Buzz Aldrin says ‘we didn’t go there’ in moon landing interview as fake claims resurface

Claims that the second man on the moon apparently stating that the historic moon landing of July 20, 1969 was fake, have resurfaced

With the 56th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission only days away, certain interviews where Buzz Aldrin discussed the moon landing are back under the microscope.

Resurfaced clips of former astronaut Aldrin, 95, have reignited conspiracy theories the entire trip to the moon may have been faked.

Aldrin who grew up in Montclair, New Jersey first served as a highly decorated fighter pilot in the Korean War before becoming an astronaut and was the second man to set foot on the moon behind Neil Armstrong.

With Armstrong passing away in 2012 and the other member of the Apollo 11 trio Michael Collins (who remained in orbit while his colleagues landed on the surface) dying in 2021, Aldrin, is now the last surviving Apollo 11 crew member.

The veteran has spoken publicly about the moon mission for decades but sceptics of the landing have honed in on two examples in particular as they analyse the event and cast doubt on it ever happening.

This duo of interviews from the past have now gone viral, with some who have viewed the footage claiming he admitted the US never made it to the moon. And at first glance, there is some credible evidence to show this may indeed be what happened.

According to The Daily Mail, a appearance on the Conan O’Brien Show back in 2000 saw Aldrin stun its audience when the host recalled watching the moon landing as a child.

Aldrin appeared to snap back: “No, you didn’t. There wasn’t any television, there wasn’t anyone taking a picture. You watched an animation.”

The strange exchange left O’Brien speechless, and has the occurrence has since racked up millions of views online. Then, in 2015, an eight-year-old girl asked the former astronaut why no one has returned to the moon?

A total of a dozen people have walked on the moon during a period that stemmed from Aldrin’s mission until 1972, just three years later. No one has officially been recorded as having gone back since, in a time line that has now exceeded over 50 years.

Despite this, Aldrin replied: “Because we didn’t go there, and that’s the way it happened.”

However, NASA has never relented to the opinions of others when it comes to the belief that the moon landings were faked and instead has insisted that the Apollo 11 mission was real. It has backed this stance with moon rocks, telemetry data and the testimony of thousands of employees.

These employees include highly educated engineers and scientists who have worked for the organisation over several decades.

At 4:17pm ET on July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin made history when they touched down on the lunar surface in the Eagle lander. A short time later, Armstrong uttered those famous words as he stepped outside onto the moon: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

An estimated 600 million people tuned in all over the world as it was broadcasted in black and white. Despite the fervour generated over the event, which was seen as one of the most epic in human history, many viewers have since questioned the moon landing’s authenticity.

Theories about staged sets, renowned film director Stanley Kubrick of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ fame assisting with its production, as well as claimed lighting inconsistencies have cast doubt on the moon landing. Suspicious interviews such as the two attributed to Aldrin haven’t helped the case for mankind landing on our closest neighbour.

Over half-a-century later and with Aldrin’s own words now being scrutinised again, one of America’s oldest conspiracy theories continues to have credence with a segment of the population. Conspiracy theorists were whipped into a frenzy after Aldrin made his comments in the Conan O’Brien interview as they thought the pilot discussing portions of the televised moon landing being animated was concrete proof the whole thing was faked.

A portion of the Conan interview saw Aldrin say: “‘You watched animation so you associated what you saw with… you heard me talking about, you know, how many feet we’re going to the left and right and then I said contact light, engine stopped, a few other things and then Neil said ‘Houston, tranquility base, the Eagle has landed.’ How about that? Not a bad line.”

Reuters has since fact checked the interview and confirmed it ‘is not proof that it was faked’.

They said: “Social media users are sharing a video of astronaut Buzz Aldrin being interviewed by American television host Conan O’Brien and claiming that Aldrin discussing parts of the moon landing broadcasts being animated is proof that it was all faked.

“He was referring to animations used by broadcasters at the time in their coverage of the moon landing, intercut with real footage. The moon landing did take place and men did walk on the moon.”

A more recent clip, mentioned above, showed Aldrin at the 2015 National Book Festival, where a young girl interviewed him about space. The clip widely shared on social media is cut off before the former astronaut clarified that shifting government priorities and funding ended lunar missions after 1972.

Aldrin later elaborated: “We need to know why something stopped in the past if we want it to keep going. It’s a matter of resources and money, new missions need new equipment.”

Margaret A. Weitekamp, the Chair of the Space History Department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum told Reuters over the phone: “The thing to remember is what news was like in the late 1960’s, not 24-hour continuous coverage. The coverage of that trip needed to be explained to the public without the ability for continuous relay of video we are now used to.

“Animations would have been a part of a constellation of different ways that that story was told over a series of days. At the time, the coverage would have been combined with animations that helped provide a broader picture of what was being done. But this certainly doesn’t invalidate that those landings took place.”