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Apollo 11 press conference was awkward

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by SnoopyBoy, Jul 20, 2009.

  1. SnoopyBoy

    SnoopyBoy Member

    I'm not into all these conspiracy theories about Apollo 11 and stuff, but I've been reading more about the mission in recent days for obvious reasons. And I was really shocked when I came across a video of the three astronauts -- Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin -- at their post-flight news conference in Houston in August, 1969. They appear sullen and apprehensive and uncomfortable, and Armstrong speaks in choppy sentences. It's weird. Did they see a UFO or something out there? Have a look at this clip.

     
  2. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    If you look on the desk, it appears there's a little monitor that peeks up above the surface of it and I'm guessing it was a teleprompter. You can see he keeps looking down, presumably at the monitor. It was probably just running a little slowly. Barring that explanation, I think it's likely that Neil Armstrong realized there were BILLIONS of people watching him speak and wasn't terribly comfortable with that.

    Either explanation is million times more likely than a massive government conspiracy to fake the moon landing (and, if you saw the Mythbusters special on Apollo 11, they debunked the major pieces of "evidence" put forth by conspiracy theorists as proof we didn't visit the moon).
     
  3. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Yes, they did see a UFO.

     
  4. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    On a somewhat related note, I always found it curious that Neil Armstrong, who did something that no one in the world had ever done before he did it, kept such a low profile over the years. For years, I thought he was dead. Perhaps, as the video seems to show, he just was never comfortable with the spotlight.
     
  5. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    Armstrong was always famously shy and focused on the work and on science and critical thinking. And don't forget they spent eight days on the mission, doing what no one had ever done. It isn't as if they'd just returned from a weekend in Vegas.

    Was the presser after they spent all those days in quarantine to ensure they didn't bring back a bug? Add that to the stir-crazy factor.
     
  6. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    One other thing that has crossed my mind in recent days ... how'd you like to be Michael Collins, who got to fly all the way to the moon, but didn't get to walk on it? (He had to fly the command module in orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon.)

    I guess that would be the astronaut equivalent of blue balls ...
     
  7. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    I always felt that way about Lovell.

    Collins knew he was never going to step on the moon.

    But, yeah, that would sort of suck hugely.
     
  8. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    I'm sure he could have always gone back right? Besides he got to go to space, so its not a whole loss.

    It'd be like getting blue balls after a three way with Jessica Alba and Megan Fox... not great, but could be worse.
     
  9. Kato

    Kato Well-Known Member

    Maybe it's because it's such a different era now -- when everyone seems to want to be famous -- but I also find it odd that Neil Armstrong has stayed out of the spotlight. I mean, he's Neil freaking Armstrong! The first man to walk on the moon! He could have been the biggest celebrity in the country, if not the world, right?
     
  10. finishthehat

    finishthehat Active Member

    Armstrong has always been that way. I found it odd that he agreed to host documentaries about test pilots on Discovery, given his spotlight-avoidance.

    I had a friend who saw him at an airshow years ago and just had to ask him this question that had been bugging him for years. Armstrong visibly tensed as he introduced himself, but then -- since the question was about the X-15 and not the moon mission -- Armstrong enthusiastically chatted on about it for 15 minutes.
     
  11. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    I'm sure, even with something as compelling as landing and walking on the moon, it gets tiresome being asked about the same thing for 40 years. Makes it kind of hard for someone to figure out what his life is supposed to be about in the present rather than being one of those "glory days" guys.
     
  12. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Well, at least he got to coach the Chicago Bears. :)
     
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