NASA shuts down Kim Kardashian’s moon landing conspiracy claims

• Kim Kardashian questioned the 1969 moon landing on her show The Kardashians.
• NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy publicly responded, confirming the moon landing “did happen.”

NASA has officially responded to comments made by Kim Kardashian casting doubt on the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, confirming that the historic mission was, in fact, real.

During Thursday’s episode of The Kardashians, the Skims founder expressed her skepticism while chatting with actress Sarah Paulson, saying she had watched “a few videos” of astronaut Buzz Aldrin supposedly suggesting the landing never happened. “I think it was fake,” Kardashian said, adding that she often dives into conspiracy theories for fun.

Following the broadcast, NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy directly tagged Kardashian on X, posting a clip from the episode and writing, “Yes, we’ve been to the Moon before… 6 times! And even better: [NASA Artemis] is going back under the leadership of [President Donald Trump]. We won the last space race and we will win this one too.”

Duffy’s post quickly went viral, prompting Kardashian to reply with a different question: “Wait…. what’s the tea on 3I Atlas?!?!!!!!!!?????”

Duffy took the opportunity to explain that the comet 3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object ever detected passing through the solar system. “No aliens. No threat to life here on Earth,” he clarified, adding that “ATLAS” refers to NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System team.

He ended his response on a friendly note, telling Kardashian he appreciated her enthusiasm about the Artemis program and inviting her to witness the next launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Kardashian has not publicly responded to the invitation.

Conspiracy theories about the Apollo missions have circulated for decades, but scientists consistently emphasize their lack of credibility. The Institute of Physics notes that “every single argument claiming that NASA faked the Moon landings has been discredited,” citing evidence such as 382 kilograms of lunar rock independently verified by laboratories around the world.

A study published in PLOS One found that staging the moon landing would have required more than 400,000 people to maintain the deception, making it virtually impossible.