“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” This quote rings in the ears of many Americans as the day that history was changed forever when man walked on the moon. Among the crew of the Apollo 11, who were the first to walk on the moon, were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. These men claim to have left their footprints in the moon, as well as pictures of their family, and American flag in the moon’s surface to permanently claim the moon for the United States of America. Some conspiracy theorists, however, do not believe that any of these things happened. As a matter of fact, they don’t even think anyone landed on the moon at all. But why would they think these things? Why would America lie about the moon landing?

The facts of the matter are this: America was in the middle of a cold war with Russia, the Soviet Union at the time. America and The Soviet Union were in a space race – they were determined to beat the other in getting the furthest into space and having the most advanced space technology. This, according to conspiracy theorists, is a great motive for America to have faked the moon landings. They wanted to outshine their enemies – and beating them in the space race would be the perfect way to do so. By beating them to the moon, the Soviet Union would be discouraged and consider themselves beat, and forfeit the space race. But actually getting to the moon would be an expensive, time consuming, and not to mention – dangerous mission. So to get the Soviet Union to retreat from their space race attempts, according to conspiracy theorists, America faked the moon landing.

How would NASA have successfully faked the moon landing, though? It seems like a hard thing to do. Well, conspiracy theorists allege that the moon landing was filmed on a set – an advanced set somewhere remote – perhaps a hidden studio in Hollywood, or deep in Area 51.

Whether or not you believe that the moon landing actually happened – there are some oddities evident in all evidence of the moon landing. There is a famous video of the moon landing – and some skeptics allege that the American flag, present in the video, waves. Due to a lack of wind on the moon, and what we know about lunar physics, this would have been impossible. Three astronauts also died in a testing mission for the moon landing. Skeptics say that these three men were executed by the government, due to fear that they were about to disclose the truth.
It is impossible to 100% prove whether or not the moon landing happened, because all film and evidence of the moon landing is only available through NASA – and if NASA did not want us to know that the moon landing was fake, they simply wouldn’t give the public access to certain documents. This conspiracy theory leads to the question of…if the moon landing isn’t real, then what other secrets are being kept from us? There are thousands of conspiracy theories surrounding the United States government. Some of these conspiracy theories have even proven to be true. Could one day, the moon landing conspiracy, finally be laid to rest, or proven true?