Stand up for the facts!
Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.
I would like to contribute
Houston, we have no problem: This video doesn’t prove the moon landing was a hoax
If Your Time is short
-
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted an American flag on the moon in 1969 using a crossbar to hold up the flag in the absence of wind.
-
This video was edited to make it appear as if someone in a green screen suit held up the flag.
A recent Facebook post casts doubt on the Apollo 11 moon landing with an edited video that makes it appear as if someone in a green screen suit is holding the edge of the American flag planted on the moon in 1969.
But, as we’ve reported many times, the moon landing is not a hoax.
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Although there’s no wind on the moon, NASA engineers "designed a flagpole with a horizontal bar allowing the flag to ‘fly’ without the benefit of wind to overcome the effects of the moon's lack of an atmosphere," according to a 1993 NASA report on the "political and technical aspects of placing a flag on the moon."
Featured Fact-check
The flag is not "flying" because someone in a studio maneuvered it in a green screen suit.
Sign up for PolitiFact texts
The report said the flag planted on the moon by astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin has a ripple because the horizontal bar got stuck, and they couldn’t pull it all the way out.
We rate claims that this video proves the moon landing was a hoax Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Facebook post, April 12, 2024
NASA, Apollo 11, visited May 7, 2024
ABC News, 50 Years Later: The Apollo 11 experiment that's still sending data from the moon, July 15, 2019
YouTube, Man on the moon 50 years later: The flag, July 17, 2019
NASA, Where No Flag Has Gone Before: Political and Technical Aspects of Placing a Flag on the Moon, August 1993
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Ciara O'Rourke
Houston, we have no problem: This video doesn’t prove the moon landing was a hoax
Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.