Apollo 11

Do astronauts only train in swimming pools, and not vacuum chambers, because space is not a vacuum and "Outer Space is a hoax"? No, that's not true: A spokesperson at NASA told Lead Stories that its astronauts have "limited training" in vacuum chambers, which NASA has used for decades to test materials that go into space. Astronauts also train in…

Does a video that shows a stage-lighting support hitting an astronaut as he descends onto what appears to be the moon's surface prove that Apollo 11's July 20, 1969, moon landing was fake? No, that's not true: This video was produced as a tribute to moon-landing conspiracy theories. The video's creators also made a website that explains their motivation: "We…

Does a viral video describing a father's "deathbed confession" prove the U.S. government faked the 1969 moon landing? No, that's not true: There is a significant amount of evidence that NASA landed on the moon and experts Lead Stories spoke with refuted claims suggesting otherwise. In the video, a man who identifies himself as Gene Gilmore (given name Eugene Reuben…

Did the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger survive the 1986 explosion? No, that's not true: The seven astronauts who were onboard the Challenger died on January 28, 1986. Four of the individuals whom one video narrator presents as survivors of the explosion are individuals without established family or professional ties to the crew. In two cases, the brothers of…

Did NASA stop investigating the deepest layers of the world's oceans 34 years ago? No, that's not true: NASA's main exploration ventures are in space, but, according to the agency's website, it still explores the ocean, too. A claim asserting that NASA has stopped its oceanographic work appeared in an Instagram video on August 30, 2022. The video appears to…

Does a reflection in an astronaut's helmet visor from the Apollo 17 moon landing prove that it was a hoax? No, that's not true: The reflection seen in astronaut Gene Cernan's helmet visor shows astronaut Harrison Schmidt standing in front of him on the surface of the moon in 1972. "The view is a little distorted due to the curvature…

Do recently declassified behind-the-scenes film clips show that the moon landing was really a hoax -- that it was actually filmed on a movie set here on Earth? No, that's not true: This does not show the staging of a massive hoax. These clips were taken from promotional pieces showing what went into the making of the 2018 IMAX movie,…

Has NASA "all but admitted the [moon] landings were fake" in the past 12 months, but mainstream media is not reporting on the revelations so the public doesn't know? No, that's not true: The Apollo missions that orbited and landed on the moon really happened. There has been no new information, no "admission" from NASA that would undermine the historical…

Did then-President Richard Nixon fake a phone call to the moon when astronauts first landed in 1969? No, that's not true: According to AT&T, the call went from Washington, D.C., to Houston to the moon using a capsule communicator. The call was made using "telephone-radio transmission," the National Archives wrote. The claim appeared in a Facebook post on June 18,…

Did Buzz Aldrin reveal that the Apollo 11 mission was faked when he corrected Conan O'Brien's recollection of having watched the moon landing live on TV as a child by telling him that what he watched was an animation? No, that's not true: Buzz Aldrin made a technical distinction to clarify that the live TV broadcasts showed an animation of…