Monday, June 24, 2019

Hoagland resurfaces, Part 2

        The "Other Side of Midnight" web page features the following hyperbolic mini-bio of the Man himself:
His vision has inspired a whole new generation of pioneers of thought and form and opened the way for Citizen Scientists around the Globe. His work is emulated by cutting edge thinkers around the world. He is a thought leader and pioneer, breaking the bonds of stagnant archaic scientific models. His willingness to challenge the accepted norm has blazed a path for thousands of citizen explorers. He has a way of drilling down to the fundamental question that provokes the unexpected revelation.
        "Stagnant archaic scientific models" — such as that the Moon is lifeless and always has been? Such as that numerology is worthless poppycock?

        Hour 2 of Hoagland's "welcome back" interview on OSOM, hosted by the fragrant but prolix Laura London, was quite a mixture. The first topic was methane on Mars, and here Hoagland gave a decent and straightforward account of what it would mean if methane were found to be abundant, and what's been discovered so far. Then it was on to an assortment of speculations about solar system civilizations and similar non-facts. Hoagland kept promising us some dramatic revelations in an Apollo 11 anniversary show he's planning. As experience shows, Hoagland's promises and Hoagland's deliveries are horses of two different colors.

Jules Bergman was hung over
         Almost all of the the second half of the hour was anecdotal, about his experiences with CBS News as a consultant/researcher with the Apollo production team. He re-told a story I've heard before, and it's seminal to an understanding of the origins of his hatred of NASA. Since he gave an over-discursive version (surprise, surprise) I'm going to paraphrase it rather than transcribe his exact words.

        He says, correctly, that the general rule during Apollo was that the only person at Mission Control who could actually speak to the astronauts was the Capcom, who was himself an active-duty astronaut. However, as a PR stunt, an exception was planned for Apollo 15 at a time when the astronauts were not particularly busy, on the way back from Moon to Earth. It was arranged that they would conduct an actual press conference from space, and senior correspondents from the major TV networks, news agencies and newspapers would be allowed to ask questions directly, just as in a normal press conference. Hoagland was with the CBS-TV group as they waited for this event to begin. There was delay after delay, and finally their producer got on to NASA public affairs asking what the problem was. The answer they got was that the spacecraft was not yet visible from Goldstone.

        Hoagland says he made a swift calculation with pencil and paper, and concluded that this could not be true because the mountains obstructing the view would have to have been 5,000 miles high. Much later he discovered that the true reason the press conference was held was that Jules Bergman, correspondent for ABC TV, was struggling with a killer hangover and was not in place. Hoagland says this was "a wake-up call" for him personally, being the first time that he realized NASA was not always honest.

         I find that story a bit suspect, for a couple of reasons. First, the calculation he claims to have done on the back of an envelope is not at all an easy one to do. You'd need a great deal of information about the spacecraft's trajectory and a very good knowledge of geography (add to that the fact that Hoagland's incompetence at math is fairly well-known). Second, perhaps more telling, every Apollo mission timeline was planned and controlled to the second. If such a press conference was planned—and I have no reason to doubt that—it would have been approved by a whole bunch of people, written into the Flight Plan, and implemented like any other planned event. It's extremely hard to imagine that the Apollo 15 astronauts' time budget had enough slop to allow a significant delay.

        So, to go back to the puffery I quoted at the top, perhaps Hoagland's "way of drilling down to the fundamental question" is better expressed as "a way of drilling down through the truth to a story that makes him look good."

Update: Hoagland's story falls apart
        Thanks to very useful research by James Oberg (thanks Jim) we can see how well Hoagland's story syncs up with the documented facts. The answer is, not at all.


        The Press conference, of course, appears in the flight plan. It shows that TV is acquired at M.E.T. 270:20 (very likely through Goldstone)note 1, and the conference is scheduled in the window 270:20-270:50. The annotated transcript shows that TV was acquired at 270:22:31, the conference actually began at 270:23:15 and ended 270:50:12. There is no extraordinary delay at all.

        Moreover, it is not true that media correspondents spoke directly to the Apollo 15 astronauts. The questions were written and Capcom Karl Henize read them in order. Henize explained:
"The questions you will be asked in this news conference have been submitted by newsmen here at the Manned Spacecraft Center who've been covering the flight. Some of the questions they raised have been answered in your communications with - with Mission Control, but the public-at-large has not necessarily heard them. The questions are being read to you exactly as submitted by the newsmen, and in an order of priority specified by them."
        The only open question is whether Jules Bergman had a hangover that day. Bergman's been dead for 32 years so we can't ask him. It's more than possible—the bar at the Nassau Bay Hotel was responsible for endless naughtiness in the Apollo years. I know whereof I speak, or write, believe me.

        I'm e-mailing this information to Hoagland, requesting his comments. Don't hold your breath.

Update 2: Wrong mission?
        Just in case Hoagland's error was simply mis-remembering which mission this story relates to, I checked the records for Apollo 16 & 17 (there was no transearth presser on earlier missions)

Apollo 16: Planned M.E.T. 243:30-50 / Actual 243:25:30 Capcom Hank Hartsfield
Apollo 17: Planned M.E.T. 284:07-37 / Actual 281:27:19 Capcom Gordo Fullerton

=====================/ \======================
[1] CORRECTION: Not Goldstone but Madrid. If TV had been coming from Goldstone the vertical dashed line indicating TV coverage would have been to the left of the MSFN solid line. So Hoagland's story is wrong in another detail.

17 comments:

jim oberg said...

As shown in the link below, all correspondents' questions were submitted in writing and were read by the Capcom, Karl Henize. No newsman EVER got to talk directly to the crew in flight.

https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap15fj/24day12_presser.html?fbclid=IwAR3jXcnqi4ssO1Q0c-bVVOQOwZdUlUzfpD-qvzH2YiW3XtB09dD6TnpQ3Pc

jim oberg said...

270:23:15 Henize: Okay, fellas. I have a preliminary statement to make here. The questions you will be asked in this news conference have been submitted by newsmen here at the Manned Spacecraft Center who've been covering the flight. Some of the questions they raised have been answered in your communications with - with Mission Control, but the public-at-large has not necessarily heard them. The questions are being read to you exactly as submitted by the newsmen, and in an order of priority specified by them.

Drunk ass a Monk said...

What did Jules Bergman, drink?

Chris Lopes said...

So no one was waiting for anyone and Hoagland made the whole thing up. Look carefully, this is my shocked face. ;)

Anonymous said...

Ever notice that the folks Hoagland taels stories about the most tend to be dead? My good friend Arthur C Clarke? My dead friend G. Harry Stine? Interesting he is so close to people who can not call him on his BS stories? Wonder why that would be...

expat said...

Highly inappropriate comment in bad taste from Theadora disallowed

Binaryspellbook said...

Endless naughtiness?
I cannot imagine my old friend Expat indulging in that sort of thing.
That being said, I finally got a new vpn that is stable in China enabling me to access the blogosphere.
Highly interesting Hoagland stuff.
Always a pleasure to read Jimmy O’s comments.

As an aside I genuinely felt sorry for Hoagy when I learned of his loss.

expat said...

BSB: Yes, as a younger man I was quite partial to naughtiness, and had a bit of a talent for it.

Welcome back, great news that you have renewed access.

Binaryspellbook said...

Thank you old friend. It is a real pleaure to be afforded the ability to lurk. That being said I still have to very careful with my words irrespective of vpn. The powers that be (TPTB) really jump on vpn providers and do their damnest to choke bandwidth.

Oh and I checked out Kerry Cassidy's newest (well for this Scottish/Chinese engineer) ravings.
Expat, I really think she has lost the whole plot. A serious question guys. Is she actually fucking mental?

I mean bejeezus, I could call her tomorrow and tell her that my Mother mated with an alien from Zoggalundt, with me being the fruit of this encounter. Then I am mind controlled by TPDB to silence would be whisteblowers using my Zoggaluntish super powers.
And......she would believe it.

Fuck me. What a world we live in.

expat said...

The answer to your main question is, I believe, YES.

Chris Lopes said...

@Binaryspellbook

Nice try, but if you were an Zoggalundt/Earth hybrid using your powers to silence whistleblowers, that's exactly what I'd expect you to say. ;)

Anonymous said...

You write: ..."the flight plan. It shows that TV is acquired at M.E.T. 270:20 (very likely through Goldstone)note 1, and the conference is scheduled in the window 270:20-270:50". This isn't the point Hoagland was making. He never said there was a delay between the Goldstone hookup and the interview transpiring. He said there was a delay UNTIL Goldstone could be connected to the flight.

expat said...

That's correct, but THERE WAS NO APPRECIABLE DELAY. The flight plan had TV acquistion at 270:20, and the flight transcript shows that in fact it happened at 270:22:31. Two and a half minutes is not long enough for the producer to get antsy. Hoagland's story does not check out.

Anonymous said...

Withstanding the 2:31 delay, does the transcript when is the first appearance of Bergman post- 270:22:31?

expat said...

We don't know if any of the questions read by Henize originated with Jules Bergman. None of the questions are attributed.

expat said...

There were 16 questions in all. It's a pretty safe bet that five of them cam from:

CBS: Walter Cronkite
ABC: Jules Bergman
NBC: Huntley/Brinkley
BBC: James Burke
Aviation Week: Craig Covault

Binaryspellbook said...

Hi Chris,
Yes you are correct. Always nice to read your comments old friend.