Phoenix Journal 208 - Four Winds 10

CHAPTER 10
WAS JULY 4 MARS LANDING
FAKE OR FACADE?
SERIOUS QUESTIONS BEHIND SLICK SHOW
by Ray Bilger 7/9/97
In the few weeks just prior to July 4th, 1997, Americans were slowly fed more and more bits of information
from N.A.S.A. regarding the scheduled landing on the surface of the planet Mars of a United States
spacecraft. N.A.S.A.’s own Internet Website reports: “On July 4, 1997, N.A.S.A.’s Mars Pathfinder
landed on Mars and the next day the Sojourner rover rolled off the lander to conduct the first mobile
geological soil studies of Mars.” But are we to believe what we are being shown and fed on our television
screens, especially with all the “special effects” technical resources available these days from the simulated-image
masters in Hollywood and elsewhere?
Suddenly, on July 4th, with all the hype and fanfare one would expect for a premier screening of a new
Hollywood movie, America was deluged with a spectacularly FLAWLESS display of the latest success
story in America’s so-called “space” program. The day before, July 3rd, we had few, if any, clues as to
what we would soon be seeing. It was immediately obvious, however, on the 4th, that a great deal of
rehearsing, writing of stories, creation of TV logos and special headlines, and overall planning had been
coordinated and carried out to present to the public a major media event they would not soon forget. But
was this just a slick cover story for something else that N.A.S.A. was REALLY undertaking on Mars?
Listeners to Art Bell’s late-night talk-radio program might be familiar with a now-regular guest to his
show, Richard Hoagland. Richard’s credentials would appear to make him more qualified to be telling us
about Mars than the mostly rather young-looking persons we are now listening to from N.A.S.A. A partial
list of his impressive scientific accomplishments includes: recipient of the Angstrom Medal for Excellence in
Science, 1993; former Science Advisor to Walter Cronkite and CBS News; science contributor to magazines
such as OMNI, ANALOG and SCIENCE DIGEST; consultant to N.A.S.A.’s Goddard Space
Flight Center from 1975 to 1980; organizer of the Independent Mars Investigation (1984) and the Mars
Investigation Group (1986) and The Mars Mission (1988); Author of The Monuments Of Mars: A City
On The Edge Of Forever; former Curator of Astronomy and Space Science at the Springfield Museum
of Science in Massachusetts; etc., etc.
So, why doesn’t N.A.S.A. have Mr. Hoagland report on Mars? For one reason, they cannot control him!
He calls it as he sees it. So we get N.A.S.A. preppies. Richard has, for some time now, been pointing out
and exposing major inconsistencies in what N.A.S.A. says it is doing as opposed to what appears to really
be going on in outer space. Many listeners to Art Bell’s program no doubt eagerly awaited the 10 o’clock
p.m. starting hour on the 4th to hear what might be said.
As the show got underway, Art was predictably excited about what he had been watching on TV earlier
that day, which displayed N.A.S.A.’s great apparent achievement. Of course, he had as his guest Richard
Hoagland, who was about to take some of the wind out of Art’s sails.
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