Mr Gray is very amused by conspiracy theories. First, he finds them attractive. Great ideas for a novel or movie and recommends three related books, two old and one brand new: the oldest is Why People Believe Strange Things by American Michael Shermer, subtitled Pseudoscience, Superstitions and Other Errors of Our Time (translated by M. Panagiotakis , University Press of Crete, 2006). The second oldest is “Conspiracy Theories. Esotericism, extremism” (translated by An. Karastathi, Polis, 2010) by Pierre Andre Tagiev (unfortunately sold out), and the new one is the collective work “Pseudosciences and conspiracy theories. Guide to Navigation,” scientifically edited by astrophysicist Manolis Pleionis (University Press of Crete – we will return to this title shortly on another insert page).

Among the conspiracy theories highlighted in the publication is the “(not) Apollo 11 moon landing” that cosmologist Emmanuel Saridakis signs in the volume.

Mr. Gray remembers a beautiful film inspired by this very theory that man has never set foot on the moon. This is Capricorn One, which is freely available on YouTube. Directed by Peter Hyams in 1977, starring Elliott Gould, James Brolin, Sam Waterston, O.J. Simpson and others

His story is as follows: humanity is preparing for the first manned flight to Mars. This is a Capricorn mission with a crew of three.

“Here’s a wonderful conspiracy story that, like almost all conspiracy stories, never happened.”

But at the last moment, and in complete secrecy, NASA sends the stunned astronauts to a secret desert base. The security system won’t work properly, but there’s no way to know, and in fact, at a secret base, three astronauts have to film a simulated Mars landing as Congress waits to cut NASA funding if it fails.

What the three astronauts don’t know is that the head of NASA is planning to kill them to ensure secrecy and make their deaths look like an accident during Capricorn’s return to Earth.

The film came out at a time when NASA was indeed facing financial difficulties and congressional suspicion. It also came out shortly after Watergate: government credibility was at a low ebb. It also appeared in the early days of the “we never went to the moon” theory, and the moon landing was staged studio footage.

“It’s a wonderful conspiracy story,” says Mr. Gray, “which, like almost all conspiracy stories, never happened.”