**Discussion begins at 5:10**

On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union launched the first human into space.  In an effort to “compete”, President JFK asked his VP Lyndon Johnson to identify a “space program which promises dramatic results in which we could win” and began calling for human exploration on the moon “before the decade is out”.  Eight years later, on July 16, 1969, a rocket carrying the Apollo 11 astronauts (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins) took off from Cape Kennedy.  After four days of travel, the lunar module carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.  As Neil Armstrong stepped out to become the first human on the moon, the event was captured by a television camera attached to the craft, and transmitted back to earth, where 650 million people watched from home.  Of them, 125 million were from USA – making it the most watched television moment in US history according to the air and space museum”.  Michael Collins stayed onboard the command module Columbia as a communications link and photographer.  After 2.5 hours spent on the moon, the three began the journey home, eventually splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969.  There were 5 more lunar landings, with the final one in 1972.  We have not been back to the moon since

 The conspiracy theory here is that the US Government faked the lunar landing, in an attempt to win the space race with the Russians, and fulfill the late President’s promise to land on the moon before the end of the decade, a mere 5 months away.  Non-believers argue that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin filmed the landing on a secret set, perhaps in Hollywood?.  In fact, this was just a year after Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A space odyssey, which depicted “realistic” images of outer space.  Did he also film the moon landing on a sound stage?   The photo and video evidence was only available through NASA, so there is no way to independently verify their authenticity.   On the other hand,  did rumors of the moon landing hoax originate decades later, due to the fact that the Pentagon Papers and Watergate had left a lot of Americans distrustful of the government?

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