One of these Americans was James Oberg, a NASA space engineer from 1975 to 1997 who speaks Russian and has written multiple books about the U.S. In broadcasts to Latin America, Africa and Asia, Radio Moscow framed Apollo 11 as “the fanatical squandering of wealth looted from the oppressed peoples of the developing world.”įor many Americans who worked in and reported on aerospace research, this denial was never believable. Soviet spokesmen also said the country was more interested in creating satellites and sending robotic probes to the moon than manned missions that risked human life. “But later, when they did overtake us, we had to maintain secrecy so that no one knew that we had been overtaken.” reached the moon on July 20, 1969, the Soviet Union continued its lunar-landing program into the early ‘70s while still publicly denying its existence.ĭid the US Go to the Moon to Beat the Soviets?Īt first, “secrecy was necessary so that no one would overtake us,” wrote journalist Yaroslav Golovanov in the Soviet newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda. In contrast, the Soviet Union didn’t publicize its own program, or even officially admit it had one. From then on, NASA’s program to reach the moon before the Soviet Union was public information. would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Kennedy kicked off the moon race in 1961 by announcing the U.S. It was a lie that held fast until 1989, when a group of American aerospace engineers went to Moscow and finally saw the Soviets’ failed lunar-landing craft for themselves. Or at least, that’s what the Soviets claimed to cover up their unsuccessful lunar-landing program. But have you heard the one about how the moon race was itself a hoax, because the Soviet Union was never trying to get to the moon in the first place? 'Can you imagine going to the moon and then when you get back having some of the stupidest people on earth telling you it's all fake,' one Reddit commenter opined.You’ve probably heard of conspiracy theories that the moon landing was a hoax ( those are false, and easily debunked). In July 2021, the video was posted on the social media platform Reddit, where it was again widely viewed, and where Reddit users reveled in the moment. Not only was Aldrin not charged, but the video garnered praise for Aldrin, who was seen not only as effectively defending himself but also as delivering poetic justice to a corrosive, nonsensical conspiracy theory. Witnesses also stated that Sibrel had not only lured Aldrin to the hotel under false pretenses, but that he had repeated harassed Aldrin and other Apollo astronauts over the years. Additionally, Aldrin had stated he was acting in self-defense and in defense of his stepdaughter, who was accompanying him.

Police declined to charge Aldrin after witnesses came forward stating that Sibrel had physically provoked him by poking him with a Bible and demanding the 72-year-old swear he really did go to the moon. The resulting video of the incident probably had the opposite effect that Sibrel was looking for. Sibrel had been attempting to make a documentary film proving the moon landings were fake, according to news reports at the time.Īldrin can be heard exclaiming, 'Will you get away from me?' while Sibrel, standing close to him, continues, 'You're a coward and a liar and a thief,' when Aldrin's punch lands with a thud. The incident occurred outside a hotel in Beverly Hills, California, and was captured on video by Sibrel's crew. In September 2002, Aldrin, then aged 72, landed a punch on conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel, who laboring under the false belief that the moon landings were staged, was busy confronting and insulting the legendary astronaut when it happened. In July 1969, Buzz Aldrin was part of the Apollo 11 crew that first landed on the moon, where he and Neil Armstrong made history as the first humans to set foot on it. It was the right hook heard round the world.

Lunar landing hoax