Apollo 18? Hollyweird!

As I was surfing today, I read a blog post from a colleague who's blog covers either the "brilliantly stimulating" or the "bu!!$hit" he encounters.  Sometimes, through sheer serendipity, he accomplishes both in the same post...like today...perhaps.

"Apollo 18" is just another sci-fi thriller/found footage genre/"Blair Witch Project" in space/mockumentary directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego or Trevor Cawood, according to the following list of sites found by Google and perused by me in about 10 minutes:

Geek Syndicate
Badassdigest
Wegotthiscovered
Pajiba.com

The best description of this issue, and my personal favorites, are 2 excerpts from Pajiba.com:

Certain people (crazy people) believe that Apollo 18 did actually go to the moon, but was covered up, probably for the same reasons that the whole program was faked, and I am not nearly drunk enough to follow the logic of those two truths co-existing.

And,

In related news, how stupid are people that believe the Moon landings were shot on a sound stage? The correct answer is “Fuck you for this topic of conversation even existing, asshole.”

In a related entry in THIS blog, I said, "I have to show my utter disdain for Apollo moon hoax conspiratorial nut cases".  Though the last comment from Pajiba.com may be harsh...I nevertheless agree with it.

What "actually" happened, per the "official" history, is that Apollo 18 was canceled, along with Apollos 19 and 20.  Thanks to "Tricky Dick" Nixon.

Had it actually flown, per the "Canceled Apollo missions" entry on Wikipedia, the crew would have been:

     Richard F. Gordon, Jr. (Commander (CDR))
     Vance D. Brand (Command Module Pilot (CMP))
     Harrison Schmitt (Lunar Module Pilot (LMP))

And, per same source, would have landed:

According to "NASA OMSF, Manned Space Flight Weekly Report" from July 28, 1969, Apollo 18 would have landed at Schröter's Valley in February 1972

In the NASA report "Scientific Rationale Summaries for Apollo Candidate Lunar Exploration Landing Sites" from March 11, 1970, Apollo 18 is targeted for Copernicus

Another source lists the prospective landing sites as Gassendi craters (Apollo 18, July 1973).

Finally, the Orbiter community is trying to "sim" this cancelled mission, see here and here.  I guess I could take a stab at creating a scenario pack for Apollo 18, since there has been an overwhelming response to my other scenario packs (8,12,14,15,16...REAL ONES), with over 21,000 downloads from Orbiter-Hangar.


@Bob: My online name, "NukeET", has the following derivation.  "Nuclear Power Trained Electronics Technician".  The Navy's way of saying, "Reactor Operator".   Though in "Footfall", by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the ETs are nuked by humans.  Thanks to ole Bang-Bang.  F***ing deserved it too!