THE RECORDS / WHY WE STOPPED
If we went in 1969, why is it so hard now?
RECORD / AT A GLANCE
FALSE
The Saturn V production line was shut down by 1968–70 budget decisions. Rebuilding the industrial base takes years, and NASA’s budget is a fraction of what it was.
THE EVENTS / THE CLAIM / THE RECORD
1 August 1968
NASA chief James Webb declines to fund more Saturn V rockets beyond the first 15.
January 1970
NASA drops the last planned landing.
September 1970
Budget cuts end the program after Apollo 17.
2015
Aldrin’s garbled answer is later cut into a clip claiming he admitted the landings were fake.
September 2016
Astronaut Don Pettit says rebuilding Moon capability is “a painful process”.
READ THE FILE
NASA says it lost the know-how.
A factory closed, and the money went elsewhere.
Open an article for its evidence, labeled AI assessment and numbered sources. Read the complete static edition ↗
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE
4 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.
Apollo 20 in January 1970; 18 and 19 in September.
Who says it: NASA.
He did, about rebuilding Moon capability.
Who says it: IBT.
Engineering records survive; what is gone is the factory and tooling.
Who says it: Viral posts.
The Saturn V line was closed in 1968; the industry must be rebuilt.
Who says it: Viral posts.
OPEN THE RECORD
Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.
News report with the full Pettit quote in context.
Fact check on the clip of Aldrin answering a girl’s question.
NASA’s dated history identifies the 1968 production decision, budget restrictions and the reassignment of a Saturn V to Skylab.
Mission-cancellation history, including renumbering; distinguishes planned expeditions from those that flew.
Primary institutional record. Carried from the first edition and re-listed 23 October 2026; cited for the specific point in the text.
Amateur-rocketry club newsletter reporting the 1/10-scale Saturn V flight.
The original event video from the Science Museum, London, where Don Pettit spoke.
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NASA says it lost the know-how.
In 2016 astronaut Don Pettit said: “I’d go to the moon in a nanosecond. The problem is we don’t have the technology to do that anymore. We used to but we destroyed that technology and it’s a painful process to build it back again.” [1]
If NASA did it with 1960s technology, why would it need decades and billions of dollars to repeat it? [1][2]
News report with the full Pettit quote in context.
Fact check on the clip of Aldrin answering a girl’s question.
A factory closed, and the money went elsewhere.
On 1 August 1968, before the first landing, NASA chose not to order more Saturn Vs. The production lines closed, the tooling was scrapped, and the workers moved on. [1]
Apollo 20 was cancelled in January 1970 and Apollo 18 and 19 that September. [1][2][4]
Pettit was making exactly this point: the Saturn V and its factories no longer exist, so the capability has to be rebuilt. He was arguing for going back to the Moon, not saying the first trips were faked. [3]
The design itself is no secret. On 25 April 2009 hobbyist Steve Eves flew a 1/10-scale Saturn V, the largest amateur rocket then launched and recovered, more than 4,440 feet up. [5]
NASA’s dated history identifies the 1968 production decision, budget restrictions and the reassignment of a Saturn V to Skylab.
Mission-cancellation history, including renumbering; distinguishes planned expeditions from those that flew.
News report with the full Pettit quote in context.
Primary institutional record. Carried from the first edition and re-listed 23 October 2026; cited for the specific point in the text.
Amateur-rocketry club newsletter reporting the 1/10-scale Saturn V flight.
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