What? We Really Did Go to the Moon?

Hey, look, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took some high resolution photos of the Moon. Not just of any old spots on the Moon, either, but of, I dunno, the Apollo landing sites?

Apollo 11:


Apollo 11 with an arrow showing you where it is:


Apollo 14, with tracks left by the astronauts, the LM, and some scientific instruments:

Amazing the lengths that NASA will go to in preserving the illusion that men went to the Moon--landing full-scale fake LMs on the Moon, along with actors (doubtlessly highly trained CIA agents who were later killed to protect the secret) to walk around and leave fake tracks. Insidiously audacious!

See more about this at Bad Astronomy and at the NASA NRO web site, including photos of other landing sites.

Note that this evidence will do absolutely nothing to slow the ravings of Moon-landing hoax conspiracy nuts.

The Fortieth Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Launch

The launch as America saw it:



And a 60 Minutes interview with Commander Neil Armstrong:



A CNN interview with Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin:



And a NASA video with Command Module Pilot Michael Collins:

Word of the Day: Moon-Tang

moon·tang [moon-tang]

-noun
1. a female native or inhabitant of the moon.
2. a tasty lunar beverage, usu. orange flavored.
3. (deprecated) a funeral ceremony conducted on the moon by Māori, usu. without pressure suits.

Origin:
[Middle English moone, from Old English mōna + Middle English tange, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse tangi, point, sting; or possibly Modern English Tang, sweet and tangy, orange-flavored, non-carbonated soft drink associated with the American space program; or possibly Māori, tangi (tangihanga), a Māori funeral ceremony.]

And Now for Some Important Public Service Announcements*

* Lifted without apology from io9.

Monkey Tuesday: Monkeys, Existentialism, and Shakespeare

Monkey Tuesday: Indonesian Wild One

New Led Hanuman Video!*

That's funny. I always thought that The Immigrant Song was about Vikings.

* Acknowledgments to Boing Boing.

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