To her dying day my mother-in-law believed the Apollo space program was simulated in a studio. Maybe she had it right. Maybe it really did go down along the lines of Capricorn One, the 1978 movie starring OJ Simpson, James Brolin and Sam Waterston (hmmm... which actor does not belong in that group, Sam?). From IMDB:

"Classic conspiracy tale about the first manned mission to Mars. All appears to be going well until the astronauts are pulled off the ship just before launch by shadowy government types and whisked off to a film studio in the desert. It transpires that the space vehicle has a major defect which NASA just daren't admit. At the studio, over a course of months, the astronauts are forced to act out the journey and the landing to trick the world into believing they have made the trip."

All this comes up because of today's launch of a Chinese rocket carrying Chinese astronauts. From Xinhua, the Chinese news agency:

"The spaceship Shenzhou-7 blasted off on a Long March II-F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gansu Province at 9:10 p.m. after a breathtaking countdown to another milestone on China's space journey."

That's pretty cool... except yesterday, long before the astronauts had been strapped in, Xinhua published another account. As relayed by the AP, this ran BEFORE they lifted off!

""After this order, signal lights all were switched on, various data show up on rows of screens, hundreds of technicians staring at the screens, without missing any slightest changes ...

'One minute to go!'

'Changjiang No.1 found the target!'...

"The firm voice of the controller broke the silence of the whole ship. Now, the target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time ...

'The air pressure in the cabin is normal!'

"Ten minutes later, the ship disappears below the horizon. Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean."

Finally, the Chinese perfect news BEFORE it happens. That's better than live, right? Maybe OJ did go to the Moon!