Russia said it will use a planned trip to the moon to “verify” whether the United States had ever actually landed there, settling once and for all the conspiracy theories regarding the 1969 moon landing.
The heads of Russia’s space agency spoke about the country’s planned trip to the moon and was asked whether he believed NASA had actually landed on the moon nearly 50 years ago. As Global News reported, Dmitry Rogozin smiled and said they would check whether their American counterparts really arrived first.
“We have set this objective to fly and verify whether they’ve been there or not,” Rogozin said in a video posted to Twitter.
The report noted that conspiracy theories about the moon landing are common, especially in Russia. Some of these theorists believe that the famous 1969 moon landing was faked, with the footage actually being filmed in a movie studio. But others say that the Soviet government was behind much of these theories in an attempt to sow doubts in American abilities during the Cold War. That has also cast doubt on the current statements that the Russians will “verify” whether the United States actually went to the moon.
Were US moon landings real? We’ll verify, says Russia space agency chief
“We have set this objective to fly and verify whether they’ve been there or not,” said Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency #Moon https://t.co/jKCr1YDCmy
— ???? Singh 108 ?? (@Visitor8Planet) November 24, 2018
The theories have persisted even after the Soviet Union ended its lunar program in the mid-1970s and after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Three years ago, a spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee called for an investigation into whether NASA had actually landed on the moon.
The space conspiracy theories go both ways for the former Soviet Union. As the Daily Star reported, conspiracy theorists believe that Soviets actually beat the United States to reaching the moon, but the mission ended in spectacular failure when the cosmonauts died trying to return to earth.
There have long been rumors of so-called “lost cosmonauts” and even some recordings claiming to show them drifting out of orbit and toward certain death. Other suspicious video clips show what is purported to be cosmonauts walking on the moon and planting a flag, though their space suits don’t match what the Soviet cosmonauts actually wore at the time.
It will likely take quite a while before Russia is able to “verify” whether the United States actually landed on the moon. As the Russian state-sponsored media outlet RT noted, Russian cosmonauts are expected to be able to reach the moon and set foot on its surface sometime in the early 2030s. Until then, the conspiracy theories will likely persist.