Bill Kaysing, a former US Navy officer and technical writer for a rocket manufacturer involved in NASA’s Apollo moon missions, gained notoriety for promoting the conspiracy theory that the moon landings were faked. His 1976 book, “We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle,” laid the foundation for many persistent conspiracy theories surrounding the Apollo missions.
The central claim of the conspiracy theory suggests that NASA, unable to achieve President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, staged the moon landings in a film studio. Moon landing skeptics argue that various clues in the footage and photos reveal the alleged hoax, contributing to the enduring popularity of these theories.
Kaysing’s conspiracy theory gained traction in the mid-1970s, coinciding with a broader crisis of trust in the United States. The release of the Pentagon Papers, revelations about the Watergate scandal, and disclosures of CIA malfeasance fueled a growing suspicion that the American government was involved in conspiracies against its citizens. This shift in conspiracy thinking marked a transition from perceiving external enemies to suspecting the state itself.
Moon landing conspiracy theories, like those surrounding the Kennedy assassination, emerged as a new form of conspiratorial thinking. Rather than seeking suppressed information, these theories reinterpret publicly available evidence, finding perceived inconsistencies in the official record. Visual evidence, especially photos, plays a crucial role, reflecting the assumption that anyone can scrutinize and interpret images like a detective.
The cultural context of the 1960s and 1970s contributed to the enduring appeal of moon landing conspiracy theories. These theories propagated the idea that significant events are not what they seem and are, in fact, staged or part of an official disinformation campaign. This narrative aligns with the modern notion that tragic events involve “crisis actors” and government-sponsored deception, leading to harmful consequences, such as the harassment of individuals affected by real tragedies.
The 1978 Hollywood film “Capricorn One,” based on Kaysing’s book, further popularized moon landing conspiracy theories by depicting a faked Mars landing in a film studio. This narrative, linking the moon landings to Stanley Kubrick, suggests that reality itself can be constructed or faked, resonating with the broader idea that media-saturated age challenges the authenticity of reality. Despite being far-fetched in factual terms, moon landing conspiracy theories underscore the plausible notion that reality, particularly in a media-driven society, can be manipulated or misrepresented.