NASA hits back at reality star moon landing conspiracy

US space agency NASA has dismissed reality star Kim Kardashian’s claim that the 1969 space mission to land the first man on the moon was fake.

“Yes, we’ve already been to the moon… 6 times!” Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy wrote on social networks.

Kardashian made the comments on the latest episode of her long-running TV series The Kardashians, telling co-star Sarah Paulson that she thought the moon landing “didn’t happen.”

Although consistently debunked, conspiracy theories about whether humans actually reached the moon have persisted for more than 50 years, especially with the rise of social media.

In the episode, Kardashian can be seen showing Paulson an interview with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who along with Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 mission.

“I’m sending you a million articles with both Buzz Aldrin and the other one,” Kardashian says, before reading a quote that purportedly shows Aldrin answering a question about the scariest moment of the expedition.

“There was no scary moment because it didn’t happen. It could have been scary but it wasn’t because it didn’t happen,” she read.

It’s unclear which article Kardashian was reading from or if the quotes were actually from Aldrin.

Moments later, the reality star is seen telling the producer, “I talk about conspiracies all the time,” adding that she believes the moon landing was faked.

“I think it was fake. I watched some videos of Buzz Aldrin talking about how it didn’t happen. He says it all the time now, in interviews. Maybe we should find Buzz Aldrin,” she says.

After the broadcast, Duffy tagged Kardashian in a post on X, dismissing her comments, and promoting NASA’s ongoing Artemis moon exploration program, which is “returning under the leadership” of Donald Trump.

“We won the last space race and we will win this one,” he added.

In response, Kardashian answered a question about an interstellar object called 3I/Atlas, which astronomers believe may be the oldest comet ever seen.

“Wait…. what’s 3I Atlas tea?!?!!!!!!?????” she replied.

Duffy later invited Kardashian to the Kennedy Space Center for the launch of the Artemis mission to the moon.

For decades, scientists and experts have been debunked conspiracy theories claiming that the Apollo 11 mission was a hoax.

“Any argument that NASA faked the moon landings has been discredited,” according to the Institute of Physics.