Conspiracy theorists insist that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax. These
accusations flourish in part because predictions by enthusiasts that Moon
landings would become commonplace have not yet come to pass. Some claims can
be empirically discredited by three retroreflector arrays left on the Moon
by Apollo 11,[10] 14 and 15. Today, anyone on Earth with an appropriate laser
and telescope system may bounce laser beams off these devices, verifying
deployment of the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment at historically documented
Apollo moon landing sites.Since the first hoax accusations were made—albeit by non-scientists pursuing the conspiracy accusations in part for monetary gain, and although they havebeen repeatedly debunked by many independent scientists—a small minority ofthe global population continues to believe the allegations, which has bothered NASA and the astronauts who flew the missions. However, it has recently become apparent from the multiple scheduled or proposed governmental and private efforts to send landers or orbiters to the Moon that it is likely that independent proof will be returned, and thus conclude any conspiracy theories.
