Despite this, I have nonetheless come to the conclusion that the Moon landings were most probably a hoax and the photographs and video footage faked. I am satisfied that the whole enterprise was not an exercise in scientific endeavour but in myth-making. The myth of Apollo was a fine myth; one of the best. It told of the time mankind left its native Earth and set foot on an alien land. Like most myths however, it was really just a story. The Apollo missions were, as Arthur C. Clarke has rightly observed, "a great hole in human history". The purpose of this essay is to cast some light into that hole to see what is really lying at the bottom.

The most persuasive evidence for my conclusions lies, not in photographs, but elsewhere. I believe much of it can be derived from a careful analysis of the USA's space program before and after Apollo, as well as the Apollo project itself. The first two sections give a concise overview of the historical context in which the Apollo project took place and the technological challenges it entailed. It is not until the third section that my findings lead me to deviate from the official account. If you're tempted to skip the first two sections I'd advise you not to; much of the key evidence is to be found there.