THE EVIDENCE / THE RIVAL
The rival with every reason to expose a hoax.
RECORD / AT A GLANCE
FALSE
The Soviets tracked the flights, swapped samples with NASA, and their best-known cosmonaut called hoax claims ignorant. No evidence supports a secret deal.
THE EVENTS / THE CLAIM / THE RECORD
July 1969
A Soviet robot tries to land and return samples before Apollo 11 gets home.
21 July 1969
The probe hits Mare Crisium after 52 orbits, about 800 kilometers from Tranquility Base.
January 1971
NASA and the Soviet Academy of Sciences agree to cooperate, including on lunar samples.
20 July 2009
On the 40th anniversary, Alexei Leonov tells RIA Novosti that only “absolutely ignorant” people doubt the landings.
READ THE FILE
Moscow kept quiet because it was paid to.
Their own probe, their own trackers, their own cosmonaut.
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.
Luna 15 crashed on 21 July after 52 orbits.
Who says it: NASA, Jodrell Bank.
Soviet leaders hosted American astronauts.
Who says it: NASA history.
They tracked Apollo and never claimed fakery.
Who says it: Hoax sites.
He said reshoots were staged in a studio, which is not documented.
Who says it: Russian interviews.
OPEN THE RECORD
Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.
NASA History on the January 1971 Low–Keldysh agreement, including the exchange of lunar samples.
NASA History. Says Luna 15 fired its retrorocket after 52 lunar orbits and crashed in Mare Crisium about 500 miles from Tranquility Base.
University of Manchester observatory. Released its 1969 recordings of the Soviet probe during Apollo 11.
NASA reference table. Luna 15 impact: 21 July 1969, 17° N, 60° E.
Russian state news agency interview with the first spacewalker, who trained for the Soviet Moon program. Original Russian; our translation.
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Moscow kept quiet because it was paid to.
The superpowers cooperated in space soon after Apollo 11, and they signed grain deals and arms treaties in the early 1970s. Theorists argue the Soviet leadership was persuaded to keep quiet in exchange for something, or did not want to admit how far behind it was. [1]
NASA History on the January 1971 Low–Keldysh agreement, including the exchange of lunar samples.
Their own probe, their own trackers, their own cosmonaut.
The Soviet robot Luna 15 was orbiting the Moon at the same time as Apollo 11, and it crashed into Mare Crisium after 52 orbits. Jodrell Bank in Britain recorded both spacecraft. [1][2][3]
In 2009 Alexei Leonov, the first person to walk in space, told RIA Novosti: “Only absolutely ignorant people can seriously believe that the Americans were not on the Moon.” He added that the United States had systems tracking everything from launch to landing. [4]
Leonov’s interview also shows how myths spread on both sides. He claimed Stanley Kubrick filmed extra scenes of Armstrong opening the hatch and climbing down the ladder. That is wrong: a camera on the lander showed Armstrong’s descent live. He also said the first person to spread the hoax was jailed for libel, which no record supports. [4]
In 1971 the two countries agreed to exchange lunar samples, and Soviet scientists studied Apollo material. [5] A secret deal would have to hold for more than fifty years, through the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening of its archives, without a single leak.
What we can’t tell you. Leonov’s quotes are from a Russian-language interview; the translation is ours.
NASA History. Says Luna 15 fired its retrorocket after 52 lunar orbits and crashed in Mare Crisium about 500 miles from Tranquility Base.
University of Manchester observatory. Released its 1969 recordings of the Soviet probe during Apollo 11.
NASA reference table. Luna 15 impact: 21 July 1969, 17° N, 60° E.
Russian state news agency interview with the first spacewalker, who trained for the Soviet Moon program. Original Russian; our translation.
NASA History on the January 1971 Low–Keldysh agreement, including the exchange of lunar samples.
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