The Mainstream Media Lie About Outer Space

From Phyllis Chesler

In 1961, I once met Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man who orbited the earth in outer space. Gagarin was on the last leg of his trip back home to Moscow. He was shopping up quite a storm in the Kabul bazaar.

In 1969, I watched the American astronauts actually land on the moon. I could hardly believe my eyes.

And now, something even more amazing has happened. All hail SpaceX’s Dragon and its magnificent feat.

But wait a moment. Also amazing is how the mainstream media in the West managed to underplay–even disappear–the awesome accomplishment that only Elon Musk’s SpaceX–not NASA–just achieved in rescuing NASA’s American astronauts trapped in outer space.

The successful docking was covered in India, France, Australia, Britain, and at the NY Post, ABC, FOX, and Bloomberg, with headlines that blared the truth about Musk’s accomplishment. The NY Post ran it under the headline “SpaceX Crew-10 successfully docks at International Space Station, paving way for stranded NASA astronauts’ return to Earth.” ABC titled their coverage “SpaceX Crew-10 mission docks with the International Space Station to relieve stranded astronauts.” Bloomberg’s headline was “Elon Musk’s SpaceX helps bring stranded astronauts home.” FOX summarized the event with the headline “NASA’s stuck astronauts welcome replacements who arrived to space station on SpaceX capsule.”

And yet far too many headlines purposely, childishly, disappeared the role that SpaceX’s Dragon played in successfully docking in outer space and hopefully, shortly returning astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore safely to earth.

Come and see the headlines in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and at CBC in Canada. The Washington Post’s headline was: “After an extended stay in space, NASA astronauts are flying home.” The New York Times’s headline was “NASA Schedules Quick Return of Astronauts in SpaceX Capsule.” And Canada’s CBC titled the story: “Space crew docks at ISS to replace 2 astronauts stranded for 9 months” And here’s the LA Times: “NASA’s stuck astronauts welcome their newly arrived replacements to the space station.”

And all along, foolish me, I thought that WAPO and the NYT were only wildly biased when it came to Israel and all things Republican. I was wrong. As I’ve recently written, our public spaces are uncivil, combative, brazen. Shameless. Remember the Democratic legislators who sat sullenly and silently as President Trump spoke and kept sulking even when he introduced special guests? And Congressman Green loudly acted out/acted up and had to be escorted off the floor? When the Democratic women legislators, as a bloc, all wore pink and held up auction-like paddles of criticism? And when the audience at the Kennedy Center loudly, and for a long time, booed Vice President JD Vance and the Second Lady? When Senator Schumer is turned on by his party for deciding it was wiser to allow our government to prevail.

Glorying in such exceedingly Bad Behavior. Setting an example of going low, not high. We see that there are many ways to refuse to accept the results of an election.

P.S. SpaceX’s Dragon is expected to touch down near Tallahassee about 6pm est.

First published in Phyllis’ Newsletter