Origin of conspiracy theory about Apollo moon landings being a hoax

[Vahe231991]

I've read on the web there have been individuals who've come up with conspiracy theories that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax and never took place. Therefore, I wanted to raise the question of who was the first person to devise the debunked conspiracy theory that the Apollo landings were a hoax.

[Hyperborealis]

Didn't some people at the time of the landings refuse to believe they were real, believing that crossing space was impossible and therefore a hoax? The conspiracy theories I think only came later, as post-facto rationalizations of these naive priors. An example of what Alvin Toffler called "future shock," whose book of the same title came out, curiously, in 1970.

[Vahe231991]

Didn't some people at the time of the landings refuse to believe they were real, believing that crossing space was impossible and therefore a hoax? The conspiracy theories I think only came later, as post-facto rationalizations of these naive priors. An example of what Alvin Toffler called "future shock," whose book of the same title came out, curiously, in 1970.

The book We Never Went to the Moon: America's Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle published in 1976 by former US Navy officer Bill Kaysing was the first publication to argue that the Apollo moon landings never happened. In fact, Kaysing had no knowledge of rockets or technical writing despite having being hired as Rocketdyne's senior technical writer in 1956.

[Xernes]

This theory was also actively supported in the former USSR due to its ongoing rivalry with the US.
Although, it's not surprising considering that even in 2023, there are people who believe the Earth is flat.

[Steve G]

You may notice that the conspiracy nuts never mention the 16mm films, of the landings, liftoffs, lunar orbit shots, and the detailed orbital photography that would be impossible to be done with unmanned probes at the time. The TV transmissions showed that the astronauts were no professional videographers. If it was fake, I don't think the videography would have been that bad.

The 16mm footage of the travers of the Apollo 16 crew to Stone Mountain on EVA 2, for instance, would be impossible to fake. Even movies made today with all the CGI can't get it right. Kubrick never tried to mimic 1/6th G on 2001: A Space Odyssey as it was impossible to re-create so he just filmed it (like the meeting with the photographer moving about) with normal 1G. The dust is the key. In 1/6th G it goes further, and with no atmosphere, it settles immediately, while on Earth, with an atmosphere, the dust lingers in the air. Can't fake that on Earth. They also never mention the non-government groups tracking the spacecraft, and even photographing the spacecraft with telescopes. No, they don't mention that stuff.

Besides, everyone saw them launch, and saw them land. So if they didn't go to the moon, how come no one noticed the spacecraft orbiting the earth for over a week?

We shouldn't even be wasting our time giving those nuts notice by discussing this in the first place.

[Nomadd]

 I think the last movie I stood in a long line for was Capricorn One. There was a girl involved. Telly Savalas was great.
 It never occured to me that half the audience probably took it seriously.

 But, really. Stop trying to use science or logic to change people's minds. They're not how they came to their ideas in the first place and they're not going to start using them now.
 There's a whole lot of people who don't know how things work by figuring them out and only by get their beliefs by grabbing onto whatever dumbass theory that makes them feel smart. Let em be.
 I lost a sort of friend in the Village by suggesting that maybe she shouldn't get her science from the My Pillow guy.

[knobbypullover]

I agree that they don't come up with ideas now or in the past by applying logic or science. Many individuals are ignorant of how things operate, and some people still think that the Earth is flat.

[Mondagun]

I agree that they don't come up with ideas now or in the past by applying logic or science. Many individuals are ignorant of how things operate, and some people still think that the Earth is flat.

The flat Earth conspiracy theory is actually intertwined with the Moon landing conspiracy theory. The Flat Earth Society has subscribed to the Moon landing conspiracy theory for decades. Of course if you really believe that the Earth is a flat disk, then you're basically forced to throw all established orbital mechanics theory for spacecraft out of the window.

So turns out that if you lack the critical thinking skills to process the debunking arguments for one conspiracy theory, you're also easily ensnared by other conspiracy theories. Who would have thought?!

[DanClemmensen]

Didn't some people at the time of the landings refuse to believe they were real, believing that crossing space was impossible and therefore a hoax? The conspiracy theories I think only came later, as post-facto rationalizations of these naive priors. An example of what Alvin Toffler called "future shock," whose book of the same title came out, curiously, in 1970.

The book We Never Went to the Moon: America's Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle published in 1976 by former US Navy officer Bill Kaysing was the first publication to argue that the Apollo moon landings never happened. In fact, Kaysing had no knowledge of rockets or technical writing despite having being hired as Rocketdyne's senior technical writer in 1956.

Taken directly from the excellent wikipedia article:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy_theories
which is worth reading.