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Astronaut and former NASA veteran Mike Massimino addressed reality star Kim Kardashian's claim about the Apollo 11 mission's authenticity, saying there is "no way to fake" one of humanity's most outstanding achievements.
In a strong response to ongoing conspiracy theories that the 1969 space mission to land the first man on the Moon was faked, the ex-astronaut said the continued debate exists partly because the mission "seemed so unachievable back then," leading some to doubt its authenticity even decades later. "I think that might be part of it. You know, people, there's always people that are going to doubt, you know, conspiracy people or whatever. But it did happen. It might be hard to believe, but it actually did happen," Massimino told ANI. On the October 30 episode of The Kardashians, Kim had revealed that she doesn't believe the 1969 moon landing really happened. While on the set of 'All's Fair', she tried to convince her co-star Sarah Paulson, to buy into the conspiracy theory. "I think it was fake," Kim said, as reported by People. Massimino, the veteran former astronaut with the US Space agency NASA, noted that the Apollo 11 programme itself proves the mission was real and there was "no way to fake about it" "There's no way to fake that. It just can't be done. There are about 400,000 people around the world. It wasn't just the Americans, you know, it was around... 400,000 people that worked on that program. None of them have said that they, that it was fake. " he said, adding that coordinating such a massive global effort secretly would have been impossible. Highlighting the lack of evidence behind such claims, he said, "There, you know, there's no way that you could have that many people involved in, in, in, you know, it's just people funny outside. I don't know why you have to ask them why they think the way they do, but there's no evidence. I mean, people can say all kinds of things that have no truth to them. And that's one of them." Reflecting on the historic milestone, the astronaut described the moon landing as a defining moment for humanity. "It was a great achievement, not only for the United States, but for the whole world. It might be the greatest achievement ever that people accomplished," he noted. He also recalled how the Apollo astronauts were welcomed across the globe after their return. "They went on world tours... they visited everywhere. And no matter where they were -- like when they went to India -- it was never 'the Americans did it.' It was 'we did it.' The whole world felt like they accomplished that." Calling any suggestion of fakery "disrespectful" to the astronauts and the thousands who contributed to the mission, he added, "We should celebrate the accomplishment rather than make up things that it didn't happen. It actually kind of annoys me a little bit." (ANI)
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