MYSTERY
The Moon Landing Hoax Theory
Between July 1969 and December 1972, twelve Americans walked on the Moon across six successful Apollo lunar missions. The astronauts brought back 382 kilograms of lunar rock, planted six retroreflector arrays still in active use today, and left behind hardware that the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has photographed from lunar orbit since 2009. The Soviet Union — which had every conceivable reason to expose a fraud — tracked the missions in real time on its own deep-space network at Yevpatoria, congratulated the United States publicly, and never disputed that the landings occurred. The hoax theory, which originated in a 1976 self-published book by a former Rocketdyne technical writer named Bill Kaysing, claims that all six landings were staged in a film studio. The theory has been polled at 6-20% of American adults in various surveys since the early 2000s. This article describes the theory, addresses each of its central evidentiary claims, and explains why the scientific and historical communities consider the case for the landings overwhelming.
