A Russian official has called for an international probe into various murky details surrounding the U.S.'s moon landings.
Vladimir Markin, a spokesperson for Russia's Investigative Committee, said that the disappearance of video footage from the U.S. moon landing in 1969 should be investigated, according to Moscow Times.
He also demanded an explanation for the disappearance of nearly 400 kilograms of lunar rocks, which were brought back to earth during several Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972.
"We are not Contending That they did not fly [to the moon], and simply made a film about it. But all of These scientific - or perhaps cultural - artifacts are part of the legacy of humanity, and their disappearance without a trace is our common loss. An investigation will reveal what happened," Markin said in a column published by Russian newspaper Izvestia on Tuesday.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) admitted in 2009 that it had erased original footage but later restored it with the help of contemporary television broadcasts, Newsweek reported. Most of the lunar rocks are stored at Johnson Space Center in Houston, according to NASA.
Markin's remarks questioning American moon landings came after a U.S. investigation into FIFA corruption casted doubt over the fairness of Russia's World Cup bid. He said that the U.S. crossed the line when it launched FIFA corruption probe.
"US prosecutors Themselves having declared the supreme arbiters of international football affairs," he wrote, according to a Moscow Times translation of his column.
Take a look at footage of the first moon walk on NASA's YouTube channel.
