A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon (2001)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon is a 2001 documentary film written, produced, and directed by Nashville-based filmmaker Bart Sibrel.
Sibrel is a devotee of the conspiracy theory that the six Apollo Moon landing missions between 1969 and 1972 were detailed hoaxes executed by the United States government, including NASA.
In this film, Sibrel presents several claims challenging the authenticity of the Moon landings:
- Photographic Anomalies:
- Sibrel asserts that the Moon landing was a hoax, citing supposed photographic anomalies.
- He points to disasters such as the destruction of Apollo 1 and technical difficulties experienced in the 1950s and 1960s.
- The film also questions the feasibility of crossing the Van Allen radiation belts.
- Secret Footage:
- Sibrel claims that the most condemning evidence is a piece of footage inadvertently sent to him by NASA.
- According to him, this footage shows Apollo 11 astronauts attempting to create the illusion that they were 130,000 miles (210,000 km) from Earth (roughly halfway to the Moon) when, he alleges, they were only in low Earth orbit.
- The film suggests that NASA’s early inexperience in rocket technology and inconsistencies in records could point to a possible hoax.
- Cold War Context:
- The film’s speculation is that NASA performed the fraud due to the perception that beating the Soviet Union in landing men on the Moon would be a major victory in the Cold War.
- The Soviets had achieved several space milestones before the United States, including launching Sputnik 1, the first crewed space flight (Vostok 1), and the first spacewalk (Voskhod 2).
Critics have characterized the film in various ways. Some consider it a quasi-investigation, while others dismiss it as flawed logic and strident accusations. Regardless,
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon remains a provocative exploration of conspiracy theories surrounding one of humanity’s greatest achievements in space exploration.
