I don’t disagree with you, but China claims there were only a handful of folks who needed to know, and that would be much more believable to the world.” The president took a sip of coffee, thinking to himself, then looked back at Jack. “What is the latest CIA intelligence on China and their space program? Is there anything that might help us on why they might be doing this?”

  “Sir, as you have been updated before, our biggest concern is China setting up a ‘Star Wars’ type of weapon in space, similar to what we considered in the ’80s. We know they have been working with a laser company out of the UK, which we feel will be the weapon used. One of our top SID agents visited China’s launch facility recently and reported that China probably tested this laser on their recent trip to the moon. We believe they probably were firing it from their spacecraft at targets selected on the surface, probably on the back side. This would be the only way they could test such a laser in space without the world knowing. If they tested it in Earth’s orbit, we of course would know this and question it to the UN. Unfortunately, I don’t know if this information helps in regards to what’s currently going on.”