I'd like to see what people add to this stack, but I found this credible looking study that I think helps the case that nobody actually goes to space. I was trying to find a link supporting something in my memory about the Apollo astronauts undergoing hypnotism immediately upon their "return."
I couldn't find that link, but check this out:
"Prevalence of sleep deficiency and use of hypnotic drugs in astronauts before, during, and after spaceflight: an observational study:
Background
Sleep deprivation and fatigue are common subjective complaints among astronauts. Previous studies of sleep and hypnotic drug use in space have been limited to post-flight subjective survey data or in-flight objective data collection from a small number of crew members. We aimed to characterise representative sleep patterns of astronauts on both short-duration and long-duration spaceflight missions.
Methods
For this observational study, we recruited crew members assigned to Space Transportation System shuttle flights with in-flight experiments between July 12, 2001, and July 21, 2011, or assigned to International Space Station (ISS) expeditions between Sept 18, 2006, and March 16, 2011. We assessed sleep–wake timing objectively via wrist actigraphy, and subjective sleep characteristics and hypnotic drug use via daily logs, in-flight and during Earth-based data-collection intervals: for 2 weeks scheduled about 3 months before launch, 11 days before launch until launch day, and for 7 days upon return to Earth.
Findings
We collected data from 64 astronauts on 80 space shuttle missions (26 flights, 1063 in-flight days) and 21 astronauts on 13 ISS missions (3248 in-flight days), with ground-based data from all astronauts (4014 days). Crew members attempted and obtained significantly less sleep per night as estimated by actigraphy during space shuttle missions (7·35 h [SD 0·47] attempted, 5·96 h [0·56] obtained), in the 11 days before spaceflight (7·35 h [0·51], 6·04 h [0·72]), and about 3 months before spaceflight (7·40 h [0·59], 6·29 h [0·67]) compared with the first week post-mission (8·01 h [0·78], 6·74 h [0·91]; p<0·0001 for both measures). Crew members on ISS missions obtained significantly less sleep during spaceflight (6·09 h [0·67]), in the 11 days before spaceflight (5·86 h [0·94]), and during the 2-week interval scheduled about 3 months before spaceflight (6·41 h [SD 0·65]) compared with in the first week post-mission (6·95 h [1·04]; p<0·0001). 61 (78%) of 78 shuttle-mission crew members reported taking a dose of sleep-promoting drug on 500 (52%) of 963 nights; 12 (75%) of 16 ISS crew members reported using sleep-promoting drugs.
Interpretation
Sleep deficiency in astronauts was prevalent not only during space shuttle and ISS missions, but also throughout a 3 month preflight training interval. Despite chronic sleep curtailment, use of sleep-promoting drugs was pervasive during spaceflight. Because chronic sleep loss leads to performance decrements, our findings emphasise the need for development of effective countermeasures to promote sleep.
Funding
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration."
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(14)70122-X/fulltext?rss=yes
Are all our astronauts being pushed to the mental brink while being put through a space-like simulation? It almost sounds like the process of making a mind controlled assassin or patsy. A bit curious either way seeing as how we don't like people driving a car under the influence, let alone being mentally foggy while at the helm of billion dollar missions above our heads.
I have scoured the internet and have not found compelling evidence either way. There are strong opinions. The Apollo 11 photos are fake but that does not mean they didn't go. The only scientific evidence IMO is the existence of the Van Allen belts and this NASA engineer saying that they still have to solve the problem of the Van Allen belts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlXG0REiVzE I would dearly love to see something more clear cut like Judy Wood's analysis of 911. Now that gal has evidence.
Interesting info on the sleep challenge and drugs they took.
As far as the sleep stuff goes I've known NASA fellers and they drink coffee like water so I wouldn't put too much stake in an astronauts sleep habits as being a gauge of much more than workload, training, and mentality unless more conclusive evidence presents itself.
I was trying to figure out why and when we can see the moon during the daytime; I seriously don't remember anything from high school science; I do remember some lame explanation about it being reflective or something, but it honestly looks see-through to me during the day. It doesn't look like a solid object that's reflecting light.
Anyway I went to good old Google and asked "why can we see the moon in the daytime"? The first website called Earthsky.org which seems to be some sort of space/science website gave the same "highly reflective" explanation, but the thing that really got my attention is that it mentions twice in a very short article, the sky having a dome. Here's the quotes:
"Notice that this moon in this photo is closer to the (western) horizon at sunrise than the moon one day later (photo below). Full moon was January 27. Afterwards, the moon is waning again and inching closer to the sun on the sky’s dome"....
"Bottom line: You can see the moon during the day whenever it’s fairly large in phase and fairly far from the sun on the sky’s dome"
Hmm...is it strange to use that sort of terminology on a science website...? It could certainly explain what the moon is reflecting off!
As far as the astronauts not going out of earths orbit, I'm going to watch that doco - I think it's called "astronauts gone wild" (shit title) but its apparently some guy who tries to get a bunch of astronauts to swear on the bible that they've been on the moon and into space. Not one of them will and they all 'go wild' like the title suggests.
Whenever you see old footage of the astronauts coming back they never look celebratory or proud of their achievement. They always look damn serious and don't say much at all.
None of this is case closed evidence but it's fun to ponder these things and it certainly makes you wonder...
It's an interesting angle, not sure astronauts lack of sleep points to them not actually going into space.
In fact a fubar sleep pattern would seen normal while in space, they aren't tied to the regular day/night cycle you get while planet side (I say regular and not normal because the day light saving thing screws normal/natural)
So not having a Sunrise, midday, Sunset screws the body clock no end, I work a 3 shift pattern and I don't have a normal sleep pattern.
As for the flat earth, I'm open to all possibilities, I just can't get on board with that....... yet.
