A confession?
However, during a 2016 interview at the London Science Museum, Aldrin slipped during the question and answer portion about the Apollo 11 mission photographs. This was when the famous astronaut said that an aspect of the mission was “so well staged.”
The press and conspiracy theorists had a field day with Aldrin’s statement. You see, there was a group of people who believed that the moon landing was fake. They believed that it was all staged to fulfill one of President John F. Kennedy’s promises when he won the elections in 1961.
A president’s promise
Back then, President Kennedy said that the USA would reach the moon before the decade ends. Some people believed that President Kennedy made this promise to irk the Soviets. Back then, there was a war between the USA and the USSR. Both countries were also leading the world on the space front so there was a desire to improve the US space program at the time.
When America announced the moon landing mission, the USSR was way ahead of them when it came to space exploration. The Soviets already had Sputnik, the first orbiting satellite in history. Yuri Gagarin of the USSR was also the first man sent to space. It was clear that the USA space program needed to catch up.