By Tor Ormseth, Online Editor
Most people know Stanley Kubrick for his film career, including the major successes “A Clockwork Orange,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Dr. Strangelove.” However, many people believe that one of his other works was even more ambitious and influential: the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Reading this may come as a surprise to many people, as the moon landings are a widely accepted event and are generally considered to be one of the great triumphs of science. America “winning” the space race gave us some much-needed hope during the dire straits of the Cold War. But what if it was nothing more than that — a quick shot of hope that the American government used to bolster national spirit?
This is where Kubrick comes in. He was already known as the foremost filmmaker of the time, having the skills to make incredible movies in both comedy and science fiction. Obviously “2001” would draw the eye of anyone trying to put a man on the moon. Once the American government realized that NASA was not close enough to ensure that they beat the Russians, they decided to take preventative measures.
Of course, there is a reason that we know this—aside from basic speculation and educated guessing. We have it from the ultimate primary source: Stanley Kubrick himself. In a 1999 interview between himself and a man named T. Patrick Murray, Kubrick claimed that he directed the moon landing but was not allowed to speak about it for obvious reasons, so the interview was not to be released until 15 years after his death.
I guess he decided he didn’t want to die knowing that no one would ever find out about his “masterpiece.” So he gave “The Interview.” Of course, that interview was suppressed.
But even if you don’t want to take the word of Stanley Kubrick, there are other sources to corroborate that man has never left Earth. According to NASA officials, “scientists and technicians regularly do this sort of digital manipulation on space images.”
Of course, this raises questions about just how far they are allowed to go with this. It is, however, clear that photo-editing software was not up to snuff when the Apollo missions happened, as there is a glaring flaw with every Earth photograph we have seen from the moon — no stars are visible. This seems like an obvious and easy thing to fix, but it is possible that the technology just did not exist in the late ‘60s.
The knowledgeable community is divided on whether the remaining landings were faked, with the consensus pointing to yes. All the moon landings were during the Nixon administration — a questionable presidency — while in the last 40 years there have been none.
However, I personally agree with Kubrick and believe that the first one was faked as a scam to buy time against the Russians. But I also believe that the rest were legitimate; they had no need to fake more after they had already “won” the space race.
The scary thing about this is how easily the government can pull the wool over our eyes.
If it was possible in the ‘60s with their limited technology, it could be all too easy today.