On July 20, 1969, American astronauts landed on the Moon—or did they? Despite the historic clamor surrounding the moment Apollo 11 seemed to touch down on the lunar surface, it didn't take long for some to question if the Moon landing had truly occurred.
Just one year after the Moon landing, a group of around 1,000 Americans were asked about it, with 30% expressing disbelief. Around the same time, Newsweek published interviews with Americans who claimed that the Moon landing had been staged in the desert, that it was simply impossible to transmit videos from the Moon back to Earth — after all, they couldn't even get some stations on their TVs — and that the Moon landing had been staged to distract Americans from domestic issues.
Then, in 1976, a guy called Bill Kaysing released a booklet titled We Never Went to the Moon: America's $30 billion Swindle. Kaysing was more than simply a poll respondent or an opinionated blogger; he worked for Rocketdyne, the NASA contractor that developed the engines for the Apollo Moon landings.
Kaysing believed that the Moon landing must have been staged since NASA lacked the technological skills to pull it out. And he said he could prove it. In his brochure, he highlighted so-called anomalies in the Moon landing, such as the lack of stars in the sky, the lack of a crater beneath the lunar module, and the fact that light and shadows visible in Moon landing movies and stills did not exactly line up.
He stated that NASA staged the rocket's takeoff and landing, and then videotaped the entire Moon landing in a studio. And Kaysing was not alone in his convictions.
Since 1969, several different explanations concerning the Moon landing have been proposed. Some have contended that radiation in orbit would have killed the astronauts, while others have referred to the American flag, which appears to be waving without wind. Meanwhile, others have questioned why trips to the Moon abruptly ceased in the 1970s.
Today, an estimated 5% of Americans "strongly believe" the Moon landing was staged, 6% "somewhat believe," and 7% are unsure.
So, what does the evidence suggest?
