Yes Lux, the footage appears unrealistic, or to the least appears as footage which could easily be staged with a $100 computer program and a few digital photography technicians involved in the trick.
I want to correct my previous post about the 1965 French satellite
Astérix.
Apparently, the satellite was first named
A-1 by the French space agency for Armée-1 (Army-1).
When presented with a description of the satellite, one of which pictured a spring, French news media were quick to dub the satellite by the name "
Zébulon," which as described above was a character taken from a French cartoon series targeted to children.
Not only was the name Zébulon connected to a fantasy, but it also appeared very close to the Arabic word "
Zebbi," a slang term referring to the male sexual appendage.
Faced with ridicule, the French space agency then decided to rename the satellite as
Astérix, name for which it has since been known.
http://astronautique.actifforum.com/t11 ... -d-asterix
My question is: was there a form of skepticism in regard to the authenticity of the project in the first place? Was the public announcement of the success of France's first satellite just another paradigm of what the French call the "
Info ou Intox" (information or intoxication/propaganda) debate?
I'm thinking of the analogy with the skeptism expressed by several American news media organizations in regard to the authenticity of the Russian Gagarin mission (first man in space) in 1961, before the announcement by the American spage agency of the Moon landing missions.