No, these aren’t photos from the Hollywood studio where Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing. These are real training simulations in Houston just three months before these men would actually set foot on the moon.
Amazingly, there are some people who still don’t believe that humans actually landed on the moon — these folks are commonly referred to as “moon hoaxers,” “moon truthers,” and “blathering dunderheads.”
Blathering dunderheads sometimes point to these training mock-up photos as evidence that the moon landing was faked. Because if you’re trying to simulate the conditions of the moon to prepare for your historic mission, why not just give up and fake the thing on Earth. Or something like that? The blathering dunderheads haven’t really thought this one through. Especially when it comes to the film and video technology of the late 1960s — relatively primitive tech which would have been harder to rapidly develop than actually just blasting humans to the moon.
Within the context of the moon hoaxer’s drivel, these are kind of hilarious to look at and imagine how you’d fake a moon landing. Feel free to utilise the photos below for maximum moon hoaxer trolling.
Neil Armstrong, standing in front of a Lunar Module mock-up and holding a camera during a simulation in Houston on April 22, 1969.
Neil Armstrong practices scooping up a lunar sample in this photo from the Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center) in Houston on April 18, 1969.
Buzz Aldrin (left) and Neil Armstrong (right) participate in a training exercise using scoops and tongs to pick up lunar samples on April 22, 1969.
Neil Armstrong simulates deploying the Solar Wind Composition experiment (left) and using a scoop to place a lunar sample into a bag (right).
Neil Armstrong opens a sample return container next to the Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly and the Lunar Module mock-up on April 18, 1969.
Neil Armstrong practices using a video camera during a lunar surface simulation at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.