Rene-NASA-Mooned-America

Star Light - Star Bright / Chap. 5 p. 31
Once again, American prestige and world leadership was at stake. If the Soviets, who
reported no such problem, found out that the creme de la creme of American men (those who
had the most "Right Stuff) were star-blind, then by the power vested in the Domino Theory,
our way of life would soon be over. We would be knocked onto the ground and stomped flat
under the heel of a totalitarian military boot as demonstrated by Soviet Premier Khrushchev
at the United Nations when he beat his shoe on a podium. Our democratic lifestyle would
disappear from the face of the Earth: blasted away, city by city, in atomic holocausts. At
least, that's what was strongly implied at the time about the Vietnam situation. And it also
seemed to apply itself to this cold-war situation.
NASA tested another batch of pilots, but this time they tested them for star-blindness
before they inducted them into the space program. Their research medical staff, together with
an army of shrinks, devised a surefire test to check them out. The method was straightforward.
It consisted in paying local scout leaders to escort the candidates into the mountains
for a night of camping out and star gazing, man to man! When they came back from the trip
the scout leaders pronounced them to really have "The Right Stuff."
The new group of astronauts were integrated with the old veterans, and NASA began to
send them up two at a time in the Gemini Program. Hopes ran high. Still, after ten more
space shots, the best that could be found were a few who could pick out a couple of fuzzy,
indistinct stars. It was probably bruited about by the higher echelons of super spooks in the
ASP cavern that star-blindness was extremely contagious — like chicken pox or measles.
The up side was that those few who could barely see the stars would become navigators and
with luck we could still get to the dark side of the Moon before the Russians. It was dangerous,
but hey, that's what men with "The Right Stuff do best; they confound us by confronting
danger.
Further testing disclosed that for some undiscoverable reason every astronaut could see
the stars and the planets while he was here on Earth, but the instant he hit space this was no
longer true. The disease apparently occurred only under conditions of zero gravity. It seems
a cosmic joke that just as man reaches for the stars he becomes star-blind. Obviously, no
cure was ever found because even today few shuttle astronauts have ever mentioned seeing
the stars or planets. Did I tell you that the gods were capriciously cruel and crazy
The New World Order was hanging on by a thread. How could the rest of the world be
led to one-world citizenship by the U.S. if our men didn't have the "The Right stuff The
Trilateral Commission probably held its collective breath and ordered an expansion of NASA's
program. NASA, being the eternal optimist, readily went along for two reasons. The first was
that hope springs eternal in the human breast. Secondly, it was a gravy train, a pork barrel, a
veritable cornucopia of untraceable and unaccountable funds.
NASA inducted even more astronauts into its ranks. They hired thousands of people and
let out billion-dollar contracts to multi-zillion dollar blue chip, multi-national corporations.
After all, what is money when God, Apple Pie, the Flag and the American Way of Life were at
stake Sooner or later, NASA knew that we would get to the dark side of the Moon. This was
nobility in its highest form!
During the Apollo Program, they began to regularly send astronauts out in threes. The
ground computers handled the outward bound navigation to the Moon. Everyone, including
the designated navigators, hoped for the best. This turned out to be okay because once they
orbited the dark side, while not cured, they really could see the stars clearly enough to be
able to report their position.
NASA MOONED AMERICA! / Rene