Aside from NASA, a number of entities and individuals observed, through various means, the Apollo missions as they took place. On later missions, NASA released information to the public explaining where third party observers could expect to see the various craft at specific times according to scheduled launch times and planned trajectories.[21] [edit] Observers of all missions
The Soviet Union monitored the missions at the Space Transmissions Corps, which was "fully equipped with the latest intelligence-gathering and surveillance equipment".[22] Vasily Mishin ("The Moon Programme That Faltered."), in Spaceflight. 33 (March 1991): 2-3 describes how the Soviet Moon programme lost energy after the Apollo landing.
The missions were tracked by radar from several countries on the way to the Moon and back ....
the discussion last night was so much fun, I had to look further - this page is exceptionally linked to third party observations, investigations and on this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter#Imagery - you'll find links to high resolution photos depicting 1,000 meter slices of moonscape - showing several landing sites guess this makes me a nut moonie to some lol - but for those who still have questions, the info may help ... have fun
Loddy: I've been observing this debate over the historicity of NASA's lunar landings with no little amusement. While the back and forth is entertaining and sometimes comical, looking at the evidence in terms of documents and images has been very educational from a historic and scientific point of view.
Having said that, when it comes to judgment time with respect to the hairy hoax question, I have to square up conclusions many have drawn from the French documentary, The Eark Side of the Moon," with the independent tracking evidence and photographic evidence of translunar flight and artifacts left on the moon. While I'll acknowledge that the story of the Kubrick project is credible, I do wonder at the active cooperation in telling this story by practiced prevaricators like Henry Kissinger, Richard Helms, Alexander Haig, and Lawrence Eagleburger. I've never in my life seen these men do anything without a propaganda purpose.
It should give us all pause when such men contribute to the fog of data from which it is sometimes impossible to extract hard information. I have to ask myself: "Do these guys have an agenda here?" Answer: They always have and always will." I'm still scratching my head as to what it is in this case though. At a minimum, sowing doubt and confusion is always part of the game, and that may be part of what's going on here. I have a similar jaundiced opinion of the many cases of corroboration of UFO theories of various kinds that find their sources from men in the pay of governments or or those government retirement. It is not outside the realm of contemplation that the governments that many of us here distrust so much are perhaps engaged in sowing the seeds of a culture of confusion that readily takes root in the fertile soil of the internet.
At this point in time, I find myself agreeing with Original Intent here who believes that "we've been there," but that there are certain facts, motivations and events related to the moon landings that are being kept from us. It's quite possible that there is much more going on up there than we're been led to believe. Color me a skeptic though, with respect to many of the hoax allegations in the air. Why this these charges are being prosecuted with such energy, I don't know.