The controversy over whether the United States went to the moon is becoming popular and conspiracy theorists are convincing people not only in the United States, but also all over the world that Americans never landed on the moon. It was John F. Kennedy's dream in the early 1960's to expand the space program to include a successful lunar landing before the end of the decade:

I believe that this nation should commit itself. To achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. No single space project will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the long range exploration of space ("One Giant Leap").

Since the Soviet Union was the first to launch a man and woman into space and the first to orbit the earth, Kennedy w

It is true that the technology used for the Apollo missions was limited. Kaysing explains, "The technology used to fly Apollo 11 to the moon was extremely primitive compared with today's standards. In fact, the on-board computer had less memory than a modern washing machine" (qtd. in "Why would NASA....." 1). Kaysing goes on to explain, "I really believe that the body of evidence proves, beyond any doubt, that no way could we have gotten to the moon, the technology did not exist in 1969, and it certainly doesn't exist today." (qtd. in Guzman 1). Billions of dollars were spent in preparing the Apollo missions. In order to successfully land on the moon, NASA needed to have or buy the absolute latest technological advances or develop the technology themselves. This is why most of the equipment used for the moon landings were totally unheard of in the 1960's and is still an innovation over 30 years later. "NASA was at the cutting edge of technology, and if they didn't have it they could buy it. What they had available to them was well in advance of anything else around at that time" ("Moon Hoax Equipment" 2). This lack of knowledge is the basis of many hoax theories. "Rather than trying to understand how this equipment worked, many hoax proponents prefer to take a poor guess at how it might be claimed to work, and then show that it couldn't ("Moon Hoax Equipment" 1). If NASA did not have the technology to land on the moon, why would they have spent billions of dollars faking the technology?

Now that the facts have been presented, the conflict still remains: did we go to the moon or not? The majority of Americans believe that we have been to the moon, but there are still those that feel that the entire event was a hoax. However for all the claims that the theorists have made there is a scientific explanation for almost all of them. The fact remains as long as there is a space program in America there will always be people who do not believe the Apollo missions took place. It is for every person to decide for themselves what they wish to believe. After reading the facts, the question exists, the lunar landings: conspiracy or reality?

Over all there was over eight billion dollars spent on all the Apollo missions. This included all six moon walks and all the attempts. So, how come NASA has not gone back to the moon? Peter Williams explains "The United States has proved to the world that the task of landing on the moon is possible. We don't have a reason for going back, been there, done that, now it is time to move on to bigger and better things" (Williams interview). This is also stated in an article about NASA: "Once the first landings had been accomplished and the USSR soundly beaten, the government finance started to dry up. The Apollo missions were incredibly expensive" (Moon Hoax NASA 2). Even if the United States did make another journey to the moon, they would only be proving that the task is once again possible to a handful people, such as theorists like Bill Kaysing, in which case would still probably believe that the lunar landings were faked. The only other reason NASA would decide to go back would probably be for scientific reasons: "The scientist would love to go back to the moon as there's bound to be lots more to discover" ("Moon Hoax NASA" 2). Although the people of the world know that a lunar landing will not take place anytime in the near future, it would be nice to see it happen once again.

Pictures, videos, and rocks are the only physical evidence that the United States has that proves they went to the moon and no one has ever had any reason to question the authenticity of the proof. However, many theorists believe that is was impossible to even collect the evidence because of the conditions on the lunar surface. During the daytime the moons surface can heat up to 280 degrees Fahrenheit. This is an issue that theorists argue, "There can't be any pictures taken on the moon because

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Approximate Word count = 3166
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)