2009/12/19

"Contact", not "Houston"

Or, how Reagan Outdoor Advertising is making jackasses of themselves.



This is a billboard being seen along the Wasatch Front.  Its purpose can be found here.  
One problem however...it is WRONG!  My first reaction to this was a very loud "Bravo Sierra".

Really, the answer to this question is easily found in the public domain, and even easier to look up with the advent of Google (perhaps Reagan Advertising hasn't heard of this recent technological breakthrough).  The public record of the ACTUAL first word spoken on the Moon is,

102:45:40 Aldrin: Contact Light. [At least one of the probes hanging from three of the footpads has touched the surface. Each of them is 67 inches (1.73 meters) long. The ladder strut doesn't have a probe. Buzz made the call at 20:17:40 GMT/UTC on 20 July 1969.]  (emphasis mine)

Most (if not all) historians and space flight enthusiasts consider the Lunar Surface Journal to be a reliable source.

I won't expound upon the argument other than to direct the reader, if any, to here.

However, I am reminded of two quotes:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels.

“A lie told often enough becomes truth”
Vladimir Lenin.

 P.S. If one desires to express their opinion to Reagan Outdoor Advertising, click here.

No comments: