To Fake the Mun Landings

[1101]

So, I was perusing the challenge forum and came across this:

Now, I thought about doing this to the specifications of the challenge, but it seemed a tad simple (though you can judge if I did any good), and focused on the normal aspects of fake Moon Landing accusations - faking the photos.  But I've spent enough time on Conspiracy forums to know there can be more to it than that.  So I decided to mix things up a little:

So here is my mission;

Liftoff!

 

Dropping first stage, ignition of Orbit/TLI stage:

Abort tower was ditched shortly afterward, and after some preparation the burn toward the Mun was begun:

 

After use the transfer stage was ditched into the Mun:

 

Shortly afterward the first images were received from the Mun (camera location not disclosed):

 

 

After some discussion between Bill and Jeb of what that strange object in the "Mun's" sky was (Probably a hologram of some kind), they realised their craft had no ladder to climb back on with.  However, their jetpacks proved more than up to the task!  (They really, really didn't :))

Three days later the capsule was spotted entering Kerbin's atmosphere and was shortly thereafter recovered:

 

Various people wondered if the Kerbals really had stepped foot on Mun, but all signals bounced at their landing site returned, courtesy of the small retroreflector placed there:

 

Spoiler

So, as to how I actually did this, not that it's secret or anything, I launched in the order you see here, left the lander in LKO, put the CSM on the 'S-IVB' and went to Low Munar Orbit (after all, any nation could  track it, they need to see something go to the Mun).  Then I put the 'retro reflector' probe into a convenient landing zone, and performed the 'Munar landing'.

 

Arguably, this was much harder than just landing on the Mun.

 

[SpaceplaneAddict]

That pockmarked surface looks like Dres...

[1101]

Unfortunately it's in the desert,  part of the idea was to do it all with just the one Saturn V(ish) launch, in the time taken to go to Mun and back.

 

[Geschosskopf]

That's pretty cool.  The fake Mun landing is one of my favorite challenge threads