Dear Laura:

"Laura" wrote in message
...

"Steve Campbell" wrote in message
...
Nathan Jones wrote:

The 1969 - 1972 Apollo missions occured during a sunspot maxima
period. It was known at the time that on any particular day there
were on average to be expected (during the maxima years) about
15 detectable solar flares that would be headed for Earth and if
we take them all to be low energy flares of about 25 rem each
then that would mean that the Apollo astronauts would have been
exposed to 375 rem each day. The maximum permissible dose for Joe
public is 0.5 rem per year.
Go figure!
Hmmmmm so you don't believe in communication satellites either then.
Because
they are right out beyond Earth's protection, and electronics care a
lot
more about radiation than human tissue.

In all fairness, the satellites are inside earth's magnetic field, and
that
yields very considerable protection (unless they are directly over the
magnetic poles).
Now, I don't believe that the apollo program was just a big elaborate
hoax,
but I would still like to have cleared up how the missions could be
carried
out in safety from the radiation.

The radiation doses accumulated by the Apollo astronauts are public record.
As well as the doses received by various astronauts, from many countries
over time.

There are places on the planet Earth (river deltas, marble buildings) that
exceed the "permissible" limit for exposure to radiation. Check out
"hormesis" while you are investigating... "What does not kill us, makes us
stronger."

The survivors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima that had no notable ill effects had
estimated doses of 50 rem. So a conservative value of 5 rem per year was
established from this. (Mr. Jones bad math should have achieved 37.5 rem.)

We all have potassium in our bodies, as a necessary ingredient for life.
Some of this potassium is radioactive, and the general health of a person
(aka background level of potassium) can be established by use of a (very
accurate) geiger counter.

We grew up with radiation, just as we grew up with pneumonia and influenza.
Don't let the word "radiation" scare you. It is ignorance that will rob
you of freedom, and Mr. Jones is doing his share to feed on this ignorance.

David A. Smith