Humans have not visited the moon since 1972, but that might change this week.
Artemis II, the first crewed moon mission in 54 years, is scheduled to launch on Wednesday, April 1, from Florida, carrying three Americans and one Canadian around the moon and back. And although the four astronauts won’t be landing on the moon this time, the 10-day journey around it will pave the way for a lunar landing in the years ahead.
But some conspiracy theorists don’t believe we’ve ever been to the moon at all, despite the evidence from the Apollo lunar missions.
Here’s what to know about the Artemis II rocket expected to lift off this week, what to know about the first time NASA sent humans to the moon and some moon landing conspiracy debunking.
What is NASA’s Artemis II mission?
Though no lunar landing is in store for this part of NASA’s Artemis program, the Artemis II mission will send a crew of four astronauts on a historic 10-day journey around the moon to test systems and hardware for future expeditions to the surface.
The mission will also make history, with the astronauts traveling about 250,000 miles from Earth – farther than any human has ever been in space. While traveling up to 6,000 miles above the lunar surface, the astronauts will also see parts of the far side of the moon that not even the Apollo astronauts witnessed.
At that distance, the moon will appear to the crew to be about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length, according to NASA.
When, what time is the Artemis II rocket launch in Florida?
NASA is working toward an April 1 launch of the Artemis II mission, with a two-hour launch window opening at 6:24 p.m. ET. If bad weather or any other issues arise before liftoff, NASA has also announced other launch opportunities available April 2-6 and again April 30.
The long-awaited mission was originally slated for February before hydrogen fuel leaks and, more recently, helium flow issues on NASA’s towering 322-foot Space Launch System rocket prompted a series of delays.
Did we really land on the moon? Moon landing conspiracies, debunked
Yes, we really did land on the moon … six times, to be exact.
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.
The conspiracy theories claim that the motivation behind “faking a moon landing” was simply America’s desire to win the space race.
“If you find yourself in a debate questioning whether humankind first stepped on the Moon on 20 July 1969 the chances are that you are woefully underprepared,” the Institute of Physics website says.
“Most people take it as gospel that the U.S. government, NASA, the 12 astronauts in total who have walked on the Moon and the 400,000 people involved in the Apollo program would have neither the will nor the way to fake one of humanity’s greatest ever achievements.”
If you’re looking for physical evidence of a moon landing, though, there are more than 8,000 publicly available photos, thousands of hours of video footage, transcripts and audio recordings of all air-to-ground conversations and more than 380 kilograms of moon rock that the Apollo astronauts brought back to Earth.
Kim Kardashian questions moon landing on ‘Kardashians’ show
In 2025, the then-acting head of NASA called out Kim Kardashian after the famous mogul and reality television star claimed that the iconic 1969 moon landing was faked.
In an October 2025 episode of “The Kardashians,” a Hulu reality TV 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 96, 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 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, 2025, a day after the death of Aldrin’s wife, Anca Faur Aldrin, at 66.
The brief scene prompted a response from Sean Duffy, who Trump had appointed as the acting administrator of NASA amid the search for a permanent leader at the time.
Sharing the clip on social media, Duffy tagged Kardashian and said, “we’ve been to the moon before – 6 times!”
Lianna Norman and Eric Lagatta are trending reporters for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering rocket launches, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Did we really land on the moon?Artemis II ahead, conspiracies debunked
Reporting by Lianna Norman and Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
