Conspiracy

57th anniversary of Apollo 11 triggers new wave of conspiracy theories

By T.K. Randall
July 21, 2026

Image: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon
Credit: Neil Armstrong (1969) / (PD) 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."

Neil and Buzz spent just over two hours exploring the lunar surface before retreating to the lander.

Less than 22 hours after arriving on the Moon, the pair lifted off in the Eagle's ascent stage before rendezvousing with Michael Collins in the orbiting command module Columbia.

The three astronauts then returned to the Earth and splashed down in the Pacific on July 24th. Despite the groundbreaking nature of the mission, however, even today - 57 years later - there are still people who believe that the whole thing was a hoax.

Such beliefs have even seen something of a resurgence in recent years due to conspiracy theories being spread around on social media combined with a growing distrust in politics and authority figures.

There are several pieces of evidence that would seem to prove that humans walked on the Moon, including the rocks returned by the Apollo crews, the equipment still sitting on the lunar surface and the sheer volume of photographic evidence taken by the astronauts.

That said, not everyone is convinced.

With the Artemis program now set to return humans to the lunar surface in the near future, perhaps the next few years will reveal whether such conspiracy theories will finally fade away - or simply find new ways to endure.

Source: Mail Online

Tags: Apollo, Moon