Apollo 11 mission was livestreamed, media had images before crew returned | Fact check
The claim: Post implies Apollo 11 mission was faked because images appeared in newspapers before crew returned to Earth
A Jan. 25 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows an image of the front page of The Washington Post announcing that the Apollo 11 mission had successfully landed on the moon. The Post's story, dated July 21, 1969, includes two pictures of astronauts on the moon.
Text beneath the image says that Apollo 11 crew member Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the moon on July 21, 1969.
"That same day this picture was in the newspaper," reads part of the text. "A quick reminder, it was a three day flight back and pictures had to be developed in those days.”
The post is captioned: "Quick question. How is this possible?"
Some social media users appeared to take the post as evidence that the moon landings didn't occur.
"I don't believe anything anymore. I think our history was written not lived," reads one comment on the post.
Another commenter posted a list of purported "proofs" that the Apollo 11 moon landing was "faked."
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Our rating: Missing context
The implied claim is wrong. People on Earth didn't have to wait for the Apollo 11 mission's return to view images from the moon. The pictures in the Washington Post story were taken from the Apollo 11 livestream that was broadcast from the moon beginning on July 20, 1969.
Images from Apollo 11 live broadcast
While the post claims Armstrong stepped onto the moon on July 21, 1969, the date depends on the timezone. A timeline of the landing from CNN states Armstrong made his famous first step onto the moon at 10:56 p.m. EDT on July 20. Live footage of the mission was broadcast worldwide from the moon beginning that night and lasting several hours, according to NASA.
NASA uploaded the broadcast footage to YouTube in 2014. The photos in The Washington Post article match footage beginning at timestamps 10:33 and 49:06 in the YouTube video.
Fact check: Misleading claim that a layer of Earth's atmosphere melts spacecraft
Evidence that the Apollo missions brought humans to the moon includes:
- Photos and videos captured by astronauts on the moon
- Modern satellite photos of lunar vehicle tracks and other mission artifacts
- Hundreds of pounds of lunar rocks and samples returned to Earth
- Ongoing data collection from devices astronauts left on the moon
Paste BN reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Reuters also debunked the implied claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- The Washington Post, July 21, 2015, ‘The Eagle Has Landed’: How The Post covered the Apollo 11 landing
- NASA, accessed March 3, The Apollo Program
- NASA, May 13, 2019, Shrinking Moon May Be Generating Moonquakes
- NASA (YouTube), July 17, 2014, Restored Apollo 11 Moonwalk - Original NASA EVA Mission Video - Walking on the Moon
- Arizona State University, accessed March 3, Apollo landing sites
- Arizona State University, accessed March 3, Was the Moon Landing Live?
- National Air and Space Museum, accessed March 3, Lunar rocks
- Science and Media Museum, July 8, 2019, From the moon to your living room: the Apollo 11 broadcast
- Royal Museums Greenwich, accessed March 3, How many people have walked on the Moon?
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