Did astronaut Buzz Aldrin say the Moon landing was fake?

The moon landing represents a monumental achievement in human history. However, like many other remarkable achievements, the moon landing has also been at the center of many conspiracy theories, with some arguing that the entire event is a fabrication.

As such, a video claim implied that during an interview with Buzz Aldrin, he was to say that the landings had never happened and were fake. However, the Fact Crescendo team found that his words were taken out of context and, as a result, misled many users.

Let's look at the claim in detail.

Social Media Claim 

On October 5, 2023, one of the Facebook pages posted a news video of an astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, admitting that the moon landing was not real. The above claim has been shared thousands of times by Facebook users. Many have commented and reacted to this video clip as well.

The following is a full video clip that reads: “Astronaut Buzz Aldrin ADMITS He Never Went to The Moon⁉️🚀🤯😱 ‼️For FULL Video Subscribe HERE‼️”.

Facebook Post | Archived Link

Another viral video found on X (Twitter) recently combining clips from three Buzz Aldrin interviews does not show him saying the first moon landing was faked at all; however, many social media users are sharing the video along with a claim that the astronaut Buzz Aldrin has admitted the moon landing did not actually happen and it was faked.

The full video clip can be seen here.

X (Twitter) Link | Archived Link

Fact Check

Fact Crescendo monitors and verifies the above video clips and content through the Google Reverse Image Search process, which leads us to find out the following facts:

A video clip with the exact same format and shape was found and posted on theroarbots's YouTube video site on September 16, 2015, where a young girl interviewed him about space. In the video, he explained and mentioned that money could be one factor, as more money is needed for new space equipment and resources “instead of keeping doing the same thing”. There was no point in the video depicting what he claimed or admitting that the moon landing was fake at all.

Below is the full video clip that was posted on YouTube eight years ago.

YouTube Link | Archived Link

Fact Crescendo Cambodia has also found another video clip taken from a YouTube video of an hour-long Q&A with Aldrin that was hosted by the Oxford Union, a British debating society, which was uploaded on June 16, 2015. It shows that while Aldrin initially said, “it didn't happen,” in response to the question about the “scariest moment,” he was not referring to the mission itself. Upon further prompting, he recounts how, at one point while on the moon, he discovered a broken circuit breaker on the floor of the lunar module.

Oxford Union | Archived Link

The above claim has also been verified and checked by other reliable sources. You may see the details from Reuters (archived link), USA Today (archived link), and AFP (archived link).

Also, the first humans to set foot on the moon were “Neil Armstrong” and “Buzz Aldrin”, who made history on July 20, 1969, when they stepped out of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module. You may find the mission photos (here) and (here).

Follow us and stay up to date with our latest fact checks.

Facebook | Twitter |Instagram | Google News | TikTok

Conclusion

Fact Crescendo Cambodia found that the video clip and the claim on the above Facebook page are misleading. In fact, in the full video, Astronaut Buzz Aldrin described stories of his moon experiences in the entire video, and there was no point in the video depicting what he claimed or admitting that the moon landing was fake at all. There is plenty of evidence that the moon landing indeed did occur.