APOLLO 18: Exposed or Exaggerated??

Throughout the month of April, we celebrate our earth and talk about how we can protect our planet from the harm of human beings. Such an important topic, but let's take a look at what might be happening outside our orbit in the depths of space. NASA, one of the most prestigious organizations in America started in 1958, takes on a lot of missions and is constantly reaching new conclusions about our solar system. So, why was Apollo 17 the last manned mission to the moon? Wouldn’t you think that our technological advancements would allow us to travel outside of the atmosphere better than ever? Is there nothing left to learn, or is there something out there that was decided to be too heavy for our civilization?

The Apollo 17 Mission took place in 1972 and broke many space-related records, NASA seemed on track to evolve into a supernatural space exploration power. The longest spacewalk, longest lunar landing, and largest samples brought back to Earth were all accomplished. Apollo 18 was next on track… until it wasn’t. The originally 20 planned Apollo missions came to a screeching halt with no clear reason. From one angle there was no need for the remainder of the missions; NASA had gathered plenty of data and the government had proved its global dominance over space exploration, so there was no need to waste money and time. Simple, but something just doesn’t feel right. Over 50 years later, and we still haven’t made any more moves to set people on the moon? Surely, there is more to the story. 

Let’s take a look at a movie that came out in 2011 called Apollo 18, a fictional movie about “secret footage” found from NASA uncovering a horribly failed space mission: the Apollo 18 exploration. Was this claim a fun and interesting publicity stunt, or could the directors and screenwriters be trying to tell the audience about something deeper? Could the movie's awful twist of events be the real reason why they no longer attempt to put people on the moon?  When several members of NASA were asked to speak on the subject, many of their answers were vague, saying the movie was purely entertainment and that the footage might not be real. Yet there is an intense classified side to working for such an organization. Employers keeping quiet with no direct answers is not a good look. It is also said that many members of NASA who were involved in the production weren’t fully aware of the extent to which the movie proved to be realistic. Mortified by being caught and unmasked by a cinematic piece of art couldn’t have been a fun feeling, so the obvious route is to deflect and blame the fiction of the film instead of revealing the real secrets. 

Run-ins with aliens and fatal engineering mistakes do not seem like something NASA would want to put out to the public, so is it unreasonable to think that they covered it up and ended the moon exploration? It all depends on the angle you see the story: is it a cover-up and distraction from the facts or a sci-fi fantasy manipulated by the producers to drag people in? Either way, we may have a scandal and an interesting story to follow up on. Maybe movies such as Apollo 18 will be the closest we get to the moon for a while, but there's always a chance there is something out there that just hasn’t decided to peek its head out yet. Only NASA knows.