Conspiracy

Artemis II delay brings Moon landing conspiracy theories back into focus

By T.K. Randall
February 7, 2026

Image Credit: NASA When the Saturn V rocket carrying Apollo 11 and its crew first took off from the Kennedy Space Center on July 16th, 1969, the whole world watched with bated breath as three men took to the heavens on the most daring mission ever undertaken.

A mere four days later, Neil Armstrong emerged from the lunar lander, descended the ladder on the outside of the spacecraft and left the first ever footprints in the lunar soil as he uttered the immortal words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Even today, more than 50 years later, Apollo 11 (and the subsequent Apollo Moon landings) remain some of the most celebrated technical achievements in human history.

That said, there remain a small minority who continue to argue that those landings never actually took place and that rather than returning humans to the Moon, NASA's upcoming Artemis III mission will instead see humans walking on the Moon for the first time.When Artemis II was delayed earlier this month, it fueled speculation about more cover-ups and the notion that, even now, NASA does not have the means with which to send humans to the lunar surface.

There are even some who believe that the Artemis program will itself be a hoax and that manned lunar exploration is totally beyond humanity's technological capabilities.

This raises the question - when the first astronauts emerge onto the lunar surface during the Artemis III mission in the not-too-distant future, will it spark a whole new era of Moon landing conspiracies ?

Will people once again refuse to believe that it is real and maintain that the footage is faked ?

In an era dominated by AI-generated videos, it would be easier than ever to make such a claim.

Source: Mail Online

Tags: Apollo, Moon, Conspiracy