Featured Image Credit: Harmony Gerber / Contributor via Getty
The human race changed forever on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the Moon and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out onto its rocky surface. 20% of the world's population is said to have watched the Moon landing, cementing Armstrong's, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," in the history books.
While there have been many trips to space in the 56 years since Apollo 11, no one has set foot on the Moon since Eugene Cernan did in 1972. That's all due to change with the Artemis III mission, although some are still convinced that Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins' legendary mission didn't happen all those years ago.
As we saw with Katy Perry's brief mission to the stars, there are still plenty of space conspiracy theorists out there. Even the ever-skeptical Elon Musk has assured us we landed on the Moon, but for some, that's still not enough. It's probably not helped when one of his SpaceX employees admits the Apollo 11 landing could've been faked.
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Now, resurfaced footage of Aldrin has thrown fuel on the fire that it was all an elaborate hoax.
Conspiracy theorists are champing at the bit over two clips where Aldrin seems to admit the 1969 Moon landing was faked. During a 2000 interview with Conan O'Brien, viewers were shocked when Aldrin snapped, "No, you didn't," when the host said he remembered watching the landing. The second man on the move went on to explain: "There wasn't any television, there wasn't anyone taking a picture. You watched an animation."
O'Brien didn't know how to respond, and since, the clip has garnered millions of views.
In 2015, Aldrin set more tongues wagging when an eight-year-old girl asked why no one had been to the Moon since 1972. Aldrin said: "Because we didn't go there, and that's the way it happened."
Before you go crying that Aldrin is a Moon conspiracy theorist, Reuters has fact-checked these clips and claims they're excerpts from much longer clips.
For the Conan interview, Aldrin seemed to be referring to the animations that were intercut with actual footage from the mission, with him explaining: "You watched animation so you associated what you saw with… you heard me talking about, you know, how many feet we’re going to the left and right."
In terms of the 2015 clip, Aldrin goes on to add: "We need to know why something stopped in the past if we wanted to keep it going."
He also says that money is a factor, needing it for new equipment and resources, "Instead of keep doing the same thing."
Despite NASA repeatedly backing up the validity of the Apollo 11 mission with testimony and physical evidence, it won't stop the skeptics from swirling.
Notably, the Flat Earth Society made sensationalist claims back in 1980, alleging that the landing was staged on a Hollywood backlot with funding from Walt Disney, using a script from sci-fi legend Arthur C. Clarke, and directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Even when we eventually get back to the Moon, you can bet there will be legions that think it's been 'faked'.
