Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert was criticized after she seemingly agreed with the conspiracy theory that the moon landing was faked in a wide-ranging interview with conservative conspiracy theorist Alex Stein.
The segment began with the duo casting doubt on nuclear weapons—Boebert even joked about needing "tin foil"—and moved into weirder territory when Stein praised Boebert for "vibing" with him on the topic of the moon landing. Conspiracy theorists have long alleged the moon landing was fabricated by NASA in what they claim was an elaborate hoax.
You can hear what they said in the video below.
The two brought up the Van Allen radiation belt, which conspiracy theorists believe would have killed astronauts who had to pass through this region of particles trapped by our planet's magnetic field.
Spacecraft designed to reach the Moon had to pass through the belt, but their flight paths were carefully planned to minimize time spent in the most intense regions, and the spacecraft were equipped with shielding to protect astronauts from harmful radiation.
Boebert interjected to point out that the International Space Station (ISS) is still "within it," prompting Stein to clarify that the ISS orbits only about "200 miles from the surface of Earth," whereas the Moon is about "257,000 miles away" — "a thousand times the distance," he added, albeit with some uncertainty about the math.
He continued:
“This isn’t a financial seminar. My point is, we were able to go to the moon 1,000 times farther in 1969, but the current technology that we have, we cannot go past low-Earth orbit. Even Barack Obama said that, and that is the International Space Station."
"And half the time, we can’t even go to the damn International Space Station because Joe Biden doesn’t want to do auto-pay and give him, you know, an evacuation right out of there. So I think the moon landing’s provably false. Am I smoking too much Delta-9, Congresswoman?"
Boebert responded to Stein by suggesting, “maybe we can have a classified briefing at some point,” which Stein welcomed. Boebert went on to say she enjoys exploring “all the different things,” and referenced Tucker Carlson, noting he once took the 9/11 terror attacks at face value but now admits he was “a part of the propaganda” that led to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
She added:
"So, you know, I mean, things change, facts change."
"That’s why I love Jesus, I love the Bible, because that is truth and that is everlasting, and that’s something that will never change. God is not a liar, but you know, there is a father of lies, and the Bible talks all about him. And unfortunately, we’ve seen time and time again where politicians are in office and deceive the American public."
"And so I don’t know, have we been beyond the Van Allen radiation belt? Maybe?"
"If so, I would like to know why it’s taken so long to get back through it again. But, you know, here we are, and we’ll see what Artemis and the Orion spacecraft have to do when they try to take a crewed spaceship back out there in just a year or two."
Many have mocked Boebert in response.
Boebert and Stein’s exchange came as NASA’s Artemis II mission marked a major milestone, with RS-25 engine tests at Kennedy Space Center completed successfully.
The tests are part of the engineering prep for the Space Launch System ahead of the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years. The roughly 10-day journey will send four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—around the moon aboard the Orion spacecraft.
Final assembly, including Orion’s integration with the rocket stack, is set for later this year, with launch targeted for no later than April 2026.
