WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Do Astronauts React to Lunar Landing Conspiracy Theories?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and this is another classic episode from

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<v Speaker 1>our archives. We've all seen lately how fringe theories can

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<v Speaker 1>spread and get out of hand. One pervasive anti science

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<v Speaker 1>conspiracy theory is that the moon landing was faked. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>how it got started. At what the astronauts who were

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<v Speaker 1>there think about it? Hi, brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here

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<v Speaker 1>about the lunar landing. Astronaut Neil Armstrong once said, it

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<v Speaker 1>would have been harder to fake it than to do it.

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<v Speaker 1>On July nineteen sixty nine, Armstrong and Edwin buzz Aldrin Jr.

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<v Speaker 1>Became the first human beings to ever walk on the

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<v Speaker 1>Moon during NASA's Apollo eleven mission. Orbiting above them at

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<v Speaker 1>the time was the third member of their crew, aviator

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<v Speaker 1>Michael Collins, who was piloting their command module. Together, these

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<v Speaker 1>three entered the history books. The lunar landing was a

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<v Speaker 1>defining moment, a technical che evement made possible by centuries

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<v Speaker 1>of scientific progress and the hard work of more than

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<v Speaker 1>four hundred thousand people. But according to a thirteen pole,

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<v Speaker 1>seven million Americans think that the entire thing never happened.

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<v Speaker 1>In a sixteen British poll found that more than half

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<v Speaker 1>fifty two percent of Brits think that the Apollo eleven

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<v Speaker 1>moon landing was faked, including an astonishing seventy percent of

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<v Speaker 1>Brits aged twenty five to thirty four. On December eighteenth,

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty nine, four months and twenty five days after Armstrong, Aldrin,

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<v Speaker 1>and Collins returned to Earth, John Noble Wilford of The

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<v Speaker 1>New York Times ran a story about a few stool

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<v Speaker 1>warmers in Chicago bars who had gone on record to

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<v Speaker 1>claim that all the Apollo eleven moonwalk footage was fake

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<v Speaker 1>and must have been secretly filmed somewhere out in the

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<v Speaker 1>Nevada desert. The popularity of this misguided belief mushroomed during

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<v Speaker 1>the Watergate scandal, an actual government conspiracy that seems to

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<v Speaker 1>have left people more susceptible to believing other big government

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<v Speaker 1>cover ups were plausible. In nineteen seventy four, writer Bill

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<v Speaker 1>Casing self published a hamphlet called We Never Went to

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<v Speaker 1>the Moon. Casing's writings alleged that any sort of lunar

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<v Speaker 1>landing would have been impossible to carry out. In nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>sixty nine. NASA, he concluded, staged the moonwalk in a

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<v Speaker 1>makeshift studio and then swore the astronauts secrecy. Later, he

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<v Speaker 1>added that the Challenger explosion wasn't an accident either. Casing

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<v Speaker 1>accused NASA of sabotaging the spacecraft before the crew of

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<v Speaker 1>seven got the chance to expose the Apollo eleven cover up.

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<v Speaker 1>His pamphlet gave the so called lunar truther Or movement

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<v Speaker 1>its first manifesto. Deniers like Casing saw their cause enjoy

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<v Speaker 1>a modern renaissance in two thousand one, when the Fox

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<v Speaker 1>Network aired a documentary called Conspiracy Theory Did We Land

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<v Speaker 1>on the Moon? A forty seven minutes special. The program

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<v Speaker 1>featured interviews with Casing and other Apollo eleven skeptics. One

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<v Speaker 1>of them was Bart Sabrell, a filmmaker who has released

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<v Speaker 1>two documentaries of his own on the subject. The Fox

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<v Speaker 1>program enjoyed great ratings, as did a rebroadcast of the

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<v Speaker 1>show that aired a month later. However, scientists overwhelmingly denounced

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<v Speaker 1>the one sided special. The turn of the millennium also

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<v Speaker 1>saw an explosion of Internet conspiracy sites, which further the

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<v Speaker 1>spread of lunar trutherism. All that negative attention was bound

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<v Speaker 1>to generate some uncomfortable moments for the Apollo eleven crew.

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<v Speaker 1>In the year two thousand, Neil Armstrong was celebrating his

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<v Speaker 1>seventieth birthday. One of the cards he received came from

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<v Speaker 1>a school teacher who wrote, dear Mr Armstrong, I would

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<v Speaker 1>like to point out that you and the other astronauts

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<v Speaker 1>are making yourselves a worldwide laughing stock thanks to the Internet.

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<v Speaker 1>From there, the author encouraged Armstrong to visit a favorite

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<v Speaker 1>conspiracy website. Armstrong forwarded the card to NASA, asking if

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<v Speaker 1>the agency had ever publicly refuted these allegations. He said,

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<v Speaker 1>I occasionally am asked questions in public forums and feel

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<v Speaker 1>I don't do as good a job as I might

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<v Speaker 1>with more complete information. NASA had, in fact rebuffed the

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<v Speaker 1>claims way back in nine seven. That June, a press

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<v Speaker 1>release from the organization dismantled casing's major arguments. After the

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand one Fox Special, the Space Agency reissued the document, Still,

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<v Speaker 1>the daters were not satisfied. While making one of his documentaries,

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<v Speaker 1>Bart Sabrell and a cameraman ambushed Armstrong at a two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand one aerospace event in New York City. James Smith,

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<v Speaker 1>then the president of the event's sponsoring corporation, recalls a

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<v Speaker 1>Sabrell held up a Bible and demanded that Armstrong place

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<v Speaker 1>a hand on it and swear that he had really

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<v Speaker 1>gone to the Moon. The conspiracy theorist was swiftly ejected.

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<v Speaker 1>This wasn't the only time Sabrell filmed himself accosting an

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<v Speaker 1>Apollo veteran. He issued the same spontaneous bible challenge too

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<v Speaker 1>many other space travelers, including Apollo fourteen's Edgar Mitchell, and,

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<v Speaker 1>as Michael Collins told Airran Space Magazine in twenty sixteen,

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<v Speaker 1>the fringe theorist once tried to corner him in a supermarket.

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<v Speaker 1>For the record, Collins says that he finds lunar hoax

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<v Speaker 1>theories laughable. Buzz Aldrin, on the other hand, sure wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>amused when Sabrill and a cameraman ran up to him

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<v Speaker 1>outside of Beverly Hills Hotel in two thousand two. Sabrill

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<v Speaker 1>had lured Aldren there under the false pretenses of an interview.

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<v Speaker 1>Once Aldren arrived with his step daughter in tow, Sabrill

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<v Speaker 1>started poking him with a Bible and unleashed a torrent

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<v Speaker 1>of insults. Finally, the seventy two year old had had enough.

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<v Speaker 1>With a swift left hook, Aldrin punched Sabrill in the jaw. Sabrill,

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<v Speaker 1>who quickly fled the scene, tried to sue Aldrin for

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<v Speaker 1>a salt, but the charges were dropped. The filmmaker has

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<v Speaker 1>since apologized for his behavior. In Armstrong gave what was

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<v Speaker 1>to be his last interview before his death at age two.

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<v Speaker 1>During a taped exchange with Australian CEO Alex Malley, the

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<v Speaker 1>First Man on the Moon talked about everything from his

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<v Speaker 1>Ohio childhood to NASA's future. Perhaps inevitably, Armstrong was asked

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<v Speaker 1>point blank if the moon landing had been a hoax.

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<v Speaker 1>He replied, people love conspiracy theories. I mean, they are

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<v Speaker 1>very attractive, but it was never a concern to me

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<v Speaker 1>because I know that one day somebody is going to

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<v Speaker 1>fly back up there and pick up that camera I left.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Mark Mancini and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tristan Neil and Tyler Klang. For more on this lots

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<v Speaker 1>of other topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my

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