Aliens on the moon. UFOs. the secret dossier of the Apollo program. Apollo 18, 19, 20

Originally posted by Turiddu
I'd imagine it would be impossible to launch a Saturn V vehicle from Russia without years of rebuilding the gantries and such, I'm sure Jim Oberg can go further with this but the whole idea strikes me as ridiculous. Orbital rockets aren't simply machines that can be fired from any launch pad like some model rocket, they require a massive amount of support infrastructure designed specifically for each type.

edit on 29-4-2011 by Turiddu because: (no reason given)

You make a good point. Please also consider that numerous scientists tried to PROVE A NEGATIVE regarding heavier-than-air flight just before the Wright Brothers made it so. They attempted to scientifically prove a negative (something that is highly unrecommended) by stating countless reasons that heavier-than-air flight was "impossible." Of course, imagination and the ingenuity of dreamers brought us heavier-than-air flight. Personally, I tend to err on the side of what is possible, versus what is impossible.

That being said, and with a positive nod for your point of view, I think that launching a Saturn V from Russia is nowhere near impossible. They have had spies in the US since the birth of the Cold War. The Chinese gained their ballistic missile tech from a stolen (rather, LOST) laptop from Los Alamos during the Clinton administration. The Russians, being master deceivers, could easily have acquired Saturn V technology.

Also, rockets are a lot like cars. --In that you don't need to invent a brand new car factory to assemble and build different cars. Car factories are a lot alike because cars have similar components. The components don't have to be identical, and the machinery and processes required to build and assemble them can be similar, not necessarily identical. In other words, a rocket factory should be able to assemble different kinds of rockets without significant changes to its processes and machinery. I.e., there is no telltale *signature* that would give away a rocket factory that is constructing a Saturn V versus another model.

It's not that difficult. To say that something is impossible, as human history has proven, is actually filled with more risk than acknowledging that it IS possbile. "Impossible" is a transient state. Eventually, most (if not all) things might just prove to be VERY POSSIBLE.