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The US didn't fake the moon landings, the American politicians faked that it was about anything but beating the USSR. They supported it and sold it as a research project to further humankind, as dipping our toes in the cosmic ocean.

Then, after the Russians were beat, the interest among the decision makers cooled off.

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It was clear from the beginning it was about beating the Soviets. The fear of the USSR achieving space superiority was very real at the time, especially after Sputnik. JFK even said in his moon speech the US needed to establish "a position of pre-eminence" and would do so with the landing.

Nobody on either side of the cold war made much effort to conceal that most of the rocket research was intended towards ICBM arms race, not peaceful research.

No sane nation would pump that much money into simple research and awe. It was about the next war, or all the game theory stuff that predates or prevents it. And rightly so.

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