More On: Conspiracy theorists
Conspiracy theorists who say that the moon landing was a fake get slammed by an astronaut
Conspiracy theorists about the moon landing say this picture is new 'hoax' proof
Before NASA tries to launch its Artemis I moon rocket for the second time on Saturday, astronaut Thomas Pesquet slams conspiracy theorists who say the first moon landing never happened.
Pesquet, who is a member of the European Union Space Agency and has been to space four times, went off in a series of tweets on Wednesday, calling out people who recently said again that NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin filmed their 1969 moon landing in a movie studio.
Even doubts were raised about the other five landings.
“But why do we have to waste precious time on this again: of course yes, humans went to the moon during the Apollo missions. And we’re going back,” he said, translated from French.
“And yes, my emotions don’t matter, but it pains me, after everything I’ve done for 10 years, my two missions, the thousands of hours of extra work to share them and explain science and technology, to have to do this tweet today,” he continued.
"It also worries me a lot to see that some people enjoy blurring the truth and that other people are having fun with it. Ask yourself seriously, "Who wins in all of this?" "No, it's not NASA. It's the people who tell you everything is wrong."
Pesquet said that people who risked their lives to land on the moon don't like these theories, and it's easy for social media trolls to just sit back and spread false information.
Mais pourquoi doit-on perdre un temps précieux avec ça une fois de plus : bien sûr que oui, l’humain est allé sur la lune pendant les missions Apollo. Et on va y retourner.
— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 31, 2022
He said it made him “drunk” to write the tweets but encouraged users to look into people, like journalist Jamy Gourmaud and “hundreds of others,” who “explain things for real.”
“If you get caught up in this in good faith, it happens: get off Twitter and try to find the info in books, for example. It’s safer,” Pesquet recommended.
“In short, that’s all on this subject because it’s not my field and I have a lot of work. We’re going to go back to spending all of our time and energy making things like the ISS and Artemis happen, because it’s good for humanity. No offense to some,” he added.
“See you on the moon in a few years,” he concluded with a winking and sunglasses-wearing emoji.
NASA's first attempt to launch Artemis I failed on Monday. This was because data showed that one of the rocket's main-stage engines did not reach the right pre-launch temperature needed for ignition. This meant that the countdown had to be stopped and the launch had to be moved to a later date.
But on Wednesday, there was only a 40% chance that the launch on Saturday would go well, and the US space agency said there were still some technical problems to be solved.
Mission managers told reporters on Tuesday that they think the problem with the engine cooling was caused by a broken sensor in the rocket's engine.
But the association said that Monday's try helped them find problems that they hope to fix for the second try.
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