Featured Image Credit: Twitter/NASA/Getty
Topics: Moon, Space, Conspiracy Theories, US News
Jen Thomas
Topics: Moon, Space, Conspiracy Theories, US News
The internet loves a good conspiracy theory, from arguing with flat-earthers, to rumors about Jeffrey Epstein's death and, of course, whether man really walked on the moon.
People are spreading theories again trying to debunk the success story of the 1969 moon landing after some archive footage resurfaced of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin discussing the feat in the lead-up to its 56th anniversary.
On July 20, 1969, people gathered around their television sets to witness the Apollo 11 moon landing, with the now eternally famous phrase: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" ringing out.
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and pilot Michael Collins entered the history books that day, but ever since, people have been arguing over if it really happened.
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Footage from old interviews with Aldrin have resurfaced, and conspiracy theorists are using them as 'proof' that the moon landing was faked, along with asking why it has never been repeated despite advances in technology.
In one clip, Aldrin is seen appearing on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien Show back in 2000.
During the interview, host Conan O’Brien shares his memories of watching the moon landing as a boy.
"Let’s talk about this because this is fascinating. I remember very clearly; I think anybody who was alive at the time does. I remember my parents waking me up and we went down, and we watched you guys land on the moon," he began.
Aldrin is heard supposedly retaliating: “No, you didn't. There wasn't any television, there wasn't anyone taking a picture. You watched an animation," he said.
The video has since clocked up more than a million views, with theorists insisting it's proof that NASA faked the landing to fool the Soviet Union.
Another clip has also gone viral featuring Aldrin at a Q&A session at Oxford Union in 2015, where an audience member asked him what the 'scariest moment of the journey' was, and Aldrin is heard to reply with “Scariest? It didn’t happen. It could’ve been scary.”
It has since emerged that the clip was edited, with a key part of his answer having been removed.
The full audio has Aldrin answering about a 'broken circuit breaker' which he noticed after laying down on the floor to rest. The breaker was later pushed back in place with a pen, thus reinstating the power to an engine which helped them to return to earth.
The authenticity of the Conan clip has also been debunked by Reuters, with the full answer given by Aldrin: “No, you didn’t. Because there wasn’t any television, there wasn’t anybody taking the picture.
"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 and then I said contact light, engine stopped, a few other things and then Neil said ‘Houston, tranquility base. The Eagle has landed.’ How about that? Not a bad line.”
He was correcting O'Brien about watching an animation graphic of the moon landing, rather than actual video footage of it.
Aldrin has been notoriously frustrated with conspiracy theorists who accuse him of making the whole thing up.
Back in 2002, a naysayer confronted Aldrin at a hotel.
Bart Sibrel didn't believe the landing happened, and pestered Aldrin to swear on the Bible, calling him a 'liar' and a 'coward'.
Angry at being accused and called a liar, Aldrin responded by punching Sibrel in the face.
Commenters are still arguing over the truth, despite the edits being debunked.
One argued: "At the time this was considered such a big world event that our primary school principal told the students at assembly that if they were able to go home and to watch it on TV they could, and the others could watch it on the school TV (that was it for tech in those days) in the music room."
Someone else was hedging their bets: "I have always considered it feasible that they did land on the moon but had technical problems and/or found their technology was not advanced enough to send vision back to earth, which would have been embarrassing, so had a studio setting on stand-by.
"So maybe both the landing and the "faked landing" are correct?"