A old video showing Neil Armstrong refusing to swear on the Bible that he walked on the moon has been circulating, claiming that the astronaut had exposed that the moon landing was “fake.” In the viral video, a man introduces himself as Bart Sibrel, claims to be from “ABC Digital,” and asks Armstrong to swear on the Bible that he walked on the moon. Armstrong says, “Mr. Sibrel, knowing you, that’s probably a fake Bible.” The clip shows Armstrong continually refusing Sibrel’s demand, with the latter finally offering the astronaut 5,000 dollars for swearing on the Bible. At the end of the video, Armstrong adds, “Mr. Sibrel has made a fool of himself in front of the world … Mr. Sibrel, you do not deserve answers.” The text on the video reads, “Guy Exposes Neil Armstrong For ‘FAKE’ moon landing.”
Here is the video
An Instagram account shared the video on February 5. The viral post has more than 3 million likes and 6.2 million views.
In Fact
Bart Sibrel is an American conspiracy theorist and film producer who has spent 30 years trying to prove that Apollo moon landings were “fake,” according to a report by VICE. According to an ABC News report, in 2002, astronaut Buzz Aldrin punched him in the face for asking him to swear on the Bible that the moon landing was not fake. Sibrel says he does not believe anyone has ever walked on the moon.
Armstrong’s refusal to swear on the Bible is not proof that the moon landing was “fake.” Multiple sources of evidence, including reports, support that Armstrong landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. Images of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission can be found on the NASA website, which also has a section about the Apollo 11 astronauts, clearly stating that Armstrong was the first person on the moon, followed by Aldrin. NASA also has a page dedicated to the Apollo 11 mission, with granular details of the journey and its objectives. Between 1969 and 1972, six Apollo missions brought back 382 kilograms of lunar rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand, and dust from the moon. More than 8,400 photos from NASA prove that astronauts went to the moon, including footprints and objects left behind on the moon, according to a report by Forbes. On March 24, 2019, The Washington Post reached out to NASA for a statement for its story “50 years after Apollo, conspiracy theorists are still howling at the ‘moon hoax.'” The article dealt at length with the enduring and widespread conspiracy theory of the moon landing hoax, NASA’s reaction to it over the years, and the difficulties fact-checkers face in debunking this particular claim. In response to The Washington Post’s query, NASA spokesman Allard Beutel issued a statement saying a significant amount of evidence exists to support that NASA landed 12 astronauts on the moon from 1969-1972 and specified some of that proof, also available on NASA’s website.
Despite all the evidence, the claim that the Apollo 11 moon landing was staged continues to surface from time to time.
