A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2011) |
| A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Bart Winfield Sibrel |
| Produced by | Bart Winfield Sibrel |
| Written by | Bart Winfield Sibrel |
| Starring | Anne Tonelson (narrator) |
| Editing by | Bart Winfield Sibrel |
| Distributed by | AFTH, LLC |
| Release date(s) | January 18, 2001 |
| Running time | 47 minutes |
| Language | English |
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon is a 2001 film billed as a documentary written, produced, and directed by Nashville, Tennessee-based filmmaker Bart Winfield Sibrel. Sibrel is a critic of the United States space program and proponent of the conspiracy theory that the six Apollo lunar landing missions between 1969 and 1972 were hoaxes perpetrated by the US Government. The name was taken from the title of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon by Lois C. Philmus, a 1966 book of humorous anecdotes by people involved in the space program.
Contents |
Overview
Sibrel believes that there were numerous insurmountable scientific and technical problems which made it improbable that men could land on the moon and return to Earth safely. Further, he believes that certain anomalies and inconsistencies in NASA's records of the landings point to a hoax, and that the space race was actually a race to develop armaments. He claims that NASA perpetrated a fraud, because of the perception that if the United States could put a man on the moon before the Soviet Union did it would be a major victory in the Cold War, since the Soviets had been the first to achieve a successful space launch (Sputnik in 1957), the first manned space flight (Vostok 1 in 1961), and the first spacewalk (Voskhod 2 in 1965).
The 47-minute documentary primarily focuses on the Van Allen belts, areas of intense radiation circling the Earth, as a major reason that Sibrel believes it was impossible for a manned spacecraft to land on the moon.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon was narrated by a British stage actress named Anne Tonelson. Bart Sibrel himself makes no appearance in the film. He does appear prominently in the similarly toned Fox Television Network special, Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?
Criticisms
Jim McDade, writing in the Birmingham News, characterized A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon as "full of falsehoods, innuendo, strident accusations, half-truths, flawed logic and premature conclusions."[1] According to McDade, the "only thing new and weird" in the 47-minute film is that the claim that video views of Earth were actually filmed through a small hole to give the impression that Apollo 11 was not in low earth orbit.[1] "Bart has misinterpreted things that are immediately obvious to anyone who has extensively read Apollo history and documentation or anyone who has ever been inside an Apollo Command Module or accurate mockup," says McDade.[1]
Sibrel has also gained some national exposure as an astronaut stalker.[2] In one infamous incident Sibrel asked Buzz Aldrin to put his hand on a Bible and swear that he walked on the moon and when Aldrin refused, Sibrel called Aldrin a coward, liar and thief, spurring Aldrin to punch Sibrel in the jaw.[3][4]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Lunar Lunacy Shooting Down Theories that Apollo Moon Landing was Hoax Conspiracy". Birmingham News. April 1, 2001. Birmingham News archives
- ^ Kuntzman, Gersh (2002-09-16). "Moon Stalker". Newsweek.
- ^ Schwartz, John (2009-07-13). "Vocal Minority Insists It Was All Smoke and Mirrors". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/science/space/14hoax.html. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
- ^ "Ex-astronaut escapes assault charge". BBC News. 2002-09-21. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2272321.stm. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
External links
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon official website
- Radio Interview with Bart Sibrel by talk show host Chris Gerner
- Lunar Legacy - A web documentary disputing Sibrel's claims
- Another popular pro-lunar landing/Sibrel debunking website
- A critique of Bart Sibrel
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon at the Internet Movie Database
