Drake Maye isn't sure the United States actually landed on the moon in 1969, and he said so out loud on Boston sports radio this week. The New England Patriots quarterback's comments quickly reached NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who didn't let them slide.
During a Monday appearance on WEEI's Rich and Ken Show, Maye said he's always harbored some doubt about the Apollo 11 landing, according to CBS Sports. “I'm not 100% sure,” Maye said, per the outlet's report. He added that he took a conspiracy-focused class while at the University of North Carolina, saying, “I took a conspiracy class in college, actually, at North Carolina.”
Maye stopped short of declaring the moon landing a hoax. As reported by WHDH, the quarterback said, “I wouldn't say I'm leaning one way or the other,” framing his position as genuine uncertainty rather than firm conviction.
NASA's Chief Claps Back
The remarks didn't stay confined to sports radio for long. Isaacman, who became NASA's 15th administrator in December 2025, addressed Maye's comments directly on X, according to the same WHDH report. His reply was short and pointed: “I quite literally have the receipts.”
Isaacman's quip quickly spread beyond football circles, drawing attention from national outlets. The Independent, which covered Isaacman's response, also noted the broader context of NASA's ongoing Artemis program, which per NASA aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in more than five decades, with the agency's last crewed moon mission having been Apollo 17 in 1972.
Maye Isn't the First NFL Player to Wonder
Maye joins a small but recurring club of professional athletes who've questioned the moon landing publicly. Former Rams and Dolphins defensive end William Hayes said in 2017 that he believed the moon landing was fake, while Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown questioned whether humans had actually been to the moon in 2023, according to the-independent.com's reporting. NBA star Stephen Curry made similar comments back in 2018, though he later said in 2022 that he'd been joking and does in fact believe the landing happened.
On the field, Maye has had little to be skeptical about lately. He threw for a season-high 269 yards and three touchdowns in the Patriots' 29-26 win over the Buffalo Bills, per the-independent.com, a performance that's kept his name in headlines for reasons well beyond lunar conspiracy theories.
NASA Looks Ahead to Artemis
NASA is preparing for its Artemis IV mission, which the agency is targeting for 2028 as part of a broader push to establish a long-term human presence on and around the moon. According to NASA's own mission description, the crew of four astronauts will launch aboard Orion on the SLS rocket from Kennedy Space Center before docking with a lander for the trip to the lunar surface.
Whether Maye's on-air doubts amount to much more than a passing radio moment remains to be seen, but the exchange with Isaacman has already given the story a life of its own online. Boston 25 News, which first highlighted Maye's remarks locally, reported that its coverage generated thousands of interactions across its social media channels.
