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
IMDb profile

A Funny Thied on the Way to the Moon is a 2001 documentary written, produced, and directed by Nashville, Tennessee-based filmmaker and investigative journalist Bart Winfield Sibrel, a critic of the United States space program and proponent of the theory that the six Apollo lunar landing missions between 1969 and 1972 were hoaxes perpetrated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Image File history File linksMetadata Afthotwttmdvd. ... Bartholomew Winfield Sibrel is a Nashville, Tennessee-based amateur filmmaker who claims that the six Apollo moon landings between 1969 and 1972 were hoaxes. ... is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Nickname: Location in Davidson County and the state of Tennessee Coordinates: , Country United States State Tennessee Counties Davidson County Founded: 1779 Incorporated: 1806 Government  - Mayor Bill Purcell (D) Area  - City  526. ... Bartholomew Winfield Sibrel is a Nashville, Tennessee-based amateur filmmaker who claims that the six Apollo moon landings between 1969 and 1972 were hoaxes. ... Description Role: Earth and Lunar Orbit Crew: 3; CDR, CM pilot, LM pilot Dimensions Height: 36. ... Also: 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... NASA Logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ...

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, citing a 95 percent similarity between the technologies that allowed the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles and the launch of the Saturn V rockets. A Minuteman III ICBM test launch from Vandenberg AFB, California, United States. ... For the moon designated Saturn V, see Rhea. ...

Bart Sibrel 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). For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Sputnik 1 The Sputnik program was a series of unmanned space missions launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to demonstrate the viability of artificial satellites. ... Vostok 1 (Russian: , meaning Orient-1 or East-1) was the first human spaceflight. ... Astronaut Bruce McCandless on an untethered EVA Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth and outside of his or her spacecraft. ... Voskhod 2 (Russian: Восход 2) was a Soviet manned space mission. ...

Bart Sibrel also claims that the life-threatening events that occurred during the Apollo 13 mission were actually manufactured by the government to force people to pay attention to the space program. He suggests that this is proven by the claim that a number of viewers called the television networks complaining that coverage of the second lunar mission, Apollo 12, was interrupting repeats of the I Love Lucy program, saying: "it became clear that for the taxpayers, once was enough". Original crew photo. ... Apollo 12 was the sixth manned mission in the Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. ... I Love Lucy is a television situation comedy starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and featuring Vivian Vance and William Frawley. ...

The 47-minute documentary primarily focuses on the Van Allen belts, areas of intense radiation circling the Earth, as a major reason why Sibrel believes it was impossible for a manned spacecraft to land on the moon. Bart Sibrel also presents footage shot over the course of three days of what he claims is official NASA footage that was not meant for release to the public showing. In this footage, the crew of Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin are, according to Sibrel, staging part of their mission to make it appear that they were 130,000 miles from Earth. The illusion was allegedly perpetrated thus: a color camera was placed at the rear of the capsule, anything that could produce light was deactivated, and an insert was placed on the window to create a false terminator. Sibrel's allegation here is that it took three days for the astronauts to perfect their filming techniques rather than travel to the moon. Moreover, he contends that there is "Earthshine" clearly visible in the window after the lights were turned back on and that this proves that Apollo 11 was in low Earth orbit. Van Allen belts The Van Allen radiation belt is a torus of energetic charged particles around Earth, trapped by Earths magnetic field. ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ... The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. ... This article is about the former American astronaut. ... Michael Collins (born October 31, 1930) is a former American astronaut and test pilot. ... Colonel Buzz Aldrin, Sc. ... World map with terminator (April) A composite image showing the terminator dividing night from day, running across Europe and Africa. ... Leonardo da Vincis sketch of crescent Moon with earthshine as part of his Codex Leicester, written between 1506 and 1510. ...

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon also examines the still photographs and points out what it claims are anomalies, such as non-parallel shadows, to support the assertion that multiple artificial lighting sources were used; sped-up video footage of the astronauts walking on the lunar surface and lunar rovers driving on the surface are also used to advance the theory they were actually filmed on Earth and slowed down to simulate the moon's lower gravity. The lack of visible stars is another point stressed by Bart Sibrel. Anomalies is Cephalic Carnages 3rd full-length album released on Relapse Records, and their most current album to date. ...

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? The Fox Broadcasting Company is a television network in the United States. ...

Bart Sibrel also alleges that the "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative was far simpler than the government claimed it was, and that tests were artificially manipulated to, according to the Government Accountability Office, fool the Soviets about U.S. military readiness. Star Wars is an epic space opera saga and a fictional universe initially developed by George Lucas during the 1970s and expanded since that time. ... The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983[1] to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. ... General Accounting Office headquarters, Washington, D.C. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the non-partisan audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of Congress, and an agency in the Legislative Branch of the United States Government. ...

Criticisms

"Bart (Sibrel) 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 (an) accurate mockup," says Birmingham News columnist Jim McDade. He accuses the film of being "full of falsehoods, innuendo, strident accusations, half-truths, flawed logic and premature conclusions." The Command/Service Module (CSM) was a spacecraft built for NASA by North American Aviation. ... The Birmingham News is a the daily newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, and the largest newspaper in Alabama. ...

McDade accuses Sibrel of rehashing old theories; "the only thing new and weird" in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon is the interpretation that the video views of Earth were actually filmed through a small hole to give the impression that Apollo 11 was not in low earth orbit. Sibrel has also gained some national exposure as an alleged astronaut stalker^[1]. One infamous incident with Buzz Aldrin led to an angry Aldrin punching Sibrel.

See also

• Apollo moon landing hoax accusations
• Bill Kaysing
• Ralph Rene
• Astronauts Gone Wild

Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong in NASAs training mockup of the Moon and lander module. ... William Charles Kaysing (July 31, 1922 – April 21, 2005) was a writer who is best known for claiming that the six Apollo moon landings that took place between July 1969 and December 1972 were hoaxes. ... Ralph Rene is a self-taught inventor and small press publisher who is a vocal proponent of the Apollo moon landing hoax. ... Astronauts Gone Wild is a 2004 film made by Bart Sibrel, a filmmaker from Nashville, Tennessee who charges that the six Apollo moon landings in the 1960s and 1970s were elaborate hoaxes. ...

References

1. ^ Kuntzman, Gersh. "Moon Stalker", Newsweek, 2002-09-16. 

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
• A popular website dedicated to debunking Sibrel
• Another popular pro-lunar landing/Sibrel debunking website
• A critique of Bart Sibrel