Why did people think it was hoax moon landing?

Answer 1

Some people are more prone to disliking or distrusting authoritative entities, and as such they are very open to any ideas that help fill their preconceived notion that the "government is evil". While there most certainly are conspiracies inside the government (eg: Watergate) the moon landing conspiracy theory does not hold up to real investigation. NASA landed 12 men on the moon between 1969 and 1972, anybody who says otherwise is misinformed, mistaken, or outright lying in order to sell books.

Most, if not all of the original film/tape was lost. Concerns over budgeting, the original film footage of Armstrong/Aldrin historic walk on the moon was actually taped over, or thrown away or possibly stolen! The mere fact that NASA or the United States Government was short sighted in not seeing this as a truly historic and heroic time in American history is enough to fuel conspirators.

Actually, very little relevant Apollo data is missing- no one needs the telemetry from those obsolete systems any more, and the medical telemetry can't be released anyway as it is a medical record. Some bits of Apollo had its earliest-generation copies destroyed in error; this is very true. But this is more because once Apollo was over, no one wanted to fund an adequate Apollo archive. The Republicans would have considered it a waste, as Apollo was the "baby" of Kennedy, a Democrat. The Democrats wouldn't like it, as success happened while a Republican was in the White House. A lot of material was saved, but I don't think anyone has ever attempted to index the miles of NASA Apollo microfilm in the National Archives.