The Moon Landing

Theories asserting that NASA's Apollo 11 moon landing was a hoax pre-date social media and the internet as a whole. Such claims have been revived recently through social media and podcasts. Many see the resurgence of this claim as an emblem of Americans' declining trust in the government and science.

Buzz Aldrin and Lance Armstrong piloted the craft. Their landing was broadcast on television to millions in July of 1969. Apollo 11's success represented a crowning achievement for the United States, both as a scientific advancement and a sign of the nation's global power. After World War II, a lengthy rivalry between the U.S. and communist U.S.S.R. led to rival space programs. The diplomatic conflict between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. is commonly known as the Cold War. As an extension of the Cold War, the competition to explore the solar system was called "space race."

The Cold War lasted over 40 years. While many wars center predominantly on territorial disputes, the Cold War also pit American capitalism and democracy against the U.S.S.R.'s communist government. Thus, the stakes for the space race were far-reaching. The warring countries fought around the world for dominance in places like Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba. In this way, the space race was seen as an aerospace extension of the fight for territorial control.

Perhaps even more important for many was the notion that the country to first successfully explore space would prove that their governmental system was superior to the other. The Soviet Union took an early lead in the space race when their unmanned Sputnik 1 launched in October of 1957. Sputnik 1 was the first man-made satellite in space.

The Soviet Union collapsed two decades after America's 1969 come-from-behind victory in the space race. Because of this, the moon landing can be seen as a part of America surpassing Soviet Russia in global dominance.

But other major events have soured Americans' outlook of its own government. In the 1960s, the Vietnam War, another conflict between the U.S. and U.S.S.R., created national discord. Then, in the 1970s, the Watergate scandal further soured civic trust. Prior to these events, in 1958, 73% of Americans reported that they trusted their government. That percentage dropped to about 20% in 2025.

Since a vast majority of Americans today do not trust their government, it is no surprise that they are willing to revisit and question America's past achievements. Sharing those thoughts publicly is much easier in the internet era, as is building new theories based on shared ideas.

Distrust of science also helped revive moon landing hoax claims. Claims that the moon landing was a hoax immediately followed the landing's tv broadcast. Today, the theory fits in perfectly with internet conspiracies like the Flat Earth theory. It's quite possible to become invested in the Moon Landing hoax idea if you've already bought into other conspiracies like Flat Earth. Conceptualizing space and humanity's ability to explore it is quite difficult for the vast majority of us, who will never ourselves experience space travel.

Finally, streaming video allows theorists to assail the validity of the Apollo 11 TV broadcast. The fast evolution of technology in the modern era is worth considering here. The Apollo 11 mission took place only 12 years after an object was successfully launched into orbit. Likewise, television itself was a relatively new technology. The first U.S. television broadcast was in 1939. It would take another 10 to 15 years for televisions to become a staple of American households. So there was a lot of change to process, both scientifically and technologically. Some Moon Landing conspiracies center on the television broadcast and editing tools that were new to tv.

If you are researching this theory, it's worth considering internet versus pre-internet hoax theories and the ways different rationale for the moon landing theory are informed by different technologies. While the moon landing hoax theory isn't as all-encompassing as cult-like conspiracies like The Illuminati, belief in this theory suggests that all space exploration that followed and possibly all of the scientific advancements of the last half-century have been fraudulent. As you research, consider both whether there is any merit to the hoax claim and what the broader implications are for those who subscribe to the theory.

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This page was written and edited by Jay Trucker

August 2026

Contact

Jay Trucker, Ph.D.

Email

jtrucker@ccbcmd.edu