last weekend was the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 moon landing. it means different things to different people.
a commemoration of the apollo 11 moon landing (catalog.usmint.gov)by olivia mckelvey on floridatoday.com explains there was a huge national celebration of the anniversary…
yet half a century later, despite other moon landings, moon rocks and firsthand accounts from countless members of the 400,000-strong workforce who helped achieve jfk’s goal, some still believe the moon landings were staged in a hollywood studio. the deniers claim the government and cia are behind the cover-up to deceive americans.
in this context is like but. spanish has a specific word for landing on the surface of the moon (alunizar); english does not– moon landing is the expression. firsthand means from people who were there. countless means a really big, unspecified number. strong emphasizes the size of the number 400,000. achieve means reach, get, have success. were staged is in the past tense. who staged the event (the subject of the sentence) is not mentioned. stage means produce, perform. are people who don’t believe it. means all the other evidence doesn’t matter to the deniers. deceive means intentionally give the wrong idea. cover-up means preserve and protect a lie.
a moon landing. or a hoax. (reuters)
mckelvey focuses on one particular denier.
in the running for most famous of the deniers might be bart sibrel, a 55-year-old tennessee resident notorious for having been punched in the face by [apollo 11 astronaut] buzz aldrin in 2002 after sibrel confronted aldrin in person, calling him a liar, coward and thief. aldrin was not prosecuted as police determined he’d been provoked, and that punch earned him accolades from many fed up with [the deniers].
is a modal auxiliary verb that means possibly. bart sibrel is 55 years old, but when he is described as a 55-year-old tennessee resident, year is singular because it is a measure used as an adjective. having been punched is present perfect and passive voice; sibrel received aldrin’s action (a punch). the auxiliary have is in the -ing form because it’s after the preposition for. in person means face to face.
astronaut buzz aldrin (wikipedia)
a coward is afraid. a thief steals. prosecute means take legal action against. he’d is a contraction of he had and he’d been provoked is past perfect and passive voice. in this case aldrin received sibrel’s action (a provocation). was not prosecuted is another example of passive voice in the past tense. accolade is recognition, appreciation. earn means the public felt he deserved approval for punching the denier in the face. fed up is extremely angry, annoyed. in the running means sibrel could be one of the most famous deniers.
this cartoon dog is a coward but ironically his name is courage.
the article includes comments from sibrel that
the moon landing was a “cold war cia and nixon administration deception,” [and] he has a compilation of “riveting” and “compelling” evidence that reveals the entire space program to be a hoax.
and sibrel adds…
i am not the story, the fake moon landings are the story.
the cold war was the post world war ii confrontation between the u.s. and the soviet union that lasted almost 50 years. it was called a cold war because despite the tension, there were no direct military confrontations. both nations were serious about space exploration. deception is the noun equivalent of deceive. riveting and compelling are synonyms that mean fascinating, very interesting. a hoax is a fraud, a trick. fake means not real.
something in this picture seems like it might be fake.
did sibrel’s opinions convince the greatest shooter in the history of the nba? the article says
even nba player stephen curry, point guard for the golden state warriors, has chimed in on the topic. in a december 2018 interview on a podcast called “winging it,” curry said he doesn’t believe that humans actually landed on the moon.
is used for emphasis to show how many people, including celebrity athletes, have doubts about the apollo 11 landing. chime in means give an opinion, usually to agree. actually means really. curry later said he wasn’t serious.
later in the season steph curry wore a pair of “moon landing” shoes (sc30)
on the other hand, nasa historian, bill barry thinks it’s impossible that apollo 11 didn’t get to the moon…
the moon landing had people working on the project from all over the world not just in the u.s. 400,000 people in america were working on that project, how could you have possibly kept a secret like that?
could have kept is an example of a modal (could) used to express a hypothetical example in the past. for barry, the reality is that it wasn’t a hoax, so covering up the secret was never necessary.
buzz aldrin and the rest of the apollo 11 crew [leaning] on the moon. (ralph morse/getty images)
what do u think? was the apollo 11 moon landing a great moment in human history? or was it a hoax? share your thoughts under leave a reply
