Any and all science or evidence aside, and there are mountains of evidence that the landing happened. The single greatest proof that the moon landings happened, specifically Apollo 11, lies with the Soviet Union. It's 1969, tensions are high, the US and the Soviet Union are engaged in a stiff Space Race. The Soviets put the first satellite in space, even the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, my hero. These 2 achievements were huge, the US was losing the race, however, they could still win. How you ask? Put the first man on the moon. The moon was the holy grail, whoever put a man on the moon effectively won the Space Race. Fast forward to July 20th 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are walking on the moon, Michael Collins is in Lunar orbit manning the Columbia module. The entire world is watching....an unprecedented 600,000,000 people, Soviets included, watched as human beings set foot on the moon, a massive victory for the United States, and a terrible embarrassment for the Soviet Union. Apollo 11 won the US the Space Race, the Soviet Union spent a tremendous amount of money on it's space program, which eventually contributed to the state's collapse in 1992. My biggest problem with the conspiracy theory is that the Soviet Union had satellites in both Earth and Lunar orbits, they could track Apollo 11 from Cape Canaveral all the way to the landing in the Sea of Tranquility. If Apollo 11 took place in a movie studio, the Soviets would know, so why didn't they call bullshit on the US? Exposing the conspiracy would be a devastating (understatement) blow to the US, no man, woman or child would ever trust the US government again, it'd be a colossal defeat, the Soviets would be able to take the Space Race Golden Trophy from Nixon and take it back to the Kremlin, drinking vodka and eating caviar all night long. Why were they silent if it actually were a hoax? Why wouldn't the Soviets say a word? The only reason the Soviet's wouldn't speak up is because there was no reason to, the US put 2 men on the moon that day and they knew it. *mic drop*