Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll recently made a startling remark during an interview on Fox News.
Despite the fact that no human has set foot on the Moon since the end of the Apollo era in the 1970s, one of America's most senior military officials this week made a rather bizarre claim about the country's presence on the lunar surface during a live news interview.
Speaking to Brian Kilmede on Fox News on Wednesday, Dan Driscoll - the Secretary of the Army - unexpectedly came out with a reference to a soldier astronaut on the Moon while talking about the events surrounding the Army's 250th anniversary.
"The Army started planning this [anniversary parade] long in advance because what we believe is this will continue the strength in recruiting and retention that we have as young Americans across the country get to see all of the amazing things that the Army has done," he said.
"Whether it's helping with floods in North Carolina or wildfires in California or we talked to an astronaut yesterday who's on the moon who's a soldier, including actually going to war and fighting to defend the freedoms that are, uh, that make our nation so great."
"Right. The Army can celebrate the Army. That's what it's about," Kilmore replied, without picking up on the Moon comment or asking Driscoll to elaborate on it.
So what exactly was Driscoll referring to here ?
Some have suggested that this is evidence that the US has been conducting clandestine lunar landings for years, while others believe it was just a slip of the tongue.
So far, no official comments have been made with regard to his remark.
You can check out the interview clip below - the comment is just after 4:00.