G'day all,

i remember reading, in one of my professional photographic journals, in the 1960s, an analysis of Russian film, allegedly faked, of EVAs. It was not claimed that the Russians had faked the actual 'space walks' but that they faked the film ... to make it more convincing. The article presented anecdotal evidence that many people, particularly in the 'third world' areas refused to believe the American footage ... because it was too clean, clear and brilliant ... obviously faked by Walt Disney or some other film studio!

The Russian films were widely believed to be done in a large water tank, such as is used for Cosmo/Astronaut training and were dark, blurred and unclear - and believed wholeheartedly by those with no grasp of the potential quality of well planned mission photography and cinematography ... paid by an unlimited budget.

Nobody doubts that the greatest objective of the space program was propaganda. Sometimes the fakery (trained by reality) can be seen as the best propaganda tool and that serves the real purpose best - irrespective of what happened in fast.

Regards,

Bob Bolton