I think I understand where people who claim the moon landing was a hoax are coming from. They are smart and know that over history, people have been deceived by their governments and the media time and time again from the smallest things to the most important. They say the moon landing was faked as a way for the USA to intimidate the USSR. That motive is plausible, there was a Cold War on and each side was using any dirty trick they could.
In reading those who believe the landing was a hoax, the often repeated fact is that the US government is full of liars and cheats. That’s true. However, I am unaware of at any point during the Cold War and after, of the Soviets themselves claiming that the moon landing was fake. Had they been truly terrified of the moon landing, chances are they would have staged their own, setting up a very unusual theater fake space race. Though the Cold War was serious, this could have led to funny situations, such as a faked moon landing one-upped by a faked Mars landing, trumped by a faked Pluto landing, etc.
Regardless, I believe the moon landing was real for many reasons. First, there were simply too many people involved to keep the secret this long. If faked, at some point, someone would make the talk-show and book-tour rounds. Scientists are people who value thinking for oneself.
Secondly, its often been pointed out the many technological advances that were sparked by the space program. This is evident all around us. I am typing this on a computer, a device that fits on my desk and allows me to send and receive communication across the entire planet.
Think of cell phones. I can pick up a small device, about as big as my fist, and speak to someone on the other side of the earth as if they were so close I could touch them. In fact, millions of people the world over have these devices. Millions of cars take people thousands of miles every day. Airplanes roar across the sky, thousands every day, ferrying people to all points of the world.
With technology like that, landing on the moon seems almost a small task.
In modern times, the NASA space shuttle takes off an lands with an almost routine regularity. It is doubtful that we would have skipped the technology for going to the moon and gone straight to space travel and orbiting stations. The space shuttle had to grow from a previous program, and that program was the struggle to land on the moon.
