I see the moon
And the moon sees me.
God bless the moon
And God bless me.
The moon, that big pie in the sky, la Luna, the Earth’s only natural satellite and a celestial wonder in human eyes; the moon has been the focus of human poetry, art, music and folk lore since long before the invention of the written word. The moon lights up our night sky, it controls our oceanic tides and stabilises our weather patterns; it is a companion and an icon, and it fills our hearts with a connection to other places, other times, and other people, but there actually may be more to the moon than meets the eye.
The cold war era race to the moon culminated in a series of American and Soviet space missions, seven of which were manned landings while many more were unmanned sensory missions. The moon had been the perfect object to focus the technological, scientific and political wills of the most powerful nations on Earth; you could even say that reaching the moon was an international obsession for the better part of a century.
That official interest in the moon dissipated following the final manned landing of Apollo 17 in 1972 and the subsequent end of the Apollo program in 1975. Right off the top it seems somewhat odd that the climax of NASA’s accomplishment should precipitate a fizzling of scientific and public interest in that national obsession all within a matter of less than 20 years, and there may be cause to be suspicious of that seemingly convenient subject change by America’s defence leaders.
The moon can essentially be split into two halves, the dark side and the light side. Its orbit is such that only one side of it can ever been seen from Earth, hence that familiar landscape of pockmarked craters and lines we consistently see at the pinnacle of its monthly cycle. Metaphorically speaking, those two halves can be made to represent two categories of knowledge regarding our constant companion; what we know and what we don’t know.
What follows is a somewhat brief examination of both categories, an ode to our galactic partner and its role in our lives.
What We Know
Aside from the mundane facts about its circumference, geological make up and orbital precision, mankind really doesn’t know a whole heck of a lot about the moon, and often, what we do know tends to bring up more questions than anything else.
First, we can deal with what it is, rather than what it is not. To say that the moon is Earth’s only natural satellite is a little simplistic, though in simple terms is exactly correct. It is an organic body, comprised mainly of the same material as the Earth, and is locked in a synchronous orbit around us. Its own rate of rotation is timed near exactly perfect to cause only one side of its surface to be visible from Earth, though the light and dark side analogy isn’t really correct, since the far side (commonly known as the dark side) receives precisely as much exposure to sunlight as the near side does through our synchronous orbital path around the sun.
Compared to its contemporaries throughout our galaxy, the moon is small, basic and not exactly exciting; it hangs in the sky as a constant reminder of our position in the solar system, but recent international efforts to further explore our own space faring capabilities have yielded some unexpected fruit.
On September 24th 2009, India’s first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1 has made what many are calling a definitive discovery via their infrared scanning experiments in relation to the lunar poles. In a news conference of September 25, it was announced that water does in fact exist on the moon. Now, scientific news has been talking a lot lately about the search for water on Mars, but few were talking about finding it, essentially, in our own back yard.
This was a momentous occasion, one to be celebrated for the technological achievement and for the scientific ramifications of this discovery. Many have wondered and speculated about what it would mean to find water on a celestial body, and many theorists and cosmologists have presented differing ideas; but, along a line of logic derived from the purpose of that search for water, one must acknowledge a simple yet profound inevitability. If water exists on the moon and below its surface, which is now all but confirmed, then the statistical probability of it existing on other celestial bodies is a near certainty; and by further extension of that logic and that of the purpose behind the search for water, if water exists on other planets, then the statistical probability for the existence of extraterrestrial life is a virtual certainty as well.
This of course doesn’t speak of the development level of that life, or of its potential to exist during our brief time in the universe, but the probabilities have increased dramatically in favour of those seeking to prove the existence of life elsewhere in the universe.
The moon itself may not be particularly interesting when considered next to Jupiter or even Mars, but the potential it holds for unlocking some of the mysteries of the universe is vast; which leads us to a particularly disturbing question. Why did national and international interest in the moon wane in the wake of the Apollo program?
What We Don’t Know
In the early 1970’s, during a period of advance psychometric experimentation by the CIA, a remote viewer in their employ was tasked with focusing his large prefrontal lobe on the so-called dark side of the moon. What Ingo Swann discovered was both terrifying and in an oddly conspiratorial way, self fulfilling.
For those who aren’t familiar, remote viewing is the psychic process of searching with one’s mind for images, information and thoughts from or about people, locations and facilities as far away as the exact opposite side of the Earth, or, as Swann would say, as far away as the moon.
CIA Remote Viewer Ingo Swann
Swann, a man with confirmed top secret clearance and a documented track record of inexplicable accuracy with his gift, published this story in his 1998 autobiography Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy, and at the time of it’s release, he was the focus of a great deal of scrutiny and ridicule, that is until the declassification and release of the CIA STARGATE documents, which served to substantiate Swann’s claim.
During his intense remote viewing sessions, which were commissioned, guided and controlled by the CIA, Swann claims to have seen an enormous base of operations and several factory-like facilities on the far side of the moon. He detailed the alien race that occupied and operated the base, as well as their space craft, and in an eerie climax, explained that these mysterious beings were not friendly and “did not want humans on the moon”.
Now, you’ll notice that the time frame of this remote viewing operation coincides with the final Apollo missions and the subsequent end of the program, which means that Swann and his CIA compatriots were looking into the so-called alien occupation of the moon at the same time that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were wowing the world with their space walks and eternally poignant commentary from the lunar surface. So, if Swann were right about all this, wouldn’t Aldrin, Armstrong or any one of the two dozen or so other astronauts have seen something?
Well, in the immortal words of Astronaut James Lovell “Please be informed that there is a Santa Claus.”
In recent years, since approximately 1998, and coinciding with the inevitable retirement of the aging Apollo program astronauts, rumours and campfire stories began to surface about the truth of those missions. Early speculation led many conspiracy theorists to believe that these rumours meant something altogether different, namely that the lunar landings never took place, though at the behest of some of the most famous names in space flight, we’ve come to believe something altogether more disturbing.
Since ’98, some of the marquee astronauts, names like Aldrin, Armstrong and Lovell among many others, have been speaking out about their experiences during the Apollo missions. Lovell’s infamous comments above, as recorded during the Apollo 8 mission, are as significant a commentary about UFO’s as can be found.
Astronaut James Lovell
Obviously Lovell wasn’t talking about a jolly fat man in a red suit, and he wasn’t making a cute spectacle in the spirit of Christmas. He was in fact speaking in code about an alien craft escorting his vessel along its route to the moon. This may seem a little more than fantastic in light of what the public thinks it knows about the moon, but then again, this section is subtitled ‘What We Don’t Know’.
In a series of spectacular and risky public conversations, statements and releases, several of the Apollo programs astronauts have made shocking testimonials about their own personal experiences with UFO’s and aliens on the moon’s surface and in the space around the moon.
In turn, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, has become one of the most outspoken of his crowd, he claims to have captured colour still and movie film of the alien craft and of their operations on the lunar surface. Some of his most infamous radio dialogue from the Apollo 11 mission is as follows:
NASA: Whats there?
Mission Control calling Apollo 11…
Apollo11: These “Babies” are huge, Sir! Enormous!
OH MY GOD! You wouldn’t believe it!
I’m telling you there are other spacecraft out there,
Lined up on the far side of the crater edge!
They’re on the Moon watching us!
Now, unfortunately for us, you won’t find that commentary in any official NASA transcript or mission log, you won’t hear NASA commenting on Aldrin’s surprised and exited report, and that’s because in typical form, the CIA, who it is widely known was and is now in control of all mission data that gets disseminated to the public, censored the entire report.
So how does anyone know about Aldrin’s comments? During the mission, which was the flagship spectacle for NASA’s public image at the time, the entire world was watching and listenng, some closer than others, several unnamed, VHF capable, Hamm radio operators were aiming their antennae at the moon and in effect, got a front row seat for the mayhem that followed.
Sometime after that mission, and following the completion of Neil Armstrong’s space flight career, a brief on record exchange occurred between Armstrong and an unnamed professor during a NASA symposium.
Professor: What REALLY happened out there with Apollo 11?
Armstrong: It was incredible, of course we had always known there was a possibility, the fact is, we were warned off! [by the Aliens]. There was never any question then of a space station or a moon city.
Professor: How do you mean “warned off”?
Armstrong: I can’t go into details, except to say that their ships were far superior to ours both in size and technology – Boy, were they big! and menacing! No, there is no question of a space station.
Professor: But NASA had other missions after Apollo 11?
Armstrong: Naturally – NASA was committed at that time, and couldn’t risk panic on Earth. But it really was a quick scoop and back again.
James Lovell it seems was fortunate (depending on your perspective) to have encountered Alien escort during space flight on more than one occasion, what follows is a brief flight control transcript from his famed Gemni 7 flight:
Lovell: BOGEY AT 10 O’CLOCK HIGH.
Capcom: This is Houston. Say again 7.
Lovell: SAID WE HAVE A BOGEY AT 10 O’CLOCK HIGH.
Capcom: Gemini 7…is that the booster or is that an actual sighting?
Lovell: WE HAVE SEVERAL…ACTUAL SIGHTING.
Capcom: …Estimated distance or size?
Lovell: WE ALSO HAVE THE BOOSTER IN SIGHT…
In lieu of presenting all of the pages upon pages of leaked radio transcription, symposium dialogue and public statements by the Apollo astronauts, I will simply say that there is a veritable mountain of anecdotal evidence available, as presented by some of the most credible and famous government sources around, but the astronauts are not the only one’s to have had experiences of this nature.
Among the many thousands of technicians, managers, servicemen and specialists that are continually involved in joint NASA, DoD, NSA and CIA operations with regard to space flight and previous lunar missions, Karl Wolfe was one such nameless face in the crowd.
Wolfe is noted as being one of only two qualified technicians capable of operating and servicing the high tech photographic equipment that processed data from U-2 spy planes. Due to his specialty, his security clearance was higher than most, and he was privy to classified data from many sectors of military and defence action.
In a private telling of his experience, Wolfe tells of one particular day during his service, when he was ordered to assist NSA officials with a malfunction in similar equipment to what he was already working with, on one of their top secret programs.
Wolfe claims to have been led to a military facility, where he was tasked with diagnosing and repairing said photographic equipment, during which time he happened upon photographic evidence of enormous, organised structures on the far side of the moon.
Shaken by what he was seeing in the photographic data, he claims to have held conversation with an unnamed Airman who had been posted to oversee the repair work.
“We discovered,” the airman said, “a base on the back side of the Moon.”
Wolfe was obviously stunned by this extraordinary disclosure. He remembers literally “shaking” trying to take in the enormity of what he had been told. Seeing Wolfe’s disbelief, the dark room attendant continued;
“Yes, a base on the dark side of the Moon.”
What We Shouldn’t Know
So what does all this conjecture, anecdotal testimony and assumption get us? Are there aliens on the moon? Are they operating some kind of lunar base, and are they opposed to our interference?
To the layman, this may all be too fantastic to fully comprehend, it may be easier to roll our collective eyes and chock this whole story up to a few paranoid conspiracy theorists with too much time on their hands. But what is easy isn’t necessarily correct.
I’m not about to tell you that every shred of evidence of the existence of an alien base(s) on our beloved Moon is 100% real and accurate, I’m not going to suggest that we should all don tin foil hats and start checking our neighbours for strange non-human body parts (though you can if you’d like). What I am going to do is ask you to consider the abstract possibility that the above is true.
What does that mean for us? Once we get over the shock of the discovery, and get past that running around the room with our hair on fire type of reaction, we can consider what the various assertions might mean for humanity. To break it down into simple terms, what we’re faced with is an alien race (or possibly more than one race) that has constructed and is using some type of base or facility on the far side of our only natural satellite in this, our solar system. That alien presence has made it known, in their own special way, that our presence and/or our interference in their operation is not welcome, and they have, as described by Scott Carpenter made their feelings in that regard perfectly clear:
“At no time, when the astronauts were in space were they alone: there was a constant surveillance by UFOs.”
Are we in danger? Likely not, at least in any immediate way. Is our culture or way of life in jeopardy? Possibly, depending on how our collective governments deal with the issue.
Which segues nicely into my final point; why was all of this hidden from Earth’s population at large?
Being Canadian, I am angrily offended at the American government’s audacity to speak and act, by proxy, on behalf of my government, and in turn on my behalf; as I’m sure is the case with a great many people who live outside the United States. Whether contact has been made between the US government and the alien presence or not, US officials took it upon themselves to make decisions regarding what was best for the entire planet.
Their decisions may have been the correct ones, or they may have been rooted in some conspiratorially greedy endeavour, but as long as we’re theorising here, lets turn that critical eye toward the possible motives for keeping such information secret for so many years.
To my mind there are three main possibilities for the secretive actions of the US government on this issue.
1) An altruistic sense of social responsibility to shield humanity from something we are not collectively ready to comprehend.
2) An opportunistic military development plot.
3) A dire need to protect humanity from interplanetary conflict, in which we would be fatally outmatched.
There are valid reasons to believe any one of these possibilities, I happen to be in favour of the last reason, though, as was poignantly stated by one of my all time favourite Science Fiction characters.
“…people are dumb, panicky animals, and you know it!” – K (MIB)