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But let’s not forget that Rogozin’s doubts about the Apollo Program are just one example of his controversial leadership style. During his time at Roscosmos, he repeatedly threatened to pull Russia out of the space station partnership, mocked US astronauts, and tried to use the facility for propaganda purposes. NASA was relieved when he was fired in July 2022.
So while it’s tempting to dismiss Rogozin’s latest outburst as just another crazy conspiracy theory, it’s important to remember that this is a man who has a history of making inflammatory statements. We need to be vigilant and call out misinformation whenever we see it.
On Friday, the former head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, cast doubt on the first ever moon landing that took place in 1969.
In an interview with the science news program “Vesti FM”, Rogozin said that he had personally seen a document that “questioned” the American mission’s success 50 years ago, reiterating previous comments he made while serving as head of the agency from 2018-2020.
“The Americans claim that they have achieved enormous progress in perfecting this technology after the first manned mission, but this is not the case,” he said in the interview on Russian radio. “Where are the results that would guarantee such a success?”
The comments come at a time of growing friction between Russia and the United States over the Space Race. The two countries are currently competing to be the first to land humans on Mars, with the Americans having successfully carried out two lunar missions since 2019 in order to practice technologies needed to reach the red planet.
Rogozin’s comments have been met with criticism from some of his former colleagues in the Russian space sector, with one astronaut, Maxim Suraev, publicly disagreeing with the remarks and saying that “humanity will never understand the truth behind this event”.
Rogozin has since responded to the criticism, saying that his comments were misunderstood and that he bore no malice to American astronauts. However, this has done nothing to quell the controversy that has been sparked by his claims regarding the moon landing.
With renewed tensions between the two spacefaring nations, it remains to be seen whether the mystery and fascination surrounding the first ever human mission to the moon can be solved. For now, the debate continues.
