Why the exploration of the Moon has been abandoned ?

Apollo 18,  2011

"Apollo 18" (directed by Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego, produced by Timur Bekmambetov) is the latest film production which comes to (re)fuel the Conspiracy Theory about the real reasons that led the Great Powers to put an end to the Moon exploration programs.

Although it was promoted on the market as a "found footage film" (see also The Blair Witch Project - 1999, Paranormal Activity - 2007, and Cloverfield - 2008), i.e. a film made exclusively by the editing of some real shots which have been rediscovered after a long time, “Apollo 18” is actually a "mockumentary", a fiction film, created by a director and played by genuine actors, in which imaginary events are presented in a realistic form, similar to a documentary.

The intention of such a strategy is obvious: the illusion of reality attached to some imaginary events aims at arousing the curiosity of the viewers and at raising their expectations of the film, which in turn ensures the commercial success of the film.

Since the movie was released on 2 September 2011 in the United States and Canada, its synopsis is already available on Wikipedia and its message could be briefly summarized as follows: The “Apollo 18” mission, which according to the official announcement of NASA was cancelled, actually took place secretly,  in December 1974, and revealed the existence of some extraterrestrial entities on the Moon, entities that attacked and destroyed the American mission and also a Soviet mission that had landed secretly on the Moon before. According to the film, this would be the real reason why the Great Powers have suddenly stopped the space programs designed for Moon exploration.

As far as the public debate mentioned in the previous post is concerned, "Apollo 18" provides its own answers to some of the big questions related to the Moon exploration. Thus, the film tells us that

-         the Moon landings really happened;

-     the Soviet Union also had men on the Moon but this achievement was kept secret;

-        there is indeed some alien presence on the Moon, but that presence is hostile to humans.

Regarding the official reaction of the U.S. government, what we know at present is that NASA, which usually gives professional advice on science-fiction film productions, has refused its services for this film, accusing its promoters of advertising a false "found footage film".

It remains to be seen how the public will react to it, but, for the moment, one thing is rather clear: despite its promotion strategy, “Apollo 18” doesn’t seem to provide any new evidence on the Moon exploration highly debated topic, except for the assumptions and speculations we are already familiar with.