Why would an Apollo Astronaut come out of retirement to jump off a cliff in Peru?
For Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham, calling attention to the “sorry way” that climate science and policy have been distorted is an important reason.
Walt came to the UN climate conference in Peru (COP 20) as part of the official CFACT delegation to issue a call for political leaders and the media to return to “scientific realism” on global warming. Cunningham was part of the three member Apollo VII crew which in 1968 became NASA’s first manned space mission after the loss of the three astronauts of Apollo I to a tragic fire on the ground.
82 year old Cunningham became so “fed up,” with the endless character assassination, lies and distortions that permeate the global warming discussion that in 2012 he joined with several of his colleagues to find out what America’s pioneers in space think about the issue. They found themselves to be united nearly unanimously in opposition the global warming alarmist campaign with the main division coming between those who were willing to say so publicly and those who expressed their opposition behind the scenes.
This led to a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Jr. co-signed by a raft of NASA veterans stating, “We believe the claims by NASA and GISS, that man-made carbon dioxide is having a catastrophic impact on global climate change are not substantiated, especially when considering thousands of years of empirical data. With hundreds of well-known climate scientists and tens of thousands of other scientists publicly declaring their disbelief in the catastrophic forecasts, coming particularly from the GISS leadership, it is clear that the science is NOT settled.”
In Peru, Walt braved high altitudes and powerful winds to make his paragliding jump over the Andes mountains and CFACT’s team unfurled a banner in the sky which reads, “No new treaty!”
“I can’t think of a more beautiful or dramatic backdrop before which to make this important point,” Cunningham said. “As a member of CFACT’s delegation to the UN climate talks I can tell you first hand that there is endless destructive nonsense being contemplated. A new global warming treaty would be a terrible mistake.”
“In some ways getting this paraglider off the ground was tougher than Apollo VII,” Cunningham joked. “The forces on that rig made zero gravity look pretty good!”
Watch the video here:
Colonel Cunningham will speak at numerous events at COP 20 including a UN press conference scheduled for Thursday at 2 PM. Â He will appear on the UN climate studio Thursday at 3:30 PM.
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Here is the full text of the letter to NASA:
March 28, 2012
The Honorable Charles Bolden, Jr.
NASA Administrator
NASA Headquarters
Washington, D.C. 20546-0001
Dear Charlie,
We, the undersigned, respectfully request that NASA and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) refrain from including unproven remarks in public releases and websites. We believe the claims by NASA and GISS, that man-made carbon dioxide is having a catastrophic impact on global climate change are not substantiated, especially when considering thousands of years of empirical data. With hundreds of well-known climate scientists and tens of thousands of other scientists publicly declaring their disbelief in the catastrophic forecasts, coming particularly from the GISS leadership, it is clear that the science is NOT settled.
The unbridled advocacy of CO2 being the major cause of climate change is unbecoming of NASA’s history of making an objective assessment of all available scientific data prior to making decisions or public statements.
As former NASA employees, we feel that NASA’s advocacy of an extreme position, prior to a thorough study of the possible overwhelming impact of natural climate drivers is inappropriate. We request that NASA refrain from including unproven and unsupported remarks in its future releases and websites on this subject. At risk is damage to the exemplary reputation of NASA, NASA’s current or former scientists and employees, and even the reputation of science itself.
For additional information regarding the science behind our concern, we recommend that you contact Harrison Schmitt or Walter Cunningham, or others they can recommend to you.
Thank you for considering this request.
Sincerely,
(Attached signatures)
CC: Mr. John Grunsfeld, Associate Administrator for Science
CC: Ass Mr. Chris Scolese, Director, Goddard Space Flight Center
Ref:Â Letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, dated 3-26-12, regarding a request for NASA to refrain from making unsubstantiated claims that human produced CO2 is having a catastrophic impact on climate change.
/s/ Jack Barneburg, Jack – JSC, Space Shuttle Structures, Engineering Directorate, 34 years
/s/ Larry Bell – JSC, Mgr. Crew Systems Div., Engineering Directorate, 32 years
/s/ Dr. Donald Bogard – JSC, Principal Investigator, Science Directorate, 41 years
/s/ Jerry C. Bostick – JSC, Principal Investigator, Science Directorate, 23 years
/s/ Dr. Phillip K. Chapman – JSC, Scientist – astronaut, 5 years
/s/ Michael F. Collins, JSC, Chief, Flight Design and Dynamics Division, MOD, 41 years
/s/ Dr. Kenneth Cox – JSC, Chief Flight Dynamics Div., Engr. Directorate, 40 years
/s/ Walter Cunningham – JSC, Astronaut, Apollo 7, 8 years
/s/ Dr. Donald M. Curry – JSC, Mgr. Shuttle Leading Edge, Thermal Protection Sys., Engr. Dir., 44 years
/s/ Leroy Day – Hdq. Deputy Director, Space Shuttle Program, 19 years
/s/ Dr. Henry P. Decell, Jr. – JSC, Chief, Theory & Analysis Office, 5 years
/s/Charles F. Deiterich – JSC, Mgr., Flight Operations Integration, MOD, 30 years
/s/ Dr. Harold Doiron – JSC, Chairman, Shuttle Pogo Prevention Panel, 16 years
/s/ Charles Duke – JSC, Astronaut, Apollo 16, 10 years
/s/ Anita Gale
/s/ Grace Germany – JSC, Program Analyst, 35 years
/s/ Ed Gibson – JSC, Astronaut Skylab 4, 14 years
/s/ Richard Gordon – JSC, Astronaut, Gemini Xi, Apollo 12, 9 years
/s/ Gerald C. Griffin – JSC, Apollo Flight Director, and Director of Johnson Space Center, 22 years
/s/ Thomas M. Grubbs – JSC, Chief, Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Branch, 31 years
/s/ Thomas J. Harmon
/s/ David W. Heath – JSC, Reentry Specialist, MOD, 30 years
/s/ Miguel A. Hernandez, Jr. – JSC, Flight crew training and operations, 3 years
/s/ James R. Roundtree – JSC Branch Chief, 26 years
/s/ Enoch Jones – JSC, Mgr. SE&I, Shuttle Program Office, 26 years
/s/ Dr. Joseph Kerwin – JSC, Astronaut, Skylab 2, Director of Space and Life Sciences, 22 years
/s/ Jack Knight – JSC, Chief, Advanced Operations and Development Division, MOD, 40 years
/s/ Dr. Christopher C. Kraft – JSC, Apollo Flight Director and Director of Johnson Space Center, 24 years
/s/ Paul C. Kramer – JSC, Ass.t for Planning Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Div., Egr. Dir., 34 years
/s/ Alex (Skip) Larsen
/s/ Dr. Lubert Leger – JSC, Ass’t. Chief Materials Division, Engr. Directorate, 30 years
/s/ Dr. Humbolt C. Mandell – JSC, Mgr. Shuttle Program Control and Advance Programs, 40 years
/s/ Donald K. McCutchen – JSC, Project Engineer – Space Shuttle and ISS Program Offices, 33 years
/s/ Thomas L. (Tom) Moser – Hdq. Dep. Assoc. Admin. & Director, Space Station Program, 28 years
/s/ Dr. George Mueller – Hdq., Assoc. Adm., Office of Space Flight, 6 years
/s/ Tom Ohesorge
/s/ James Peacock – JSC, Apollo and Shuttle Program Office, 21 years
/s/ Richard McFarland – JSC, Mgr. Motion Simulators, 28 years
/s/ Joseph E. Rogers – JSC, Chief, Structures and Dynamics Branch, Engr. Directorate,40 years
/s/ Bernard J. Rosenbaum – JSC, Chief Engineer, Propulsion and Power Division, Engr. Dir., 48 years
/s/ Dr. Harrison (Jack) Schmitt – JSC, Astronaut Apollo 17, 10 years
/s/ Gerard C. Shows – JSC, Asst. Manager, Quality Assurance, 30 years
/s/ Kenneth Suit – JSC, Ass’t Mgr., Systems Integration, Space Shuttle, 37 years
/s/ Robert F. Thompson – JSC, Program Manager, Space Shuttle, 44 years/s/ Frank Van Renesselaer – Hdq., Mgr. Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters, 15 years
/s/ Dr. James Visentine – JSC Materials Branch, Engineering Directorate, 30 years
/s/ Manfred (Dutch) von Ehrenfried – JSC, Flight Controller; Mercury, Gemini & Apollo, MOD, 10 years
/s/ George Weisskopf – JSC, Avionics Systems Division, Engineering Dir., 40 years
/s/ Al Worden – JSC, Astronaut, Apollo 15, 9 years
/s/ Thomas (Tom) Wysmuller – JSC, Meteorologist, 5 years
“There are two ways to be fooled:
to refuse to believe what is true and to continue to believe what is not…”
The “global warming” alarmists , the ones who believe it, are just fools
The ones who are manufacturing the false data are the real charlatans.
Nice, well founded letter. HOWEVER, Bolden will agree with, and do whatever his ‘boss’ tells him too so the ‘letter’ is simply a waste of some very capable and intelligent people’s time!
Yes. The letter is well founded. Bolden may do what his boss tells him just as some to many climate scientists will provide their conclusion on their research as evidence of global warming, that their boss, the agency with the money, desires to read that CO2 is the driver of warming. Who is paying the pay check is important. Those who signed this letter appear to be retired so they have no reason to be biased in their beliefs. Hence, I will tend to agree will what they state in their letter. However, not just because they are retired but because I too believed that man made global warming was a possibility. That was before I began to research the data and articles myself and to understand how weak the green house effect of CO2 was and how little of a percentage of radiation was captured by CO2. Both are very small. That fact was an incentive for me to learn more.As I read and reviewed the comments from both sides, I made my decision that the AGW groups were not interested in the science but instead in the political side of the issue. That issue was of gaining control of people’s lives and pushing an agenda of Cap and Trade taxation with the redistribution of funds obtained to help poor nations by taxing industrialized nations. Of course, along the way, there has to be the skimming of those funds to politicians and others. The end result is twofold. One is to take one more step toward agenda 21 where citizens loss their private property rights and UN control of people ‘s lives. Two, is that the poor will remain poor and that the Cap and Trade will do nothing to advance the plight of the poor. Thus, the poor will remain poor and the cycle of more taxes and redistribution will start all over again. Everyone needs to recognized that a treaty on Global warming is a disaster. Vote any politician who subscribes to this redistribution and control agenda out of office.
The hardest thing to understand about this is how people confuse the real issue. Global warning has nothing to do with global warming. The “scare” has to do with controlling the masses. It’s exactly the same issue as Gun Control, the IRS, the FED, Central Banks, Wall Street Fraud, Foreclosure fraud, the Just-Us system, political “leadership”, Vote Fraud, immigration, Islam, wars that will not end in our lifetime, nation building, militarized police departments, 60 million laws in 100,000 volumes of small print, re-writing the Constitution, usurping the “Rule of Law”, prayer in school, Common Core, Agenda 21, ICLEI, low volume flush toilets, “new improved” lightbulbs, GMO’s: as a partial list. The end result is the same. The “bully” wants to control every aspect of every thing for every body. Watch the right hand while the left hand destroys your god granted rights. Has NOTHING to do with warming.
But, in the end, who am I to blow against the wind?
The sad part? Truth is truth, you just can’t fix stupid.
Global warming is a theory that scientists are trying to convince us. The universe was created by God and therefore, the nature is under the control of God. So, yes, we have to take care of what we have, there is no doubt. It is like saying if you do not follow a proper diet, if you use drugs, and the life of the person is disorganized and not well organized; because the body is short-lived. In the same way goes with the nature; there are countries that to achieve a significant industrial development; they don’t care how people can survive in polluted conditions. There are other countries that have abundant vegetation and they believe that by cutting all the trees and there is no restocking of those trees and as they sell to companies that they’re not interested in the environment; either.In some countries where i have visited, have no idea what is the pollution of the environment. They just keep life according to their possibilities. There are poor countries where people do not have drinking water and therefore how they’re going to get water to grow vegetables or trees or shrubs. There are other countries where poor people go to the river to wash clothes for the family. They don’t know what to do that are polluting the rivers. But the most strong is that the companies that exploit mines, are not in the work of protecting the people from the debris of metals that contaminate the environment.and leave them scattered all over. Textile companies for example are other more polluting the environment. And there are other countries that have plenty of water and terrain suitable to plant, shrubs, trees, or the variety of vegetation that there is in nature, however, they do not have the concept that the trees are our allies to keep the environment clean. I conclude by saying that the meeting that they will have; how they will do to avoid that multinational corporations stop polluting the environment?. An example: is like, I have my beautiful home inside and out, but if around the House there is pestilence, smoke from the chimneys of the neighbors and all the neighbors not planted one tree. Will I survive in that environment?
You are confusing climate global change of warming (or whatever the latest name they use, is) with air pollution. This is a common strategy the warmists use. Climate doesn’t equal “green”. In fact our planet would actually be greener with more CO2. This is why they pump up the CO2 levels to about 1000 ppm in greenhouses. So don’t fall for this “let’s all hold hands and be green” BS. CO2 is not an “air pollutant” per say. Plants need it to grow using photo synthesis. We would all die without CO2 in the atmosphere. Yes, we need to protect our planet. Nobody disagrees with that (seriously NO- body). Climate change is its own animal and is a different field of study than air pollution, water, or any other waste that contaminates the planet. CO2 is dry ice when frozen. It is crystaline pure white in color – like ice. It is a trace gas and it is harmless to humans unless, like any other gas, it displaces all our oxygen which there is no fear of that ever happening at the moment. Water vapor is by far the most abundant and effective greenhouse gas. Models predict what affect on water vapor more CO2 will have. This is why the models have failed. There is no more water vapor forced by CO2 (my new name for water vapor and water is “hydrogen” – I would like to see everyone start calling water “hydrogen”, to illustrate how idiotic it is to call CO2 “carbon” when it’s NOT) now than when we had lower levels of CO2. There is no climate change, period. At least nothing beyond what would happen if humans were not on the planet (natural) – and this we just don’t know. We cannot percieve real climate change because our lives are far too short to be able to measure this long of a geological period, and we obviously don’t even know how, because “we” (climate idiots masquerading as scientists) seem to equate temperature and weather with the climate, which just isn’t true. Even ABS News talks about a weather event and then proceeds to say “and speaking of climate” NO – idiot, weather is NOT the climate. Never was. Even the warmists were saying this 10 years ago.
“The latest name they use” is Climate Disruption. Seriously! The IPCC (International Panel on Climate Con) are trying to cover all bases now, after being forced to admit, thanks to CFACT and others, that there has been NO Warming in 18 years. Think about that: Global Warming has NOT occurred over the entire lifetime of a current high school student.
Oinklesam mentions some political issues that are real. We can debate whether our government uses these issues to steel our rights and I’m sure there’s times when this is the result or even the goal. But at least most of these issues are “real”, even if they are too political. Unfortunately, it’s just not proved that global climate warming change is a real issue. It’s a fake made up scam issue as far as I can tell. It was invented to give jobs to people who are not smart enough to pass more difficult topics like meteorology. Others tag along to get fame and fortune by publishing their opinions on the matter. Others use it to try and redistribute wealth. Yet others use it to prove how “green” they are so we buy their products (as marketing strategy). Everyone is so intent on using global climate warming change in a way that benefits them the best, that they lose sight of what “climate” is and what it means. It’s not the weather. It’s not even the temperature. It’s not extremes or anything “they” (the nightly sheeple news) say it is. It’s not melting ice. Why can’t we just stick to the facts. If the climate was changing we’d see deserts turning into rain forests. We’d see tundra becoming more tropical. We may not even have changes in temperature. Or maybe we’d see some sand dunes become habitable. We’d see some evidence of these things. But we don’t. Even though we know they do happen, just not by people driving SUVs. Precipitation and humidity, snowfall and especially vegetation all make up the climate as far as I know, yet we can’t even seem to focus on any of this because we are too busy calling everyone who’s not a member of the church of climate, skeptics or deniers, or some other degrading name. That’s when no data is being manipulated or other lies are being told. Climatologists are obviously just not scientists. Science isn’t where you draw conclusions and then manipulate data to support your conclusion. They should have gone into politics if that is what they wanted to do.
You said steel our rights, I’m sure you meant weapons made of steel they want to confiscate. The global, monster, bastards! No, really, they are.
Global Warming/Climate Change is just another pretext to promote a leftist agenda of anti-capitalism and bigger government.
Unfortunalely, the GW/CC entity has most of the media in its bag, since, as a matter of course, the media is mostly populated with “people of letters” who tend to be leftists.
Even snowbanks in Miami would be blamed on GW/CC
.
There is no one “climate for the earth”, you travel through different climatic regimes as you travel around the world. There is no “temperature for the earth”. Highest temperature recorded in Death Valley Nevada was 57deg C in 1913, the Lut desert in Iran has shown ground temperature as high as 70.7 deg C on satellite readings.
There is a satellite reading of minus 94.7 deg C in Antarctica from 2010. The difference between the two is an incredible 165 deg C.
How does this CO2 molecule, at just 0.04% of the atmosphere, supposedly over the whole planet, do that? Amazing stuff!
This is politics pure and simple.
BEWARE – The Climate HOAX is being pushed FULL steam ahead.
Paris 2015 – Securing our prosperity through a global climate change agreement
– https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/360596/hmg_paris_2015.pdf
I forwarded this to several friends. Greens are suicidal, like many cults. How many thousands freeze to death every year? If the Greens would get their way, the grid would be demolished. There isn’t any energy development they support, no matter how proven safe and clean, except “renewables” (which depend on so-called fossil fuels to manufacture and create and do not provide enough joules to heat millions of homes). They are “deep ecology” Malthusians and see humans as a virus on Earth that needs to be eliminated. Then they go home to their heated homes and sleep in their cozy beds while the old lady freezes under the bridge down the street.
questimer, I know what you’re trying to tell me. The scientists are trying to tell us that the climate is changing in this world. Sure, because as well as the people we grow older this world is also going to finish it. In the Bible says that man is not able to create anything from nothing. We have only to look at the seasons. And so also the Bible says that even the animals know when the summer comes. Well, we need to know that this earth will end up.You can look for in the Bible:
Genesis 1:1King James Version (KJV)
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 Peter 3:10King James Version (KJV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2 Peter 3:12King James Version (KJV) 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Luke 1:32-33King James Version (KJV)
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Revelation 19:15King James Version (KJV)
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Revelation 20:7-10King James Version (KJV)
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Thank you, Colonel Cunningham! Too bad there aren’t more like you, with your credentials, to speak out. Also, I heard you were pushed off the stage so John Kerry could have a photo-op, and probably to silence and intimidate. They have about as much shame as they have knowledge, i.e., none.