Buzz Aldrin punches moon conspiracy theorist

September 11, 2002 6:46 AM

Buzz Aldrin punches moon conspiracy theorist - Light on content but loaded up with a snappy title, this headline had me rolling. I can only imagine how 33 years of 'conspiracy theorists' could play on your nerves. If only there were places I could keep track of celebrities who loose it.
posted by dirtylittlemonkey (38 comments total)

Heh. My first laugh of the day.
posted by ColdChef at 6:52 AM on September 11, 2002

Way to go, Buzz!
posted by Cerebus at 6:57 AM on September 11, 2002

excellent. can we expect 'buzz fightyear' action figures by christmas ?
posted by peterkins at 6:59 AM on September 11, 2002

Sibrel, of Nashville, Tenn., said he doesn't believe Aldrin or anyone else has ever walked on the moon. He said he was trying to confront Aldrin about his 1969 lunar mission when he was punched. Video of the punch aired Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

I'm pretty sure that footage was faked...
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 6:59 AM on September 11, 2002

I saw a video of this on TV. It was hilarous. This guy kept grabbing & Aldrin kept trying to ignore him. Finally, Buzz just gives him this sweeping right hook, and the guy goes flying. Buzz is in his 70's but apparently he still knows how to fight..
posted by unreason at 6:59 AM on September 11, 2002

In related news a 7-11 clerk in Kalamazoo Michigan was pursued by 3 very excited ladies in their 60s saying "swear on this bible that the King bought a Slurpee, swear on this bible the King bought a Slurpee".
posted by m@ at 7:05 AM on September 11, 2002

Jeez, I sure hope Buzz didn't bruise his hand on the nut's face. (But why are the crosshairs in the pictures taken of Buzz on the moon behind him? Whats up wid dat??)
posted by BentPenguin at 7:09 AM on September 11, 2002

Anybody got a link to yesterday's video?
posted by alumshubby at 7:11 AM on September 11, 2002

A few points:

1) Many people actually believed the Apollo landing was real, and that Luna-1 was a hoax.

2) A number of armchair astronomers insisted that the space race was a propaganda cold war since the Earth's upper atmosphere and the sun'd energy would've destroyed any craft attempting to escape by way of a frictional "shearing effect."

3) It was also thought the moon's gravitational pull, combined with the natural gravity wells Venus and Mercury would've caused telemetric errors that would've thrown the Apollo craft into deep space, never to return.

4) The most "damning" proof of a phoney moon landing was found in the photographs taken by the astronauts themselves. Nitpicks on the grade of the film being used, the composition of the shots, and the lack of visible stars on the hroizon due to gravitational diffusion of light led folks to believe in a Capricorn One/Mercer Ford scenario.
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:13 AM on September 11, 2002

Note to Self: Remembur spel chek...
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:16 AM on September 11, 2002

This isn't an isolated incident. This guy has been after Aldrin for some time. Check out his website and a rebuttal of his claims.
Sheesh. The moon landings were faked because Nixon was President? Is that the best you got? Oh, and some video you have to pay him to see... oh, NOW I understand why he's so motivated.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 7:23 AM on September 11, 2002

Smart Dalek, tell me you didn't just post that crap. I'm telling Buzz!
posted by glenwood at 7:30 AM on September 11, 2002

Silly glenwood. Click Smart's links. It's good stuff.
posted by frykitty at 7:41 AM on September 11, 2002

"Me and John are heading out to Hollywood, I mean, uh, uh, shit."
posted by pallid at 7:42 AM on September 11, 2002

More damning evidence.
posted by mikrophon at 7:45 AM on September 11, 2002

The bastids at ABC.com want me to pay 5 bucks a month to watch video on their site? No way. Not even if they're showing Sam & Cokie gettin freaky.
posted by JoanArkham at 7:47 AM on September 11, 2002

I'd pay five bucks to watch Charles Gibson and Peter Jennings gettin freaky.
posted by ColdChef at 8:02 AM on September 11, 2002

JoanArkham...ewww....woe betide the person who mentions that Sunday-morning show to me for the next month or so...
posted by alumshubby at 8:03 AM on September 11, 2002

Lemme get this straight... the guy's 37, and he got knocked on his ass by Buzz, who's 72? Damn. Rather than press charges, he should slink away and hope everyone forgets.
posted by sennoma at 8:09 AM on September 11, 2002

Conclusive proof the moon landing was a hoax.
posted by Danelope at 8:15 AM on September 11, 2002

The video from ABC News is worth getting a free RealOne pass to see. This guy with a Bible in his hand keeps squeaking away at Aldrin, blocking him from walking away (without any physical contact), until Aldrin gets tired of being called a liar and cold-cocks him.
posted by rcade at 8:24 AM on September 11, 2002

(The pass is free for 14 days, after which time Real makes merry with your credit card for $9.95 a month.)
posted by rcade at 8:25 AM on September 11, 2002

Back in '87 or so John Glenn took a punch on the jaw from someone as he walked through a crowd. The photo is priceless. His face blurs and distorts as it moves across the frame, his head moving faster than the shutter. My man John doesn't even miss a step, just shrugs off a hit that would have dropped me on my ass. I can't find the photo, but I felt his presidential bid would have gone better if his slogan had been, "John Glenn. He can really take a punch."
posted by putzface_dickman at 8:40 AM on September 11, 2002

I took a video class from a guy who made a documentary called Did We Go? about the moon conspiracy. The funny thing is, he thought it would be a very easy thing to prove, and the movie is about his travels all over the U.S. looking for conclusive proof, and it was very difficult. All he really had in the end was people's testimony that they were there, that they saw the astronauts climb into the ship, that they saw the satellite tracking as it went by -- but there were missing documents left and right, etc. Aldrin's eye twitches when asked where he was on the day he was supposedly on the moon, and the laser reflectors on the moon were also put there by Soviet unmanned missions, and moon rocks are found in Antarctica, and Von Braun hung out there before the first moon landing, etc. An interesting subplot of the movie is all the Nazis that worked for NASA at the time. Anyway, I don't doubt that we went, but it's an interesting movie anyway, about trying to prove that we DID, rather than prove that we didn't.
posted by fotzepolitic at 8:56 AM on September 11, 2002

I can't believe there are people who walk around everyday (and post here!) who don't believe the moon landing occured. I suggest you read HERE then try to explain how all those thousands of people who worked on the project keep quiet.
posted by McBain at 9:14 AM on September 11, 2002

I enjoy stories of tough old guys kicking (or shooting, in the case of Roy Lee Hendricks) the crap out people.
posted by tpl1212 at 9:20 AM on September 11, 2002

Guys like Aldrin and Glenn are made of some pretty strong stuff. I laughed my butt off when I saw that video. Go get 'em BUzz!
posted by jasonbondshow at 9:32 AM on September 11, 2002

Like in A Clockwork Orange "It was Old-Age havin' a go at Youth"...
posted by stifford at 9:59 AM on September 11, 2002

I can't believe there are people who walk around everyday (and post here!) who don't believe the moon landing occur[r]ed.

Don't worry. If you look at the links so far, you'll see that they're just jokes.
posted by originalname37 at 10:16 AM on September 11, 2002

McBain, I myself have always thought that the best evidence that astronauts went to the moon was the telemetry tracking performed by thousands of amateur radio operators. The only way this telemetry could have possibly been faked was by launching a spacecraft, having it reach the moon, having it sit on the moon for awhile, and having it return to earth. Since we were already sending a retrievable spacecraft to the moon, and since we were paying contractors to build life support systems, space suits, etc., why not send astronauts?
posted by mr_roboto at 10:48 AM on September 11, 2002

I've always thought that the best evidence was that we haven't gotten anywhere else yet. If we were filming them in a studio, don't you think we'd have faked manned missions to Mars, Venus, the moons of Jupiter, etc. by now?
posted by originalname37 at 10:58 AM on September 11, 2002

Of course they landed on the Moon, after all, it was on TV and They said so! Plus, God told me it is the truth, and he never lies.
posted by kileregreen at 1:09 PM on September 11, 2002

...Sam & Cokie gettin freaky.

*shiver*
posted by Ty Webb at 2:01 PM on September 11, 2002

I am a hypocrite.

On the one hand, I try to teach kids that violence is not an acceptable solution to name calling.

On the other hand, there are times when a fella is morally obligated to deck a moron.

I hope Buzz get's the slightest possible slap on the wrist and that Mr. Sibrel, on the other hand, gets into all sort of trouble for harassing and libeling an elderly gentleman/living legend.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:56 PM on September 11, 2002

He is my new hero.
Good for him.
posted by EmoChild at 9:09 PM on September 11, 2002

All right self-link about a bill I would like to submit to Congress in response to this...
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:31 AM on September 12, 2002

What, no "shuttle cock" puns?
posted by donkeyschlong at 3:35 AM on September 12, 2002

i hope Buzz receives the same punishment as any other schmoo who assaults another person. an elderly gentleman/living legend ought to be about to conduct himself better and exercise restraint, just as expected of any adult.
posted by tolkhan at 8:34 AM on September 12, 2002