@MMS21 @sun Due to all the video and photographic evidence and the moon rocks that were brought back that would be impossible to synthesize on Earth in the timeframe of a few years.

You can even see the vehicles right there on the moon surface with a powerful enough telescope (it's hard to see objects that small from that distance even with an extremely powerful telescope); https://www.universetoday.com/93983/look-its-a-moon-buggy-lros-best-look-ever-at-the-apollo-15-landing-site/

It was all to "beat the Russians" and I'm sure the Russians would have immediately refuted the landing if it didn't happen.

It would have been easier to carry out a moon landing than to fake to that level.