Is Fly Me To The Moon Based On A True Story?

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2024’s flop film titled “Fly Me to the Moon” revolves around the true-to-life story of the Apollo 11 space voyage and its historic moon landing, executed by a group of astronauts in 1969. Channing Tatum plays Cole Davis, an engineer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, whose mission is to make sure the launch runs smoothly. Meanwhile, Scarlett Johansson portrays Kelly Jones, a PR and marketing expert hired by NASA to shape public anticipation and opinions about this groundbreaking event.

To guarantee a favorable result regardless of the mission’s outcome, Jones is assigned the challenging task of creating deceptive footage of a moon landing for broadcast in case of failure. Despite her reservations about this decision, she’s persuaded into it when those around her threaten to reveal unsavory aspects of her past. Moreover, she must maintain the secret from Davis, who she’s growing closer to romantically.

Although the film takes its foundation from the historic 1969 moon mission, the central idea portraying staged landing footage is not grounded in reality. The movie, titled “Fly Me to the Moon,” explores a widely debated theory suggesting that the entire moon landing was a hoax orchestrated by NASA and the government to outdo the Soviet Union in the space race. However, it should be noted that while the film’s plot is fictitious, certain elements within “Fly Me to the Moon” are influenced by actual events.

Is Kelly Jones a real person?

In essence, the personality of Kelly Jones in the movie bears a resemblance to Julian Scheer, who was a journalist and the head of public affairs at NASA during the Apollo 11 mission. Post the mission, he took charge of organizing and conducting tours for the astronauts worldwide, with the aim of announcing the US’s achievement globally. Similar to how Kelly interacts with Cole in the film, Scheer collaborated closely with the astronauts and engineers, serving as a liaison between the public, media, and the space team to bridge any gaps in understanding or communication.

In simpler terms, Scheer took part in various events related to the space mission to grasp the necessary details for all involved parties to enlighten and inform the American public effectively. Additionally, he prepared materials for citizens and schools. Contrary to his fictional counterpart, he wasn’t coerced into this task with the moon landing; however, he significantly influenced the public perception of the event. He contributed to designing the plaque on the Lunar Module (the Apollo ll command module), and even joined discussions about having the astronauts hoist the American flag on the lunar surface.

What did experts think of a movie about a conspiracy theory?

In an interview, University of New Hampshire sociology professor Lawrence Hamilton voiced worries about conspiracy theorists potentially exploiting clips from “Fly Me to the Moon” to support their beliefs. For instance, pictures of astronauts practicing with a lunar rover before the Apollo 16 mission have been shared online and continue to be reposted as alleged proof that the moon landing was staged.

Hamilton expressed a similar sentiment about clips from the 2024 film. He told The Times, “‘This is just like the moon landing hoax, and it’s proof,’ they might say.” He suggested that manipulated scenes from this movie could be used to reinforce false beliefs, even among those who didn’t live during or don’t remember the original event. In certain online circles, footage from “Fly Me to the Moon” could further propagate moon landing conspiracy theories for future generations.

Did a fake moon landing conspiracy inspire any other movies?

The film “Moonwalkers” from 2015 isn’t the first to explore moon-related theories inspired by the Apollo 11 mission and the lunar landing. It tells the story of a CIA agent (played by Ron Perlman) who is assigned to recruit Stanley Kubrick, due to his convincing portrayal of space travel in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” His task? To create phony moonwalk footage as a backup plan if the real landing goes awry. The movie follows a humorous struggle as the agent gets deceived by someone pretending to be Kubrick’s representative, leaving everyone uncertain about which broadcasted footage is genuine in the end. (The idea that Kubrick filmed fake moon landing footage is also touched upon in the documentary “Room 237.”)

In much the same way, the 1977 movie “Capricorn One” narrates a fictional account of a staged Mars landing. As the launch occurs, the astronauts are unexpectedly extracted from the spacecraft at the final moment and transferred to a clandestine site. Misled that their spacecraft’s life support system was malfunctioning, they are coerced by the government to assist in faking a Mars landing to preserve NASA’s funding.

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2025-04-03 21:30