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Russia Is Going To The Moon To Fact-Check NASA

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Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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The man heading up Russia’s Roscosmos space agency claimed that verification of America’s moon landings would be part of his agency’s next mission, according to a video shared on Saturday.

Dmitry Rogozin’s tweet, according to Google translate, reads, “I answer questions of the President of Moldova: whether there were Americans on the moon, why do you have fighters and trams and how Russian astronautics will help Moldovan grapes?”

In the shared video, AP reports that Rogozin also took questions regarding whether or not Americans actually succeeded in landing on the moon in 1969 — a common conspiracy theory amongst Russians. (RELATED: Trump On Neil Armstrong Planting The American Flag: There Was No Kneeling On The Moon)

“We have set this objective to fly and verify whether they’ve been there or not,” Rogozin responded with a smirk and a shrug, leaving it to his audience to determine whether or not his comment was in jest.

NASA would beg to differ.

- UNDATED FILE PHOTO - Apollo 11 astronauts (L-R) Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edward "Buzz Aldrin pose in this file photo. The 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission is July 16 (launch) and July 20 (landing on the moon).

– UNDATED FILE PHOTO – Apollo 11 astronauts (L-R) Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edward “Buzz Aldrin pose in this file photo. The 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission is July 16 (launch) and July 20 (landing on the moon). (NASA)

- FILE PHOTO JULY 1969 - Close-up view of an Apollo 11 astronaut's footprint in the lunar soil photographed with a 70mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular acitivty on the moon in this July 1969 file photo. The 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission is July 16 (launch) and July 20 (landing on the moon).

– FILE PHOTO JULY 1969 – Close-up view of an Apollo 11 astronaut’s footprint in the lunar soil photographed with a 70mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 extravehicular acitivty on the moon in this July 1969 file photo. (NASA)

- FILE PHOTO JULY 1969 - Astronaut Edwin F. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, faces the camera as he walks on the Moon during Apollo 11 extra vehicular activity in this file photograph. The plexiglass of his helmet reflects back the scene in front of him, such as the Lunar Module and Astronaut Neil Armstrong, taking his picture. Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. The 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission is July 16 (launch) and July 20 (landing on the moon).

– FILE PHOTO JULY 1969 – Astronaut Edwin F. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot, faces the camera as he walks on the Moon during Apollo 11 extra vehicular activity in this file photograph. The plexiglass of his helmet reflects back the scene in front of him, such as the Lunar Module and Astronaut Neil Armstrong, taking his picture. Armstrong, Apollo 11 commander, took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. The 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission is July 16 (launch) and July 20 (landing on the moon). (NASA)

American moon landing conspiracy theories are so prevalent in Russia that in 2015, the Russian Federation Investigative Committee ordered an investigation into the 1969 lunar landings, purporting to determine once and for all whether or not they had been faked.

Vladimir Markin, the committee’s spokesman, called for the investigation in response to an investigation into FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) — led by the U.S. — questioning whether or not corruption had played a role in Russia being selected to host the World Cup.

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