No, the Moon Landing Wasn’t Faked — and Kim Kardashian’s “Gotcha” Clip Doesn’t Say What She Thinks

Short answer: Apollo 11 really happened. Yes, Kim Kardashian is shown telling Sarah Paulson the 1969 moon landing was fake — but her star witness, Buzz Aldrin, has been taken wildly out of context. Keep reading: the most viral “proofs” crumble fast, and the original article needs a couple of key corrections of its own.

The Scene: Reality TV Meets Reality Check

In the Oct. 30, 2025 episode of The Kardashians, Kim tries to persuade her All’s Fair costar Sarah Paulson that the Apollo 11 landing was staged. Kim says she sends Paulson “conspiracies all the time.” Paulson, ever game, replies she’ll do a “massive deep dive.” This exchange is real and accurately reported by entertainment outlets.
Source: People’s recap quotes both lines and describes the set scene. See: https://people.com/kim-kardashian-insists-the-1969-moon-landing-was-fake-11839390

Kim’s “Smoking Gun” Isn’t Smoking — It’s Edited

Kim cites a roughly 10-year-old Oxford Union clip in which Buzz Aldrin appears to say, “It didn’t happen,” after a student asks about “the scariest moment” of the Apollo 11 journey.

Here’s what actually happened:

• The clip is from a 2015 Q&A. Aldrin mishears or plays with the question and immediately continues with a mission anecdote. He was not denying the landing.
• Full-context fact-checks have debunked viral edits of that moment for years.
• Aldrin has repeatedly affirmed Apollo 11 and explained a separate point that often gets twisted: broadcasters used labeled animations during the landing phase because there was no live TV camera on the Moon yet. That’s not “faking the landing.”

Read the fact checks:

• Politifact on the Oxford Union clip: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/oct/06/viral-image/aldrin-didnt-say-moon-landing-was-hoax/?utm_source=openai
• Snopes on the “faked footage” claim: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/buzz-aldrin-moon-landing-faked/?utm_source=openai

Key finding: The “It didn’t happen” moment is a classic out-of-context snippet. Aldrin has not recanted the Moon landing.

The Greatest Hits of Moon-Landing Myths — Explained in 30 Seconds

Kim also cites well-worn “red flags.” Here’s what science and history say:

• The “waving” flag: Apollo flags had a horizontal crossbar. In video, the fabric only moves while astronauts are handling it; in photos, creases from packing and a not-fully-extended crossbar create a rippled look that appears like a wave.
  History.com explainer: https://www.history.com/news/moon-landing-fake-conspiracy-theories?utm_source=openai

• “No stars” in photos: The Moon’s surface in daylight is very bright. Astronauts used short exposures meant for sunlit rocks and suits, not faint stars. Same reason your city-night selfie hides the Milky Way.
  NASA imagery FAQ: https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/FAQ/?utm_source=openai

• Boot prints “don’t match” the museum boots: The famous footprints were made by removable lunar overshoes with tread. Display boots often shown without overshoes have different soles.
  AFP Fact Check: https://factcheck.afp.com/false-boot-print-comparison-shared-facebook-posts-about-neil-armstrongs-moon-landing?utm_source=openai

Key finding: Each “red flag” has a straightforward, well-documented explanation consistent with physics and mission hardware.

What the Original Article Got Right — And What Needed Fixing

What it got right:

• NASA landed humans on the Moon six times: Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. The final moonwalk was in December 1972.
  NASA overview: https://www.nasa.gov/the-apollo-program/?utm_source=openai

What needs correction or clarity:

• It wasn’t “Russia” making soft landings in 1966 — it was the Soviet Union. The first soft landing was Luna 9 in 1966.
  Luna 9: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_9?utm_source=openai
• Japan’s first successful soft landing came in January 2024, not 2023. JAXA’s SLIM touched down Jan. 19, 2024; NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged it on the surface.
  NASA LRO on SLIM: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/lro/nasas-lro-spots-japans-moon-lander/?utm_source=openai
• Added context you didn’t get: The U.S. returned to the lunar surface in 2024 through a commercial mission, Intuitive Machines IM‑1.
  AP report: https://apnews.com/article/209f6097f35331b0cb4a97b982e0274f?utm_source=openai
• China’s modern Chang’e landings and India’s Chandrayaan‑3 are correctly included; India’s was Aug. 23, 2023.

Key corrections: Say “Soviet Union” for 1966 and move Japan’s first successful landing to 2024.

Verified vs. Unverified

What we verified:

• The episode’s exchange between Kim Kardashian and Sarah Paulson is accurately reported.
  Source: People recap above.
• The Oxford Union “It didn’t happen” clip is misused and does not show Aldrin denying the landing.
  Sources: Politifact, Snopes.
• The science behind the “waving flag,” “no stars,” and “boot prints” myths is clear and consistent with Apollo records.
  Sources: History.com, NASA FAQ, AFP Fact Check.
• Six crewed Apollo landings occurred; the last moonwalk was in Dec. 1972.
  Source: NASA.

What’s unverified or speculative:

• Any suggestion that “Ye’s” views “rubbed off” on Kim is speculative and not supported by sourced evidence.
• Whether Kim truly believes the landing was faked or was playing up TV drama isn’t clear from the episode alone.
• We have not independently reviewed the full Oxford Union event video ourselves for this story; instead, we rely on multiple full-context fact checks that have.

Why This Matters

A nine-word clip — “It didn’t happen” — is explosive out of context. Put back in context, the drama fizzles. That’s how so many viral myths survive: they rely on edits and omissions, not new facts. Meanwhile, the real story of the Moon keeps growing, from the Soviet Luna 9 in 1966 to Japan’s SLIM in 2024 and America’s commercial IM‑1 in 2024. The truth is more interesting — and more ambitious — than any conspiracy.

Sources and Further Reading

• People recap of The Kardashians episode: https://people.com/kim-kardashian-insists-the-1969-moon-landing-was-fake-11839390
• Politifact on Aldrin “It didn’t happen” clip: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/oct/06/viral-image/aldrin-didnt-say-moon-landing-was-hoax/?utm_source=openai
• Snopes on claims Aldrin said footage was faked: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/buzz-aldrin-moon-landing-faked/?utm_source=openai
• NASA Apollo program overview: https://www.nasa.gov/the-apollo-program/?utm_source=openai
• NASA imagery/photography FAQ (stars, exposures): https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/FAQ/?utm_source=openai
• History.com on Moon-landing myths: https://www.history.com/news/moon-landing-fake-conspiracy-theories?utm_source=openai
• AFP Fact Check on boot prints vs. museum boots: https://factcheck.afp.com/false-boot-print-comparison-shared-facebook-posts-about-neil-armstrongs-moon-landing?utm_source=openai
• NASA LRO spots Japan’s SLIM: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/lro/nasas-lro-spots-japans-moon-lander/?utm_source=openai
• AP on Intuitive Machines IM‑1 landing: https://apnews.com/article/209f6097f35331b0cb4a97b982e0274f?utm_source=openai
• Luna 9 (Soviet Union) overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_9?utm_source=openai

Bottom line: The TV moment is real; the Moon-hoax “evidence” is not. And the timeline of who’s landed on the Moon got a couple of fixes — because facts still matter, even on reality TV.