The idea the moon landing was a hoax is one of the most talked about conspiracy theories of all time, and one Redditor recently reignited the debate by insisting the landing was in fact staged, but not in the way that you might imagine.
Despite the fact that it took 400,000 NASA employees and contractors to help Neil Armstrong safely set foot on the moon back on 20 July 1969, some remain convinced the whole thing was an elaborate ruse.
Theories that the whole thing was a hoax have been knocking around since the 70s and although the flames of conspiracy theories continue to be fanned today, they were first ignited by a man named Bill Kaysing.
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Kaysing was a former employee of Rocketdyne, one of the companies that helped design the Saturn V rocket engines.
In 1976, Kaysing published a pamphlet called We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle, in which he laid out ‘evidence’ the moon landing was staged.
According to The Guardian, the self-published brochure contained nothing more than ‘grainy photocopies and ludicrous theories’, but nonetheless, Kaysing’s insinuations gathered pace and, as far as conspiracy theorists are concerned, became set in stone over the years.
Recently over on Reddit, one user argued the moon landings were real, but nevertheless were 'staged' in one significant way.
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Responding to a thread called ‘What world event do you think was staged?’, one social media user said the moon landings were technically staged because of all the cameras present.
They wrote: “I believe the moon landing was real, but they went out of their way to pack as many TV cameras on the mission as possible, so in the most literal sense it was staged as a media production almost more so than a scientific mission.”
Another person echoed their sentiment, suggesting that America embarked on the record-breaking mission merely for commercial purposes.
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“Science was an afterthought,” they wrote, adding: “It was not a secret that the US was doing it to beat the Russians.
“It was a commercial for how badass America was. Later on NASA used science to keep their budget.”
However, others disagreed, noting that every single aspect of the trip involved careful scientific planning.
“Dude, they literally started from zero and ended with two human beings standing on another celestial body. I'm pretty certain science was the primary thought,” said one person.
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Another added: “The science was getting humans and all that gear to the moon... and back home!”
Featured Image Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo NASATopics: Science, Conspiracy Theory, Reddit