Since the dawn of the Apollo missions, the moon landing stands as one of humanity’s most extraordinary achievements. Yet, starting in the early 1970s, a persistent narrative emerged claiming NASA faked these monumental missions. This conspiracy theory has caused frustration to the hundreds of thousands of professionals involved in the space program, not to mention the astronauts who risked their lives launching into the unknown.

The Seed of the Hoax: Bill Kaysing’s Controversial Claims

The inception of the moon landing hoax theory can be traced back to Bill Kaysing, a former technical writer who worked with aerospace contractor Rocketdyne in the late 1950s. Kaysing is widely recognized as the first popularizer of the idea that NASA never actually landed humans on the moon.

In 1976, Kaysing self-published We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle, which presented allegations that cast doubt on the missions’ authenticity. His book drew attention to supposed anomalies such as the lack of stars in lunar photographs, the missing blast crater beneath lunar modules, and the dangers of the Van Allen radiation belts — all commonly cited in moon landing denial arguments.

Kaysing further contended that an internal NASA study from the late 1950s estimated the chance of a successful moon landing at a mere 0.0017%, claiming that it was effectively impossible. However, he provided no concrete evidence or documentation of such a study, and no credible record of NASA ever conducting such an encompassing feasibility report during that era exists.

The Role of Popular Culture: Capricorn One

The moon landing hoax theory gained momentum partly due to the 1978 film Capricorn One, which dramatized NASA faking a manned Mars landing. Directed by Peter Hyams, the film was inspired by his reflections on the Apollo 11 mission, particularly the notion that it had very few direct witnesses and that the only verification came from televised footage.

Though Hyams’ comment was inaccurate — many scientists, engineers, and global observers tracked the missions — the movie captivated audiences and helped fuel suspicions, mixing fiction with emerging conspiracy ideas.

Kaysing’s Motives and Theories

Kaysing suggested the hoax was motivated by Cold War rivalry, asserting NASA and the Defense Intelligence Agency collaborated to outpace the Soviet Union. According to him, faking the landing secured ongoing funding for NASA and contractors like Rocketdyne.

Kaysing’s story about the details of the hoax shifted through the years, but he claimed the astronauts never actually went to the moon. Initially, he alleged that the astronauts were in Las Vegas during the time of the mission, frequenting strip clubs and relaxing in hotel suites, even engaging in a fistfight — a claim with no supporting evidence and highly implausible.

He maintained that the moon landing footage was filmed on a soundstage, specifically at the notorious Area 51, and that unreliable F-1 engines were substituted with clusters of smaller rockets hidden inside them — technical claims that do not align with engineering realities and photographic evidence.

How Was The Hoax Allegedly Executed?

Kaysing contended that the lunar surface walk was a staged act where Armstrong and Aldrin performed rehearsed lines while dressed in space suits on a fake set at Area 51. He further alleged the broadcast had only a seven-second delay, so any accidental interruptions would have been instantaneously stopped to avoid exposing the deception.

For the return, Kaysing said the astronauts were dropped from a military cargo plane into the ocean inside a capsule, rather than returning from space. His sources for such claims lacked credibility, often consisting of unnamed pilots or anecdotal stories.

The moon rocks reportedly brought back were said to be meteorites collected from Antarctica or manufactured in NASA labs. To maintain the hoax, Kaysing asserted that only a select few insiders were privy to the truth, and those who might leak information were silenced through bribery, threats, or even murder.

Reactions and Legacy of the Theory

The theory’s many inconsistencies and overt falsehoods have made it widely dismissed among historians, scientists, and space professionals. Even Soviet-era tracking technology could not dispute the US missions, as the Soviets monitored the launches closely and never challenged their authenticity.

Despite this, the moon landing hoax theory endures, partly because it taps into broader distrust of government and official narratives. Kaysing, credited with initiating this discourse, remains a controversial figure — his writings have inspired numerous imitators and allowed conspiracy theories to flourish in popular consciousness.

Kaysing’s claims, while rejected by mainstream experts, helped birth one of the most well-known and resilient conspiracy theories of modern times — a testament to how skepticism and sensationalism often intertwine to reshape historical events in the public imagination.