Not really worried about the whole thing, like really, who gives a damn, I embarked on a research program to look at the effect of the solar activity on my radio signals, then I became aware of solar flares, what they are, how they occur, and what effect they had on our planet, then the words uttered by the Soviets in the early '60s came rushing back - too dangerous for humans outside the VAB, dang, what the hell is going on.

So a little research into solar flares seemed in order, how many flares and on what dates did they occur in relation to the Apollo manned missions, what was the view of scientists (not just the people at JPL/NASA) on solar flares, how much did the US know about solar flares at the time.

Well it seems that very little was known, until well after the Apollo program finished in 1972.

Then I found another funny thing, there were no comprehensive records of solar flare activity, dates nor magnitude (class), prior to 1974, two years after the Apollo program ended, there were H alpha readings and the data from Explorer, the scientific community knew about solar flares and sunspots for a long time, BUT THE INFORMATION AVAILABLE AT THE TIME WOULD NOT HAVE PROVIDED THE GRUMMAN CORP. WITH INFORMATION THAT WOULD HAVE SEEN THEM CONSTRUCT THE LM WITH A SUFFICIENT RADIATION SHIELD TO PREVENT THE DEATHS OF THE ASTRONAUTS IN THE HIGH RADIATION ENVIRONMENT OUTSIDE THE VAN ALLEN BELTS.

Seems pretty reasonable to think that the "manned moon missions" might have been faked, the possibility of a conspiracy for sure, some things just did not seem to fit the picture.

Here is a little info., some of it from an old Russian scientific paper I think, pretty hard to remember where everything comes from.

Sorry about the length of the material but sometimes it takes a lot of oil to quiet a squeaky wheel.

Remember this though, it does not prove a conspiracy, it only points out the reasons why it would have been in the US interest to have people believe that they went to the moon, and it was a good way to ensure funding for the ISS, which was actually planned before Kennedys murder.

First a brief outline of solar flares, or rather the incredible level of radiation that exists outside the Van Allen Belts.

Solar flares are phenomena of very fast magnetic energy release converted to solar plasma heat and particle acceleration. Usually solar flares are observed inside active magnetic regions between the upper chromo-sphere and the lower corona (erupting from the solar surface) The duration of solar flares last from seconds up to hours. THE ENERGY RELEASED IN A TYPICAL FLARE IS VERY GREAT (up to 10^32 erg) - MORE THAN ALL OF THE ENERGY PRODUCED BY THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF OUR CIVILIZATION. A small part of this energy reaches the Earth, influences the magnetosphere and ionosphere and as a result influences many aspects of our lives on Earth. For example, disturbances of communication and electronic systems, navigation, people's health and satellite life-span.

Here is an account of just one period of solar flare activity and it's effects.

""The next 14 days produced 11 "X class" flares (the largest category in X-ray emission) and 48 "M class" (still very large flares). However, the most outstanding feature of the interval occurred on March 13-14 with one of the largest geomagnetic storms in the last 50 years. This storm had an amazing list of effects on earth and in space. Power systems in Canada and Sweden failed as large electric currents were induced in power lines and tripped protective relays. Increased atmospheric drag, resulting from the expansion of the earth's outer atmosphere during the disturbance, altered the orbits of many satellites with the result that NASA lost track of some of them for a short period. Satellite navigation systems failed to operate and High Frequency (HF) communication systems were also out of action. ""

""October 1989 was another interesting interval with a large proton event as a result of solar flares. These are periods of increased flux of charged particles from the sun AND THEY COULD HAVE DRASTIC CONSEQUENCES FOR ASTRONAUTS AWAY FROM THE PROTECTIVE COVERING OF THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE. After October 1989 there was much speculation about the effects of a similar event during a manned mission to Mars and this has resulted in increased efforts to predict these events.""

Satellites often operate in the space environment for many years. As a result, they can sustain long-term exposure effects in addition to special "storm-time" problems. Depending upon their altitude, satellite electronic components, solar cells, and materials degrade from the accumulated radiation dose caused by repeated traversals of the Van Allen radiation belts. Similarly, THE BOMBARDMENT BY ATOMS IN THE THIN UPPER ATMOSPHERE CAN ALTER ORBITS AND WEAR SURFACES AWAY. Some materials become brittle from long-term exposure to solar ultraviolet light above the protective absorbing atmosphere. SINGLE PENETRATING COSMIC RAYS CAN CHANGE THE STATE IN ELECTRONICS COMPONENTS SUCH AS SPACECRAFT MEMORY CHIPS.

SPACE WEATHER "STORMS" ADD NEW PROBLEMS WHILE EXACERBATING THE ABOVE CUMULATIVE EFFECTS. Some satellites charge up when they are suddenly immersed in enhanced radiation environments in the Van Allen belts, the auroral zone, or interplanetary space. DIELECTRIC SURFACES CAN CHARGE TO VERY HIGH POTENTIAL COMPARED TO THE METALLIC SURFACES OF THE SATELLITE, LEADING TO DISCHARGES BETWEEN THE TWO. SUCH DISCHARGES CAUSE BOTH MATERIAL DAMAGE AND ELECTRICAL TRANSIENTS ON THE SPACECRAFT.

ELECTRICAL TRANSIENTS FROM SURFACE DISCHARGING, OR FROM INTERNAL CHARGING (CAUSED BY THE ABOVE-MENTIONED ENERGETIC ELECTRONS PRODUCING CHARGES DEEP INSIDE ELECTRONICS COMPONENTS), CAN MASQUERADE AS "PHANTOM COMMANDS" APPEARING TO SPACECRAFT SYSTEMS AS DIRECTIONS FROM THE GROUND. THESE EVENTS CAN CAUSE LOSS OF CONTROL OF INSTRUMENTS AND POWER OR PROPULSION SYSTEMS. Electrical transients often occur in the local time period between midnight and dawn following what appears to be an injection of electrons toward Earth from the magnetotail during geomagnetic disturbances.

The ionospheric changes that occur during disturbed times also increase the incidence of electron density irregularities, leading to sometimes severe variations or scintillations in the phase strength of signals sent from the ground to satellites at VHF and UHF frequencies (30 megahertz to 3 gigahertz). (it's interesting to remember this fact)

Finally, solar radio bursts can directly interfere with communications in the frequency range between 245 MHz and 2.7 GHz, which is widely used. In summary, space weather-related disruptions to communication systems have wide-ranging effects-from social interactions to economic transactions on a global level to intelligence and surveillance activities.

The principal space weather hazard to humans is radiation exposure to astronauts and passengers in high-altitude aircraft. Although the residual atmosphere above an aircraft provides a measure of protection from cosmic rays and solar energetic particles that enter the magnetosphere, there is still concern for flights on polar routes during major solar particle events. The primary means of reducing this hazard is to modify flight paths as necessary and to limit the flight time of personnel on high-altitude aircraft like the supersonic transport. It is clear that in this case early warnings of solar energetic particles are extremely desirable. While flares can be monitored at least on the visible disk of the Sun, solar indications of the shock-producing fast coronal mass ejections toward Earth are less apparent.

S 5 Extreme

Biological: unavoidable high radiation hazard to astronauts on EVA (extra-vehicular activity); high radiation exposure to passengers and crew in commercial jets at high latitudes (approximately 100 chest x-rays) is possible.

Satellite operations: satellites may be rendered useless, memory impacts can cause loss of control, may cause serious noise in image data, star-trackers may be unable to locate sources; permanent damage to solar panels possible.

Other systems: complete blackout of HF (high frequency) communications possible through the polar regions, and position errors make navigation operations extremely difficult.

S 4 Severe

Biological: unavoidable radiation hazard to astronauts on EVA; elevated radiation exposure to passengers and crew in commercial jets at high latitudes (approximately 10 chest x-rays) is possible.

Satellite operations: may experience memory device problems and noise on imaging systems; star-tracker problems may cause orientation problems, and solar panel efficiency can be degraded.

Other systems: blackout of HF radio communications through the polar regions and increased navigation errors over several days are likely.

S 3 Strong

Biological: radiation hazard avoidance recommended for astronauts on EVA; passengers and crew in commercial jets at high latitudes may receive low-level radiation exposure (approximately 1 chest x-ray).

Satellite operations: single-event upsets, noise in imaging systems, and slight reduction of efficiency in solar panel are likely.

Other systems: degraded HF radio propagation through the polar regions and navigation position errors likely.

The above conditions apply to the region INSIDE the protection of the Earths' atmosphere - NOT TO THE LUNAR SURFACE WHERE THE EFFECTS WOULD BE INTENSIFIED DUE TO THE ABSENCE OF A PROTECTIVE SHIELD SUCH AS THE EARTHS ATMOSPHERE - in short, a VERY HOSTILE environment for carbon based life forms

There follows an extract from IPS (Australia)

"Class X flares are also more likely to be associated with a host of interesting effects here on earth and in space. It is the Class X flares which of greatest interest to those affected by the sun. "

"The table lists, in order of importance defined by X-Ray class, the most significant solar flares since 1976 at which time regular X-Ray data first became available. The list includes all flares for which the X-Ray class was equal to, or above, X9.0 (the list is complete up to March 2000). All of these flares had the most dramatic effects on HF communications and other systems."

1 02/04/01 X20.0	1 16/08/89 X20.0	2 06/03/89 X15.0
2 06/03/89 X15.0		2 11/07/78 X15.0
	3 15/04/01 X14.0
4 24/04/84 X13.0		4 19/10/89 X13.0
	5 15/12/82 X12.9
6 06/06/82 X12.0	6 01/06/91 X12.0	6 04/06/91 X12.0
6 06/06/91 X12.0	6 11/06/91 X12.0	6 15/06/91 X12.0
7 17/12/82 X10.1		7 20/05/84 X10.1
	8 25/01/91 X10.0
	9 09/06/91 X10.0
10 09/07/82 X 9.8		10 29/09/89 X 9.8
11 22/03/91 X 9.4		11 06/11/97 X 9.4
	12 24/05/90 X 9.3
13 06/11/80 X 9.0		13 02/11/92 X 9.0

(IMPORTANT - note in the preamble to this list - the specific statement as to WHEN X-ray data first became available. 1976 - four years AFTER the completion of the Apollo program - so how could the Grumman Corp. provide shielding in the LM and CSM to protect against the intensity that might be encountered - the old H-Alpha readings could not give any measure of x-ray intensity beyond the Earths atmosphere.) The above info. from the Australian IPS.