Legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin socked a moon landing conspiracy theorist in the face on this day in 2002. Aldrin, then 72 years old, had gone to a hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., for an interview for a Japanese children's TV show when he was ambushed in front of the building by a film crew and a man shouting insults at him. The show, it turned out, was a ruse: Conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel had concocted the story to confront Aldrin about the supposed hoax, demanding he swear on the bible that the moon landing was real and that he'd really been on the moon.
After being stopped at the entrance and called a "thief" and "liar" and having a bible waved in his face, Aldrin had had enough and cold-cocked Sibrel mid-sentence with the cameras on. He was let off by police after pleading self-defense. Sibrel sued, but his case was thrown out after a court found he had started the conflict.
You can learn more about the incident, and moon landing conspiracy theorists more generally, in this 2019 article from USA Today.
