If this is all a hoax though, what happened to astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee that burnt to death in the simulation? Conspiracy theorists have an answer for that too. They were executed. Not formally, but rather that the “accidental” fire ignited in the simulation was set on purpose. One of the biggest advocates for this theory is the family of one of the victims: Gus Grissom. Grissom was an open critic of the space program, and both his wife and son believe that at the very least, NASA has and is holding from them information about what really happened. Conspiracy theorists take this idea much further and say that government officials purposely set the fire to silence critical Grissom before he learned, or before he could have told too much to the public. For their evidence, conspiracy theorists cite the mysterious circumstances around the fire, the lack of investigation details released, and the fact that the pod that they died in is now forever locked away in a military facility and cannot be investigated.

Those beliefs, or at least some aspects of those beliefs are held by somewhere near 10% of the nation. But why? Conspiracy theories are always fun to think about, but why do Americans actually believe their government would or could pull this off? An article from the Smithsonian tries to offer some answers. They suggest that it is mainly young people who believe the conspiracy theory because they were not around during the time of Apollo. Another factor that make young people the most skeptical are the plethora of websites sites throwing out the conspiracies, that young people can access easier than ever before.

The most convincing point the article makes however, and the one that I relate to the most, is the growing distrust of the government. After government scandals like Watergate and the Lewinsky Scandal, we have become so distrusting of government and politicians that I for one think the government is capable of almost anything. This distrust in my generation has led to theories like the idea that 9/11 was an inside job and maybe has caused a rise in belief in theories like the moon landing hoax.