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Mike Conley's Tales of the Weird: Lunar or looney? Conspiracies surround moon landings

By Mike Conley | The McDowell News

Published: July 15, 2009

Monday will mark the 40th anniversary of the first men walking on the moon. It is hard to believe that it has been that long since Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin first set foot upon the lunar surface while Michael Collins orbited above as the command module pilot.
The Apollo moon landings of the late 1960s and early 1970s have widely been regarded as the greatest achievement in human history. They came in peace for all mankind.
But since then, numerous urban legends have been circulated about what really happened when Armstrong and Aldrin first set foot on the moon. Some believe it was all a massive hoax perpetrated by our government and they have gone to great lengths to support their wild conspiracy theories.
Other people believe that Armstrong, Aldrin and the other astronauts who followed did indeed walk on the moon but something else was going on behind the scenes.
One of the most persistent and widely held stories about the Apollo 11 moon landing is concerned with Armstrong and how it affected his religious beliefs. Many Muslims around the world are convinced that the first man who walked on another world is secretly an adherent of Islam. The reasons for him supposedly becoming a Muslim are linked to what happened on July 20, 1969.
According to the enduring legend, Armstrong stepped off from the lunar module and spoke his famous words: "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." Then not long after that, he heard a strange sound. It sounded like a chant or a call of some kind. He didn't know if it was coming from outer space or God or some other unworldly source.
The weird chanting sound would haunt Armstrong as he continued on his historic mission. He didn't say anything about it to the other astronauts and performed his duties as if nothing weird was happening.
After the crew of Apollo 11 returned to Earth, Armstrong supposedly tried to find out just what it was he heard on the surface of the moon. He discovered that what he heard was the Islamic call to prayer. It is the call that is given out when Muslims face towards Mecca, kneel and pray. He was so moved by the experience that he secretly converted to Islam and became a Muslim, according to the legend.
Many Muslims all over the world believe that Neil Armstrong is a member of their faith. However, he has repeatedly denied that he heard anything strange while walking on the moon. The 78-year-old Armstrong, who is a very private person and usually does not sign autographs, also maintains that he did not convert to Islam and is not a Muslim. He has said that he holds great respect for the Islamic faith.
Despite these denials, this weird legend persists, especially among people in Islamic countries. Many of them look to Armstrong as an American with whom they have some kind of kinship. No one knows how this myth got started and why it continues to circulate around the world.
Another legend surrounding the Apollo 11 moon landing is that aliens were watching Armstrong and Aldrin while they explored the lunar surface. Aldrin supposedly saw a UFO while on the third day of the mission and the whole incident was covered up by NASA, according to a Web site.
A few years ago, Aldrin said in a TV documentary "There was something out there, close enough to be observed, and what could it be? Now, obviously the three of us weren't going to blurt out, 'Hey, Houston, we've got something moving alongside of us and we don't know what it is, you know?…We knew that those transmissions would be heard by all sorts of people and somebody might have demanded we turn back because of aliens or whatever the reason is."
Since then, Aldrin has denied that they saw a UFO. He added that the strange object that was spotted might have been a detached panel from the Apollo 11 spacecraft. Others believe that it was Luna 15, an unmanned Soviet spacecraft launched only three days before Apollo 11.
Those are only a few of the strange stories that people have told and retold about the historic, world-changing event that happened 40 years ago this summer.

Contact Mike Conley at 652-3313, ext. 3422 or e-mail nconley@mcdowellnews.com.