After taking aim at processed food in my last post on “The Foodening,” I felt the need to aim a little higher… about 200 miles above Earth, to be precise. Grab your tin foil hat (it’s practically required apparel these days) because we’re pulling back the curtain on history’s biggest production: NASA.
Let’s kick off our little look at space-age staging with a hat tip to one of the all-time great creatives: Buster Keaton, The Great Stone Face.
Keaton was the master of physical comedy, performing dazzling, gravity-defying stunts using the simple, ingenious technology of the 1920s: ropes, harnesses, carefully hidden wires, and flawless timing. He didn’t have CGI, but he had a camera, some fishing line, and a lot of guts. And honestly, the results often looked more believable than what NASA shows us with “astronauts” floating in “space” today.
See for yourself in this NASA blooper reel below (turn the sound on):
Hilarious, right? And this is just one of many videos showing harness-and-wire hijinx from NASA.
I’d encourage you to go looking, but keep in mind: YouTube (and its parent company, Google) censors and suppresses content that questions the official narrative. A search for any strong “conspiracy theory” on YouTube or Google almost always results in a raft of “debunking” videos rather than the original claims being explored. Which is why I suggest checking alternative platforms such as Rumble and Odysee when looking for content that might contradict mainstream narratives.
Below: Watch this World Economic Forum lackey brag to an interviewer that the United Nations works directly with Google to rig its search engine results on the topic of climate change.
Apollo 11’s missing tapes: “Oops, we erased history”
If you’re having doubts about the staged performances and camerawork gaffes, perhaps you’ll find this official admission slightly more mind-boggling.
In 2009, NASA admitted to losing 700 boxes of tapes containing the original, raw telemetry data from the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Yes, the historic first Moon landing — the first time humans walked on the Moon.
This 10-track, high-bitrate data contained the high-quality video feed of the moonwalk before it was downgraded for 1960s TVs (which is why the footage the public saw was blurry).
After a three-year search, NASA concluded the most likely scenario was that the tapes were wiped and reused in the early 1980s due to a magnetic tape shortage.
Translation: they kept the propaganda copy. But nuked the forensic evidence.
What do you think — unhappy accident, or spring cleaning?
Finally: the Blue Marble cartoons
Let’s end our NASA nard-kicking today by examining the official photos of Earth that NASA has given us over the years.
Go ahead and look up a few of the most famous versions, like the 1972 “Blue Marble” and the later “Blue Marbles” from 2002 and 2012. You’ll quickly notice they look wildly different in color, cloud patterns, even continental proportions. Why the inconsistency? Because they aren’t photographs at all.
They’re renders.
In NASA’s own words, these are “mosaics of satellite-based observations… stitched together” from multiple passes and processed for clarity.
Essentially, they are computer-generated paintings designed to look like a single snapshot, yet they are published and treated by media outlets as real photos.
Now, I’m not saying NASA is purposely lying about every image. But given that the agency itself admits to heavy image processing, we have a clear gap between what the public is told (“photo from space”) and what’s actually delivered (“stitched digital composite”).
Honestly, what can you expect when the U.S. State Department is handing out “moon rocks” as gifts to foreign governments that turn out to be just petrified wood?
Careless or calculating? You decide
Whether it’s the food we eat or the stories we’re told about space, the biggest lies are often the ones we are least willing to question. And Dear Reader, believe me when I tell you: we ought to question everything.
So keep your eyes open, your skepticism healthy, and your sense of humor cranky. Thanks for watching the biggest show on Earth… where every headline, crisis, and conspiracy is brought to you by the same producers.
Additional topics to explore:
NASA and occult symbolism.
Operation Paperclip. The United States didn’t win the Space Race with an American space program. We won it with a German (NAZI) space program.
Rob Rhode is a former marketing copywriter and founder of The Cranky Creative, a blog so triggering to the LinkedIn elite that he’s been called “divisive” (and worse). He’s never been invited to an industry cocktail party, but his blog has been read by millions and his insights have appeared in major books and newspapers. He’s happy to piss off the right people.
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This is all very disheartening. I too grew up in the “heyday” of NASA’s space race. I still tear up when I hear the name Gus Grissom. He was my favorite of the original Mercury 7. It’s tragic to think that he and two other astronauts, Ed White and Roger Chafee died for a lie. As alarming of all of what you shared is what has really upset me and has me questioning NASA in 2025 is their refusal to release the footage of 3I/Atlas from the HiRISE camera. All other international space agencies have released footage but NASA is blaming their failure to release based on the government shutdown. I’ve heard the excuses but why exactly the shutdown prevents the sharing of footage already in their possession is a mystery to many, including me.
I’m tired of being played for a fool. If I’m tired at my age, I can only imagine how younger people feel. I was raised at a time when technology was in its infancy and without the internet so it was easy to fool us. But now, these barriers no longer exist yet politicians still lie and obfuscate. This while video footage of their previous statements abound. The arrogance is unbelievable. Don’t believe your eyes and ears they tell us. All while the powers that be manipulate these perceptions. Even Orwell would blush at their machinations.
Hi, CynthiaV. It means a lot to hear from you, and thank you for being such a thoughtful, steady reader over the years.
When you mention Gus Grissom and the tragedy of the Apollo 1 fire, it adds a gut-wrenching dimension to the suspicion. To think of Grissom, White, and Chaffee — three dedicated pioneers — dying for any cause is tragic. To think those sacrifices may have been made in service of a questionable narrative, as part of history’s biggest production… that is almost unbearable.
Your point on the refusal to release the 3I/Atlas footage is spot-on, and it’s a perfect, maddening example of the problem in 2025. Blaming a “government shutdown” for the inability to release data that is already digitally stored and ready for distribution is the height of bureaucratic arrogance. It is an insult to the public’s intelligence and a textbook case of using institutional processes — like the ‘tape shortage’ that “erased” the Apollo 11 originals — to deliberately obfuscate.
And yes, we should all feel tired of being played for fools. That weariness is a shared frustration once we realize how systematically the official stories are constructed. The powers that be, the ones who manipulate our perceptions, are now so arrogant they continue to operate on the “don’t believe your lying eyes” principle even when video evidence of their own contradictions abounds.
You are correct: Orwell would blush.
But please know that your continued vigilance and commitment to asking hard questions is exactly what we need right now. Thanks again for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Again, another enjoyable and entertaining blog. Now, being a child who grew up watching the infancy days of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, I have a few ideas on your subject matter.
Now, if I remember correctly, yes, the live video feed from the moon was higher quality than broadcast TV could deal with at the time. So, a direct feed from NASA was incompatible with broadcast standards at that time. A huge screen was installed inside mission control, and a standard TV camera zoomed in on it and broadcast that. The result was the grainy, ghostly image we are familiar with. Or so I’ve heard it explained.
Now, the wire harnesses on the ISS might be explained as being necessary to keep astronauts from floating off during broadcasts where they are trying to stay stationary. The slightest change is direction is exaggerated by the absence of gravity (sadly, that is why many space folks say sex will be next to impossible in space without special equipment – Buster’s harnesses!!). Maybe there is a bit of skullduggery going on, but this is the first that I’ve seen these harnesses pointed. Good job on that.
As far as composites of the earth for space, I can see possibility of distortion and differences in those. I can understand there may be many variables in taking a group of photographs and making one out of them, particularly when taken from earth orbit. Photographs from spacecraft taken from a distance where the whole earth is visible should be more true to form, and there are some out there.
One thing that does puzzle the hell out of me is how NASA could land 6 manned missions and a number of unmanned craft on the moon (and I do believe they did) with computers that had less power than the watch on my wrist, but it’s taking so damn long to return. What’s up with that??
Thank you for the kind words and for sharing your recollections from the Mercury/Apollo days! It’s valuable hearing from someone who experienced the programs firsthand, and I appreciate your charitable, measured approach to the evidence.
You are giving NASA the benefit of the doubt, and that’s fair. However, if we accept your charitable explanations for the physical issues, we still run headlong into the central problem of deceit and trust:
> The Wires/Harnesses: Let’s assume the wires are, as you suggest, essential safety tethers to prevent floating off during a broadcast. The problem isn’t the wire itself; it’s the fact that NASA clearly attempts to hide it. Why go to the effort of poorly masking a legitimate safety device? That act of concealing something routine proves the agency believes it must deceive the public to maintain the illusion of reality. That is a fundamental breach of trust.
> Digital Globular Art: The same principle applies to the ‘Blue Marble’ images. You rightly point out that creating a single shot of the Earth from orbit is difficult. But instead of saying, ‘Here is a 7-day composite render,’ they release ‘photographs.’ They admit these are ‘data visualizations’ — which is technobabble for ‘cartoon.’ The willingness to publish a computer graphic as a real-time, single-shot photo, and allow the media to present it as such, is simply not honest.
> More Visual Bloopers: The wire gaffe is just the tip of the iceberg. I’d encourage you to look at other anomalies, like the ‘spacewalk’ videos that show objects rising from the helmet or bodies of the astronauts that bear a startling resemblance to air bubbles (consistent with underwater training, not a vacuum). Even stranger are the video composites showing ‘floating’ astronauts in the ISS background who seem to awkwardly phase or disappear into the edge of a porthole — an effect of photographic fakery, not free-floating physics.
> The Time-Travel Dilemma: Finally, your last question is the most critical: Why the decades-long, multi-billion-dollar struggle to return to the Moon when they supposedly mastered the logistics 50 years ago? Whether the technology itself was ‘lost’ or the massive industrial capacity was simply ‘dismantled’ (as some suggest), the result is the same: the world’s only major space-faring nation cannot recreate its most celebrated achievement. That single fact remains the greatest puzzle of all and gives us the strongest reason not to accept the official narrative at face value.
Thanks for reading. And keep asking those hard questions! It’s the only way to get closer to the truth.
I don’t think the technology was lost, nor the industrial capacity. I think it was the DRIVE, FOCUS and SINCERE MOTIVATION that was lost. The agency is run by bureaucrats these days and not achievers. Preservation is the name of the game. They are a microcosm of the government in general.
As a 21 year old college student during the transition between Apollo and the Space Shuttle, as a “reward” for giving his daughter a ride from and to Austin at Spring Break, a NASA engineer gave me an extensive tour behind the scene at HQ in Houston. Seeing the training and research facilities just there in Houston was awesome. The technology they had was simply amazing, particularly for the times. And the engineers were dedicated!! I have seen a shuttle take off and was blown away by the sight, the spectacle, and the noise from 9 miles away, getting something like that to work. Simply amazing to witness.
Like I said, the NASA guys in those days were dedicated and motivated, unlike the bureaucrats of today. They have lost their way.
Robert, thanks again for reading and chiming in with such an insightful comment.
Your distinction between lost technology/capacity and lost DRIVE/FOCUS is brilliant and, frankly, the most logical and charitable explanation I’ve encountered for the agency’s struggles.
Your firsthand experience from that “transition era” — getting an extensive, behind-the-scenes tour and seeing a shuttle launch nine miles away — gives real weight to your assessment of the cultural shift. I can only imagine the sheer dedication and pioneering spirit of those engineers you met; that was the achiever culture.
You hit the nail on the head: The problem today is that bureaucrats have replaced the achievers, and preservation has replaced progress.
This bureaucratic mentality perfectly explains the pattern of deceit I’ve been writing about. An organization run by achievers might fail, but they’d be transparent about it. An organization run by bureaucrats, whose main goal is preservation of budget, image, and power, will inevitably prioritize controlling the narrative above all else. When control is paramount, you get:
> Hiding necessary safety wires with poor CGI.
> Erasing original historical evidence.
> Passing off digital art as photographs.
> Blaming “government shutdowns” for withheld footage.
The loss of drive leads directly to the desire for concealment, because a bureaucrat cannot risk exposing any imperfection that might threaten the institution.
Thank you for adding this experienced, psychological dimension to the discussion. It’s always great to hear from you.