Apollo moon landing hoax accusations

Proponents of the Apollo program landing hoax accusations allege that the Apollo Moon Landings never took place, and were faked by NASA with possible CIA support.

Related Topics:
Apollo Moon Landing - NASA - CIA

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

According to a 1999 Gallup poll, about 6 percent of the population of the U.S. has doubts that the Apollo astronauts walked on the moon.

Related Topics:
Gallup poll - U.S. - Apollo - Astronaut

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Although, if taken literally, 6 percent translates into millions of individuals," Gallup said of this, "it is not unusual to find about that many people in the typical poll agreeing with almost any question that is asked of them -- so the best interpretation is that this particular conspiracy theory is not widespread."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nearly all interested scientists, technicians, and space enthusiasts have rejected the claim, considering it to be baseless.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The landing hoax proponents believe that the Moon landings of Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969 and subsequent missions never happened, but were faked on Earth. The idea grew significantly in popularity after the release of the movie Capricorn One (1978), which portrays a NASA attempt to fake a landing on Mars. It is possible that a brief sequence in the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever (1971) which appears to show a Moon landing being simulated may coincide with some of the first suggestions of the landings being faked. It should perhaps be noted that British playwright Desmond Lowden wrote a play called 'The News-Benders' in 1967 in which all major technological advances since 1945 were shown to have been simulated; the play was televised in January 1968 and showed a moon landing faked with models.

Related Topics:
Moon - Apollo 11 - July 20 - 1969 - Earth - Capricorn One - 1978 - NASA - Mars - James Bond - Diamonds Are Forever - 1971 - British - 1967 - 1945 - 1968

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A more subtle version of the idea is that although the Apollo missions were not faked, some of the photographs were doctored. According to this, the U.S. government feared the humiliation that would occur if the mission failed and fake photographs were prepared on Earth "just in case." By this account, although the mission was a success, some of these fake photographs were so impressive that it was decided to release them anyway for propaganda purposes.

Related Topics:
Photograph - Propaganda

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first published presentation of the claims was Bill Kaysing's We Never Went to the Moon in 1974, although perhaps the best known is NASA Mooned America by Ralph Rene.

Related Topics:
Bill Kaysing - We Never Went to the Moon - 1974 - NASA Mooned America - Ralph Rene

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~