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Celebrate the 1969 Moon Landing

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, stands on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module, Eagle, during the Apollo 11 moonwalk. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, mission commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. While Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the lunar module to explore the Sea of Tranquility, astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained in lunar orbit with the Command and Service Module, Columbia. This is the actual photograph as exposed on the moon by Armstrong. Public domain image.

Did you know that Stanley Kubrick, director of 2001: A Space Odyssey, filmed the faked moon landing in 1969?

Yes, there are people out there who actually believe the July 20, 1969, lunar landing was an elaborate hoax pulled off by the U.S. government and Hollywood. Why and how the many people who must have been involved have kept their mouths shut all this time, well, that is something the hoax theorists don’t talk about.

This month marks the 45th anniversary of the moon landing, and NASA is celebrating the occasion while it takes the steps needed for America’s next giant leap to send astronauts to Mars.

The world watched 45 years ago as astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set their lunar module Eagle down in the Sea of Tranquility, while crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia.

The agency will commemorate Armstrong’s “one giant leap for mankind” through a number of events across, and above, the United States during the next two weeks, as well as on the agency’s website and NASA Television.

On Friday, July 18 at 12:30 pm CDT, NASA TV will air a discussion about the future of space exploration between scientists and actor, director, and narrator Morgan Freeman, live from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. The event also will include NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman participating from the International Space Station.

Also on Friday at 2:30 pm, NASA will host a discussion with Buzz Aldrin and astronaut Mike Massimino at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.

On Sunday, July 20, at 9:39 pm, when Armstrong opened the spacecraft hatch to begin the first spacewalk on the moon 45 years ago, NASA TV will replay the restored footage of Armstrong and Aldrin’s historic steps on the lunar surface.

On Monday, July 21, at 9 am from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA TV will air live coverage of the renaming of the center’s Operations and Checkout Building in honor of Armstrong, who died in 2012. The renaming ceremony will include Apollo 11’s Collins, Aldrin and astronaut Jim Lovell, who was the mission’s back-up commander. International Space Station NASA astronauts Wiseman and Steve Swanson, who is the current station commander, also will take part in the ceremony from their orbiting laboratory 260 miles above Earth.

Today, the facility is being used to process and assemble NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which the agency will use to send astronauts to an asteroid in the 2020s and Mars in the 2030s.

On Thursday, July 24, at 5 pm, which is the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11’s return to Earth, the agency will host a panel discussion – called NASA’s Next Giant Leap – from Comic-Con International in San Diego. Moderated by actor Seth Green, the panel includes Aldrin, NASA Planetary Science Division Director Jim Green, JPL systems engineer Bobak Ferdowsi, and NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, who will talk about Orion and the Space Launch System rocket, which will carry humans on America’s next great adventure in space.

NASA.gov will host features, videos, and historic images and audio clips that highlight the Apollo 11 anniversary, as well as the future of human spaceflight. To explore all the special content, visit nasa.gov/apollo45.

To join the ongoing conversation on social media about the anniversary and NASA’s deep space exploration plans, use the hashtags #NextGiantLeap and #Apollo45.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit nasa.gov/nasatv.

For information about the activities, planning and preparations for the next giant leap in space exploration, visit nasa.gov/exploration.