Also fair comment, in terms of possibility. I'm sure the recovery crews would've had no problems about a non-sequence dress rehearsal being sold to the public as the post-mission reality. Space Race and Cold War were mutual metaphors, the Soviets had to be shown who the winner was.lux wrote:I suspect the reason is that the footage of them happily emerging from the capsule and quarantine, etc was shot earlier, before the "launch," under the guise of a drill while the morose interview was actually done after the "mission" was televised.
So, they were happy earlier, thinking they were doing a drill for their upcoming moon trip but afterwards when they knew it was all a scam they looked like they were at a funeral.
However, subjectively, I think that the Apollo 11 team did look publicly happy at ticker-tape parades, during the immediate after-party. Of course, they might've still been on post-mission meds at that time.
It's a logical suggestion. Was Armstrong always such a glum, odd person, pre-NASA? I'd love to see an earlier picture of him, pre Moon, to see if he cracked an occasional grin. I don't buy the sale that they were tight-lipped military men, unhappy being thrust into the spotlight.lux wrote:It's just my speculation, of course, but this explanation does seem to fit the visual evidence.
I think there genuinely may be a lot of truth in the concept of there having been a number of drug-hazed dress rehearsals in a Nevada filmset, covered by a massive geodesic dome and multiple shifts of support contractors ('yep, this is another drill...We gotta do it yet again, this is unreal'
Never forget all that folksy false happy chitchat, and party games on the Moon, contrasted with Earth-bound droll, clipped monosyllabic mumbling. And Armstrong's (scripted but stirring) words...how could he only orate under low gravity? Why did they all happily 'float upon the moon', but stumble on the ground?
Psychedelic substances might well offer an explanation, such that wherever they were (or more importantly, weren't) could've all been a semi functional hilarious blur. Explained away by 'space travel sickness'.