Charles Kenneth Johnson (July 24, 1924 – March 19, 2001) was, from 1972 until his death, the president of the International Flat Earth Research Society, which he and his wife ran from their home in California. He claimed that the Apollo Moon landings, and space exploration in general, were faked to lead people away from the biblical truth that the world was flat.
Originally an airplane mechanic in San Francisco, Johnson took over the Society from Samuel Shenton on the latter's death in 1972, from his ranch, near Edwards Air Force Base.
In his obituary, Tim Bullamore wrote, "Although the world at large was slow to accept his work, Johnson remained cheerful and unruffled. watching the sun over the flat desert. He was regularly interviewed by curious journalists and was often invited to speak about his subject. He received large quantities of mail, not all of it ridiculing his work, and on one occasion he starred in an ice-cream advertisement."
If Earth were a ball spinning in space, there would be no up or down," he told Newsweek in 1984. He believed the moon landing was a sophisticated hoax which was filmed at Meteor Crater, Arizona, and was scripted by science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke. In this, if nothing else, he was far from alone. It makes you kind of a loner . . . They don't want anything to do with a controversial idea," he told documentary filmmaker, Robert Abel, in 1992.
Charles K Johnson Passed on March 19th at the age of 76 at his home in Lancaster, California.