The Artemis II astronauts were confronted by a man in the U.S. Capitol recently.
A video making its rounds on X shows a man filming the Artemis II crew inside of the U.S. Capitol while accusing them of faking their recent moon mission.
The astronauts appeared to be shocked by the man’s words but did not offer any replies to the man’s claims.
Mediaite provided the full details on the confrontation:
A man showed up at the U.S. Capitol to accost the crew of the Artemis II and accuse them of faking their recent mission to the Moon.
The four astronauts were in space for more than 10 days in a mission that sent them around the moon and back. It was the farthest from Earth any human has traveled in history, with the crew documenting the far side of the Moon and even naming previously unnamed craters on the lunar surface.
The journey, which was streamed live throughout nearly its entire duration, captured the attention of the country and turned the astronauts into celebrities. The four have done countless interviews and were even invited to the White House.
In a viral video published Wednesday, one man was not as thrilled about seeing the crew.
“Stop lying! Stop acting!” the man said just feet away from the crew. “You all never went to space!”
Pilot Victor Glover took a quick glance at the man before looking ahead. Christina Koch, one of the mission specialists in the crew, continued looking ahead and never acknowledged him. The other two crew members — commander Reid Wiseman and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen — did the same.
“Follow Jesus! God’s watching you all!” the man continued.
Here’s the moment it happened:
At least the astronauts were able to keep their composure unlike Buzz Aldrin.
If you don’t get that reference, The History Channel has the full explanation:
On September 9, 2002, astronaut Buzz Aldrin—the second human to set foot on the moon—is walking outside a Beverly Hills hotel when a conspiracy theorist starts harassing him and accusing Aldrin of lying about the Apollo 11 moon landing. Incensed, Aldrin punches his heckler in the face.
“You’re the one who said you walked on the moon when you didn’t,” Bart Sibrel told Aldrin as he walked by his filming crew outside the Luxe Hotel. “Calling a kettle black …”
“Will you get away from me?” an irate Aldrin warned the man in the incident caught on video.
Sibrel responded, “You’re a coward and a liar and a … ”
Aldrin, then 72, socked Sibrel in the jaw, right when he finished the sentence with “thief.”
During the widely reported incident, Sibrel—who has badgered Apollo astronauts more than once—even shoved a Bible in Aldrin’s face and asked him to swear on it that the moon landing was real and that Aldrin actually walked on the lunar landscape. Aldrin was lured to the hotel on the pretext of an interview for a children’s television show, and then Sibrel accosted him.
Sibrel tried to press assault charges against Aldrin, but the court threw out the case and called Sibrel the instigator.
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Here’s the moment Buzz Aldrin punched Bart Sibrel:
Buzz Aldrin punches a conspiracy theorist after being accused of faking the moon landing (2002) pic.twitter.com/WYFnfVAjW8
— Interesting AF (@interesting_aIl) May 13, 2024
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