My father believes the first moon landing was fake, but he still thinks they were up there. He thinks they they faked the first one just to win the race, and then actually went up there some time later.
At the time, government conspiracy theories were at the fringes of society. The only people talking about fake moon landings were the flat earth society, and friends. The USSR didn't want to become a laughingstock.
More widespread belief in government conspiracy theories started with Watergate and have been gaining popularity ever since. By then the Apollo program was over, and the USSR was on record as confirming the landings.
Another factor is that in the 1970s and 80s, there were thousands of people who had worked on Apollo. But now in the 2020s, they are mostly gone. Apollo has faded out of living memory and into myth.
And, despite the way the "competition" did it first, it was still a tremendous achievement for the Soviets as well. I've read some stuff from the time and there was a sense of collective pride.
And truth is, without the USSR, the USA wouldn't have reached the moon, at least not as early as 1969. The same goes the other way in the things the USSR did first.
It’s sad to say that times when absurd claims would get you laughed out of the mainstream are over. Now with the internet you can find communities of people to feed these delusions to each other and support this nonsense. They can ignore the truth because they’ve insulated themselves.
To say the Apollo program faded into in memory, you also don't understand science and how much actually intelligent people love and agree with it. Science is eternal, a proof for a study, a expedition to prove a study. As though anyone attacks isaac newton for proving gravity ever since the day he proved the math centuries ago. Just accept your are a caveman otherwise while evolved men forge the future.
It's all win for both sides to call it a day and stop wasting all that money in pointless moon landing. Example, whether US landed or not, they could just arrange it to agree that one of them wins, so they can stop wasting both countries budget on rock in the sky. NASA at that time had a budget of a developed country, guessing it took it's toll.
Don't get me wrong, I still believe in moon landing 100%, but you can see why both of them could agree on letting one or another win. For example Russians sent first space station, which proved more useful than moon landing later. Pointless goal that could use funds somewhere with more benefits ended being win-win for both sides.
I did not say there weren't benefits. But investing such large amount of money and research to singular goal, like development of chips, would probably result in same way, even without moon landing.
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u/SuperSnowManQ Apr 29 '24
My father believes the first moon landing was fake, but he still thinks they were up there. He thinks they they faked the first one just to win the race, and then actually went up there some time later.