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Contested claim
Did NASA computers find Joshua’s “missing day”?
MisattributedUnsupported and misattributed: NASA/Goddard explicitly denied it and denied Hill was a consultant. Snopes rates it False; even Answers in Genesis lists it among “arguments to avoid.” This says nothing about the text of Joshua 10 itself.
Joshua 10:12–14 · 2 Kings 20:8–11
The claim
NASA/Goddard computers, running planetary positions backward, hit a missing day that Joshua’s long day and Hezekiah’s sundial exactly account for.
Evidence presented
A widely repeated story that NASA scientists found a “missing” 23 hours 20 minutes. [popular books / media]
Alternative explanation
Folklore with a traceable pedigree: an 1890 book (unnamed “Harvard/Yale professors”) → Harry Rimmer, Harmony of Science and Scripture (1936) → Harold Hill, a Baltimore industrialist, not a NASA consultant (1969, then his 1974 book).
Peer-review status
No peer-reviewed support located. No such NASA calculation exists.
Archaeological status
N/A — an astronomical/computational claim; not reproducible by orbital mechanics.
What would establish the claim
- An actual NASA publication or calculation
- A reproducible orbital computation
- A verifiable primary source for the “two professors”
Sources & further reading
- Snopes — “NASA Discovers a Lost Day?” (rated False) fact-check / media
- Answers in Genesis — “Arguments to avoid” apologetic organization
- TruthOrFiction — traced to Harold Hill (Fiction) fact-check / media
This verdict is about the specific historical or scientific claim — not a judgment about faith or the meaning of the text.
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