Nexus - 0228 - New Times Magazine-pages

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— Mysteries of our Moon — NASA's 'Secret' Moon Photos — Mysteries of our Moon — ‘Secret’ NASA's Moon An American engineer's experience with photographs and audio transcripts from NASA's lunar missions adds credibility to the notion that somebody else is on the Moon. Part 2 MUFON-Houston member Vito Saccheri recounts the experience that hooked-him on the possible existence of flying saucers and alien civilisations. His memories, whether altered by time or perspective, clearly changed his outlook on life and may give you pause as well. — HS n 1979 I was a project manager for a privately owned engineering company doing business with the Venezuelan oil industry. My counterpart in Venezuela, our client's chief engineer, an American engineer named Lester Howes, had come to Houston on business. Les and I had spoken by phone and telex for years (no fax machines back then), but we had never met. We hit it off when he arrived, and after a few days he confided that he had an ulterior motive in coming to Houston. After asking me to keep an open mind, he told me he was both an amateur astronomer and a ufologist and that he wanted my help in obtaining access to secret photos held somewhere inside NASA. I was speechless. When I finished laughing, I realised he was dead serious. Some of the guys at work thought Les was just a little light in the loafers, and others thought he was just plain crazy, but I could see that he was concerned about what I would think of him. After all, we were profes- sional engineers, and he had taken quite a chance with me. Les showed me a small paperback book, entitled Somebody Else is on the Moon, writ- ten by George H. Leonard. Les lent me the book and I read it overnight. Leonard had come across photos he felt confirmed the presence of a very ancient—and possibly cur- rent—civilisation on the Moon. He explained that in 1961, President Kennedy had com- mitted the USA to reaching the Moon within a decade, primarily because throughout the 1950s the scientific community had been rocked by observatories around the world which began reporting and later confirming that "Moon craters" were actually disappearing, right out from under the watchful eyes of their state-of-the-art telescopes! Since the possible ramifications were obvious, the powers-that-be had decided that Uncle Sam had to be the first to reach the Moon. After arguing futilely with NASA authorities about releasing the photos, Leonard pub- lished them himself in his book. He felt the taxpayers had a right to know what NASA knew, pointing out that despite a nine-year mobilisation effort that had cost billions of dollars, NASA had shut down the entire Moon project after only a few landings. His con- tention was that we had confirmed that we were trespassing! The small photos would show little, so he provided hand-drawn sketches to accompany each photo. And he pub- lished the special NASA identification code-numbers for each picture. When I finished the book, I called Les and said I was intrigued and would help. The very next day, we made the first trip out to NASA and spent the day taking the guided and self-guided tours, On the second day, we made our move. We entered the public orientation building and told the receptionist that we wanted to make arrangements to see some Moon pictures. With no clue where to start, she eventual- ly directed us to her supervisor who was equally at a loss. Apparently, no one charged with dealing with the public knew where NASA kept its photos or whether they kept them at all, And no "Photo Records” department showed up on any list. We were passed around to at least four other people before someone admitted that NASA had lots of photos “somewhere” on the complex, but that the public wasn't permit- ted to view "unauthorised" photos of any project. That's when we changed our strategy. Les blurted out, “Isn't it true that NASA is a civilian agency funded by taxpayer money?” © 1995 by Vito Saccheri Reprinted with permission from HOUSTON SKY (no. 5, June/July 1995) PO Box 1718 Bellaire, Texas 77402, USA Phone/fax: +1 (713) 772 0222 Reprinted with permission from HOUSTON SKY (no. 5, June/July 1995) PO Box 1718 Bellaire, Texas 77402, USA Phoneffax: +1 (713) 772 0222 NEXUS ¢ 45 © 1995 by Vito Saccheri OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1995