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Is Neil Armstrong Still Alive or Dead? On August 25, 2012, the world was shocked to learn of Neil Armstrong’s death. Since then, millions of fans around the world have come to believe that the astronaut’s death was a hoax and that he is still alive and well.
Neil Armstrong Death Hoax: Is He Still Among Us?
“ There are just too many unanswered questions, too many coincidences, too many things just don’t make sense, ” a fan told the media.
Overzealous fans started investigating the strange and conflicting circumstances surrounding the ‘death’ of Neil Armstrong, offering ‘incontestable evidence’ that the astronaut was still alive. More than 2 millions people have clicked on the popular YouTube video ‘Neil Armstrong alive?! Shocking proof’ and nearly 30,000 people have commented on.
A wide array of the astronaut’s fans are convinced the video proves conclusively that Neil Armstrong is still alive.
Is Neil Armstrong Still Alive or Dead? New Wave of Neil Armstrong Sightings
Moreover, ever since his death in 2012, hundreds of eyewitnesses claimed to have spotted him in many cities around the world, in shopping malls, taxis, even in a restaurant in Wapakoneta (Neil Armstrong’s Hometown).
Neil Armstrong would be 91 years-old today.
Will we ever know the truth? Probably not, but the legend that is Neil Armstrong will live on forever. Some things are just too good to be forgotten.
2012: The death of Neil Armstrong and a $6 million secret
When Neil Armstrong died in 2012, it was officially put down to complications arising from heart surgery. But seven years on, more murky circumstances have come to light.
The New York Times said Tuesday it had received by mail 93 pages of documents revealing a dispute between the family of the most famous astronaut in history and the small Ohio hospital where he was treated and operated on.
The Cincinnati Enquirer also received the documents, which were sent anonymously.
According to the newspapers, the family had threatened to publicly accuse the hospital of medical malpractice.
They ultimately reached a secret settlement that avoided a scandal, with the hospital paying $6 million, of which $5 million went to Armstrong’s two sons, Rick and Mark, in exchange for their silence.
In a July 2014 email, Mark’s wife Wendy, a lawyer, threatened to go public during the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission which saw Armstrong become the first person to set foot on the Moon.
“If this matter becomes public, the resulting damage to your client’s reputation would come at a much greater cost than any jury verdict we can imagine,” she wrote, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“No institution wants to be remotely associated with the death of one of America’s greatest heroes,” Bertha Helmick, a lawyer for Armstrong’s grandchildren, argued in probate court proceedings, according to the Times.
But Armstrong’s widow Carol, his second wife, wanted it known she was not a part of the agreement.
The case concerned the decision by the hospital in Fairfield, Ohio, now a member of the Bon Secours Mercy Health group of hospitals, to not transfer Armstrong immediately to surgery when he began to show rapid internal bleeding, several days after a coronary bypass.
The original decision to perform the bypass surgery has also been questioned.
A hospital spokeswoman told the Enquirer the publication of the details was “very disappointing.”
– Cashing in? –
Settlements for medical malpractice suits are commonplace in the United States: only about five percent end up in court, according to Michelle Mello, a law professor at Stanford. Hospitals are insured against the risk.
According to Mello, the biggest settlement by a doctor in 2018 involving the death of a male in his 80s was for $1.49 million and the median was $145,000.
All such cases are reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank, but settlements by hospitals, which are rare, are not.
According to another expert, William Sage of the University of Texas at Austin, “a $6 million settlement involving the death of a national here does not strike me as unusually large.”
The case highlights the brand value of the Armstrong name, but also more generally of astronauts from NASA’s golden era.
When Armstrong’s sons sold off thousands of personal items belonging to their father in three recent auctions, the proceeds exceeded $12 million, according to Heritage Auctions.
They told AFP in an interview last year they wanted to create a foundation and would donate a portion to charity.
Other Moonwalkers have also cashed-in.
Buzz Aldrin, who followed Armstrong on the Moon, commands a $50,000 to $75,000 fee to participate in conferences, according to the site speaking.com.
“He’ll ask for a private jet, he’ll ask for VIP accommodation, and he’ll get it because people want to meet Buzz Aldrin,” Francis French, the author of several books on space history including one on the crew of Apollo 15, who were reprimanded for trying to make money from the sale of autographed postmarked envelopes that were taken to the Moon.
According to French, it’s no secret, and not considered underhanded, that ex-astronauts look for ways to make money after their careers are over. They would otherwise have to rely solely on their relatively paltry military or civil service pensions.
French added that he knew the Armstrong family, and they are not motivated by money.
Charlie Duke, one of the four living Moonwalkers, asked AFP in April for $5,000 for an interview.
“There’s a market. They charge what they can get,” John Logsdon, founder of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University told AFP. “These guys risk their lives after all, and I see nothing wrong with them profiting from it.”
In his own post-astronaut career, Armstrong lived a life outside of the limelight and less renumerated. If he used his fame, it was mainly for the benefit of his alma mater, Purdue.
Thanks to a major fundraising campaign he co-chaired in the 1990s, Purdue raised $ 250 million, the university told AFP.
Fact Check-Neil Armstrong refusing to swear on the Bible is not proof that moon landing was fake
Social media users are sharing a video of astronaut Neil Armstrong refusing to swear on the Bible that he walked on the moon and claiming that this is proof that the moon landing was fake.
Examples can be seen here and here .
The text in the posts reads: “A video, filmed in 2010 before former NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong’s death, shows Armstrong being confronted by a man named Bart Sibrel claiming to be from “ABC Digital” about his alleged walk on the moon July 20, 1969.”
The posts then describe Sibrel approaching Armstrong and asking him to put his hand on the Bible and swear that he walked on the moon. Armstrong says in the video: “Mr. Sibrel, knowing you, that’s probably a fake Bible.”
In the clip, Sibrel continues to insist and even offers him $5,000. Armstrong then says: “Mr. Sibrel has made a fool of himself in front of the world…Mr. Sibrel, you do not deserve answers.”
Sibrel, a conspiracy theorist and film producer, is known for claiming that the moon landing was fake and following Apollo astronauts with a Bible to swear that they walked on the moon, as reported here , here and here .
Sibrel was punched in the face by astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, after confronting the astronaut in 2002, as reported here and here .
The text in the posts claims Armstrong was “a devoted follower of Christianity”, however, this claim is unfounded.
There are other false claims about Armstrong’s religiosity, such as the one where he converted to Islam after hearing the call to prayer on the moon ( here and here ).
A book titled “A Reluctant Icon: Letters to Neil Armstrong” by James R. Hansen, former NASA historian (here), says that “he was not a religious man in any doctrinal sense at all” and that his mother, “a strongly devout evangelical Christian,” could not accept that about her son. (here)
According to the book, Armstrong said in an interview with Walter Cronkite on CBS’s Face the Nation on Aug. 17, 1969 that he was “certainly not an atheist” but he did not elaborate further.
The book also says that according to Armstrong’s brother Dean, Cronkite asked him on another occasion whether he felt closer to God while on the moon and Armstrong replied: “You know, Walter, sometimes a man just wants a good cigar.”
Armstrong reportedly was a deist, as discussed here , here and here . Deism is the belief in the existence of a supreme being who does not intervene in the universe (here).
There is no evidence that the moon landing was faked or that astronauts did not walk on the moon. However, there is plenty of evidence that it happened. Reports about the landing can be seen here , here and here .
Photographs of the moon landing can be seen here , here , and here .
Debunks by Reuters and others about the moon landing can be seen here , here , here , and here .
VERDICT
False. Astronaut Neil Armstrong refusing to swear on the Bible when confronted by a conspiracy theorist is not proof that the moon landing was fake.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
