If one considers the Moon hoax theory an isolated phenomenon, it originated in earnest with Bill Kaysing's 1974 book, We Never Went To The Moon. There is also William Brian's Moongate: Suppressed Findings of the U.S. Space Program from 1982, which, in addition to the standard pseudo-scientific arguments regarding stars and fluttering flags, makes the interesting proposal that the Moon is far more massive than NASA claims. Ralph Rene's 1992 book NASA Mooned America is essentially a rehash of Kaysing with a greater attempt at scientific rigor. Rene is the chief proponent of the claim that passage through the Van Allen belts is unavoidably fatal. Mary Bennet and David Percy's book Dark Moon from 1999 rehashes all these points, discusses what Percy believes to be impossible lighting in Apollo photographs, and then argues about alleged structures on Mars. In the video market there is Bart Sibrel's A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Moon, produced in 2001, which purports to expose "behind the scenes" footage that Sibrel claims proves the astronauts knew they were faking it. There is Percy's What Happened on the Moon? from 2000 -- a four-hour exercise in tedium rehashing of his book. James Collier produced Was It Only a Paper Moon? in 1998, in which he argues that the dimensions of the spacecraft did not allow astronauts in space suits to do what they did. Most of these offerings spend about 70% rehashing Bill Kaysing, whose arguments have been refuted for decades, and 30% presenting some unique arguments, which have also been refuted for years. Virtually all known existing web sites on the Internet that propagate the Moon hoax theory draw their material from the above sources.

Bill Kaysing
Bill Kaysing is considered by many to be the father of the Moon hoax theory. Contrary to popular belief, Kaysing never worked for NASA and had no connections to the Apollo project. He worked as the head of technical publications for Rocketdyne, a major aerospace contractor, from 1957 until 1963 (a year before the Apollo project took shape and six years before the first Moon landing). In his book We Never Went to the Moon Kaysing introduces some of the classic conspiracy arguments such as the absence of stars in lunar surface photographs. He also claims that the Apollo 1 fire, and later on the 1985 space shuttle Challenger accident, were staged to silence the participants who were about to expose NASA.

Kaysing is rather shy of explaining his somewhat unscientific job and tenuous link with NASA, yet doesn't mind representing himself as some kind of expert in a field he has absolutely no qualifications or experience in. In fact, he received his Bachelor of Arts in English in 1949 from the University of Southern California. Those are his only academic credentials. He worked for Rocketdyne not as an engineer, but as a cataloger of their technical publications. Technical writers employed by most technical companies don't need the degree of technical expertise that the engineers and designers would require, what to speak of catalogers. Kaysing himself said that Ralph Rene, who calls himself a "self-taught engineer," had more engineering knowledge than he did. Further, Rocketdyne manufactured only the main engines for the some of the launch vehicles, not the electronics, computers, or structures or much of anything having to do with the spacecraft themselves.

That Kaysing may have had a security clearance doesn't say much either. Security clearances were routinely required for anyone working on rocket booster technology, because that technology was being developed chiefly for military purposes. Clearance would have been required of anyone who had access to the printed material circulating through Rocketdyne. But having access to it doesn't mean Kaysing read or understood it.

Kaysing, who passed away in April of 2005, attempted to sue astronaut Jim Lovell for slander in 1997 when he called Kaysing's theories "wacky." The case was thrown out of court in 1999. Kaysing has, for the most part, made his living from perpetuating the Moon hoax theory.

Ralph Rene
Rene also has a book he'd like you to purchase. Content wise you won't find anything original, but plenty of material from Bill Kaysing, guess work and poor science. Rene's qualifications amount to being a "self-taught engineer" lacking any credentials. You'll not be surprised to hear that Rene's book is self-published.

Bart Sibrel
Sibrel is relatively new to the Moon hoax game, but he's making up for it by being the most voluble. He eagerly promotes his web site and really wants you to buy his videos and DVDs. Suffice to say, Sibrel has no scientific or academic qualifications or experience that lend any credibility to his opinions. He's an "investigative journalist" who makes a living out of making videos. Sibrel makes a big deal about having discovered "rare footage" and "uncirculated photographs" although everything he cites, except for a few clips in his video, has been a part of the public record for over thirty years. If you really want to see the "rare footage" you don't have to buy Sibrel's video. What Sibrel supplies is footage of the astronauts practicing for an upcoming telecast. Because television was added at the last minute, they hadn't had time to practice much with the equipment. So they were experimenting with different camera positions and exposure settings. Someone on the ground recorded it. Sibrel notes several observations which he can't explain in terms of his expectations and therefore he concludes the astronauts must have been faking it. Sibrel allows you to see only bits and pieces of this evidence which he considers so important, but the footage is available -- complete, unedited and without Sibrel's interpretive voice-over -- on the Apollo 11 DVD set from Spacecraft Films.

Sibrel has been harassing astronauts in person for years and got punched out by Buzz Aldrin in 2002 after calling him a coward and a liar. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office has declined to file charges.

David Percy
David Percy is a photographer and a paid up fellow of the Royal Photography Society. Unfortunately, this doesn't make him an official spokesperson of the Royal Photography Society, although this is how he is often presented. Percy may be a talented photographer but he is sadly lacking any skill in interpreting images. He's the one responsible for most of the later shadow and photography theories. He is also extremely taken by the "whistle blower" notion discussed further on in this material.