The Sagittarius Orbital Flight Incident Hoax
The Sagittarius Orbital Flight Incident Hoax
| Type of Mission | Crewed Orbital Flight |
|---|---|
| Mission Date | Unknown (Alleged between June 20-27, 1982) |
| Mission Length | Unknown (Alleged between 29-36 days) |
| Return Date | Unknown (Alleged on July 26, 1982) |
| Alleged Crew |
|
The Sagittarius Orbital Flight Incident Hoax refers to an alleged space expedition conducted by NASA in 1982, in which a team of five civillians, dubbed "The Lost Stars", were launched into space on the fictional OV Sagittarius Space Shuttle, and subsequently murdered by one another, all apparently driven mad. It's often considered the antithesis to the Moon Landing Hoax, in the fact that the former is an incident that never happened that some think actually happened, whereas the latter is something that did happen that some think did not happen, despite evidence disproving or proving, respectively, their existence.
There is no proof that this expedition happened, and NASA has repeatedly denied any involvement in the disappearance of the civillians involved. Many mythbusters have said that the facts of the case are too sparse to make any reasonable distinctions and that the information that is available is too far-fetched to be true. Moreover, the five civillians involved were not astronauts at all, making their likelihood of being sent into space near zero, and has led to suspicion that their deaths were staged as a way to gain publicity and likely money from NASA, due to the fact that all five civillians were in financial hardships at the times of their disappearances. Despite this, many journalists have looked into it, citing that it's likely a NASA experiment that used civillians for research and covered up their deaths from the public. Said claims have never been proven with any substantial evidence.
History
Note: Everything written here is alleged, due to the hoax nature of this incident. Most information present on this page is speculative or based on popular fan theory by Henry Speeter.
Background
Hoaxers believe that the initial set up for the expedition took place around late March to early April of 1982. Said set up involved catching wind of an alleged extragalactic cosmic ray that they theorized would have some sort of adverse effect on humans. Under orders of NASA Administrator James M. Beggs, a small team of hand selected employees were tasked with the setup of this mission. However, not knowing what effects said cosmic ray could have, Beggs made the controversial decision to send up civillians, sparing NASA's Astronauts any possible bad side effects of the cosmic rays.
It's unsure as to when, but it's commonly hypothesized that by the beginning of May, the five civillians that would later make up The Lost Stars would be assembled and started to be given basic training in aeronotical procedures and decorum. The team was lead by Maxwell Coates, a carpenter from Des Moines, Iowa, who was chosen due to his impeccable people skills, and limited knowledge of flying planes. Sometime between June 20th and June 27th, the five civillians were boarded upon the OV Sagittarius and launched into space.
Sagittarius Space Flight
Not much has been speculated about the actual happenings of the Sagittarius Space Flight due to the hoax nature of the flight. The trip is rumored to have lasted somewhere near a month, with the ship said to have returned to earth on July 26. Upon it's return, all five members of the crew are said to have been deceased, with blood coating parts of the walls and floor. It is common theory that Phillip Davenport died first, followed by his wife, Lenora, then Jane Hopkins, then Coates and Shaw, though there's no evidence to support this claim. Lead fan theorist Henry Speeter assumes that Lemmar Shaw may have survived, though this is an unpopular theory, even among believers in the hoax.
NASA Coverup
Upon the return of the OV Sagittarius, it's speculated that NASA immediately went to work covering up the incident, starting first with the total scrapping and destruction of the OV Sagittarius. No records have ever been shown to prove the existence of this Space Shuttle, which has lead many Hoaxers to believe said documentation was destroyed. If any documentation or mission logs of the Sagittarius' mission did exist, they were all either destroyed or safeguarded under maximum security, due to the severeity of the incident. It's often commonly speculated that the familes of the civillians were contacted directly by NASA and ordered to keep quiet under threat of imprisonment or death, though there is no evidence supporting this claim.
Controversy
Knowledge of this hoax became widespread after Piper Hopkins, the mother of Jane Hopkins, went to news outlets claiming her daughter was missing after being recruited for a NASA mission. This immediately raised suspicion of Piper Hopkins due to her daughter only being 20 at the time, which would've made Jane Hopkins the youngest person to ever have gone to space at the time. Soon after Piper Hopkins came out with her testimony, many friends and family members of The Lost Stars began to come out, with the most well known one's being Irene Shaw, wife of Lemmy Shaw, Franklin Davenport, brother of Phillip Davenport, and Lindsey Orville, sister of Lenora Davenport. Noticeably, Maxwell Coates' only living family member was his father, who denied comment to the press when asked.
NASA has gone on record denying any and all knowledge of any such mission, and also denied knowledge of the five civillians involved, saying they would never send untrained civillians into space for any reason. It's speculated by many that the entire event was a hoax made up to garner attention on the five families and to gain money from NASA as well as form public sympathy, due to the fact that at the time of the disappearances, all five members of The Lost Stars were going through financial hardships at the time. However, despite intensive investigation, no link has been found between the five families, and there is no evidence suggesting they had ever been in contact with each other, leaving many investigators stumped as to how such a large scale plan like this could've been pulled off.
Some investigators believe that The Lost Stars may have been involved in a humam trafficking scheme, and that the five were tricked into believing they were speaking with a NASA Representative when they were talking to someone with intentions of kidnapping them. However, this theory has mostly been thrown out the window. While Piper Hopkins has admitted that Jane may have fallen for something like that, she doubts it highly, and anyone close to the other four members all posit that none of them would fall for a trick and could only be convinced by the real thing. Furthermore, no proof of kidnapping has ever been uncovered, nor have any bodies ever been found.