NASA administrator calls out Kim Kardashian for promoting moon landing conspiracy

The head of NASA has called out Kim Kardashian after the famous mogul and reality television star claimed that the iconic 1969 moon landing was faked.

In the most recent episode of “The Kardashians,” a clip shows Kardashian, 45, telling actress Sarah Paulson that she believed the Apollo 11 lunar mission “didn’t happen.” Hours later, NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy took to social media to push back on Kardashian’s doubts, insisting that not only did Americans trailblaze their way to the moon in 1969, but returned five more times during the Apollo era.

Kardashian’s comments come as NASA is preparing to return astronauts to the moon – likely during President Donald Trump’s second term – ahead of crewed missions to Mars. Duffy’s exchange with Kardashian also comes days after the NASA leader found himself embroiled in another controversy with a major figure, Elon Musk.

Here’s everything to know about what Kim Kardashian said about the U.S. moon landing, and how the U.S. space agency responded.

What was the Apollo 11 moon landing?

NASA’s Apollo 11 mission made history in July 1969 as the first-ever spaceflight to land humans on the moon.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the commander of the mission, became known as the first person to step on to the lunar surface, followed by astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who piloted in the Lunar Module Eagle to the surface.

For more than two hours, the astronauts roamed the lunar surface – collecting moon samples and exploring a site they named “Tranquility Base” – before returning to the module to fly back up to orbit. There, they rejoined astronaut Michael Collins on the Command Module Columbia to make their way back to Earth.

But in the decades since, the iconic mission has become the source of several major conspiracy theories, primarily one claiming that the landing itself was a hoax entirely staged by NASA.

Kim Kardashian promotes moon landing conspiracy

The conspiracy theory is one that billionaire Kim Kardashian, a major celebrity and entrepreneur with hundreds of millions of social media followers, recently amplified.

In an episode of “The Kardashians,” a Hulu reality television series that follows the famous family during their daily lives, Kardashian approaches actress Sarah Paulson while the two are on set in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming legal drama series, “All’s Fair.”

Kardashian, speaking to Paulson, references interviews featuring Aldrin, now 95, and who Kardashian refers to as “the other one” – presumably, the late Armstrong – in which she insists the astronauts themselves cast doubt on the moon landing.

Kardashian seems to specifically point to an interview Aldrin gave in which, when asked about the scariest moment of his lunar journey, he replies: “It didn’t happen.” Though Aldrin appeared to mean he was never scared at all, conspiracy theorists have interpreted the comment as an admission that the landing was faked.

“So, I think it didn’t happen,” Kardashian concludes, as Paulson, apparently receptive, nods. Paulson then adds, “I’m gonna go on a serious deep dive.”

The clip ends with Kardashian saying that she sends Paulson “conspiracies all the time.”

The episode in which Kardashian made the comments aired Thursday, Oct. 30, a day after the death of Aldrin’s wife, Anca Faur Aldrin, at 66.

Trump NASA appointee Sean Duffy responds

The brief scene prompted a response from Sean Duffy, who Trump appointed as the acting administrator of NASA amid the ongoing search for a permanent leader.

Sharing the clip on social media, Duffy tagged Kardashian and said, “we’ve been to the moon before – 6 times!”

Duffy, who also serves as the transportation secretary, then went on to promote the ongoing preparations to return American astronauts to the moon under the Artemis campaign.

“We won the last space race and we will win this one too,” Duffy concluded.

Duffy also embroiled in feud with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk

The exchange marked the second time in as many weeks that Duffy has found himself in the middle of a controversy with a major public figure.

On Oct. 21, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attacked Duffy as “Sean Dummy” on social media site X, which Musk owns. Musk, a billionaire and the world’s richest man, made his comments after the NASA head publicized his decision to reopen the agency’s contract with SpaceX for a moon lander.

SpaceX was awarded a lucrative contract to develop the upper stage of its Starship spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Artemis campaign. NASA’s decision, though, opens the door to rivals like Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin to develop their own landers for the mission.

Is America going back to the moon? What to know about NASA Artemis program

The United States is in the midst of preparing to send astronauts back to the moon in the years ahead under its Artemis campaign.

If astronauts step foot on the moon as early as 2027 during the Artemis 3 mission, it would mark the first time Americans have been on the lunar surface since NASA’s iconic Apollo program came to an end in 1972. But prior to the moon landing itself, NASA will send a crew of four Artemis 2 astronauts in 2026 on a 10-day mission circling our celestial neighbor.

NASA is preparing for the impending spaceflight missions amid a heated space race back to the moon with China, which also hopes to land humans on the surface.

But this time, NASA isn’t looking to simply plant the U.S. flag before having its astronauts head back to Earth. Instead, the plan is for NASA astronauts to help establish a permanent lunar settlement on the moon’s unexplored south pole that would be a catalyst in making future human missions from the moon to Mars possible.