It has been more than 50 years since humanity first set foot on the moon.
And ever since, conspiracy theories that the landing was faked have been rife.
While none of these theories have any grounding in reality, that hasn’t stopped them from spreading like wildfire.
Now, as NASA delays its highly anticipated return to the moon to 2026, social media has once again been flooded with claims that man has never visited our lunar satellite.
The delayed missions have even led some sceptics to claim that ‘they can’t figure out how they did it the first time’.
It has been more than 50 years since humanity first set foot on the moon. And ever since, conspiracy theories that the landing was faked have been rife. Despite appearing to be waving in the wind, the flag taken by the Apollo 11 seen here with Buzz Aldrin is held up by a metal rod and is hanging crumpled in the Moon’s low gravity
As NASA delays its eagerly anticipated return to the moon to 2026, social media has once again been flooded with claims that man has never visited our lunar satellite
The delayed missions have even led some sceptics to claim that ‘they can’t figure out how they did it the first time’
‘They’re never going to fake another “moon landing”, one user wrote. ‘Artemis II or III will end in “disaster” and “human spaceflight” will be postponed indefinitely…’
Citing safety concerns, NASA announced that Artemis II, which will complete a lunar fly-by, has been delayed until September next year.
Meanwhile, Artemis III, which will once again put astronauts on the moon, won’t now take place until September 2026.
These sudden and unexpected delays have ignited a wave of conspiracy theory content on X (formerly Twitter).
One commenter wrote: ‘The way you guys are preparing to land on the moon again it seems like it’s the 1st time you are actually planning moon Trip.’
Another wrote: ‘It seems like they can’t figure out how they did it the first time.’
And another added: ‘They’re never going to fake another “moon landing”‘.
The moon landing conspiracy claims that America never completed the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.
Rather, conspiracy theorists believe that NASA faked footage in a studio here on Earth, which was broadcast to people around the world.
The motivation was allegedly the US’s desperation to win the space race, but some wilder theories claim that it was faked because the moon does not exist or is flat.
Strangely, these theories also frequently claim that the moon landing footage was directed by Stanley Kubrick who had released 2001: A Space Odyssey the previous year.
These ideas have once again resurfaced on social media following the NASA delays, with one commenter writing: ‘Nasa is a hoax, Moon landing was a hoax, Kubrick fingerprints everywhere.’
Another X user, using the name The Flat Earther, wrote: ‘It seems that NASA is now so incompetent that they are unable to stage another fake moon landing, despite having access to superior CGI’.
One X user even called the Moon landing ‘one of the biggest frauds in human history’ and shared supposed ‘behind the scenes’ footage of the Moon landing filming.
(source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12946605/NASA-delays-moon-landing-2026-conspiracy-theories.html )