Because you still need to build and launch a rocket, even if it doesn't go to the moon or carry the actual crew, it needs to at least go over the horizon convincingly enough.
All that design and construction still needed to be paid for.
Presumably faking the capsule return is cheap enough if you drop the capsule out the back of an aircraft.
Faking lunar return samples, returning signals from orbit for the various ground stations around the world, and a variety of other things also required a lot of deception, too.
Then, ofcourse, you have to hope that the Russians didn't put out a headline of "Americans fake lunar landing". Since they kept a close eye on things.
All that design and construction still needed to be paid for.
Presumably faking the capsule return is cheap enough if you drop the capsule out the back of an aircraft.
Faking lunar return samples, returning signals from orbit for the various ground stations around the world, and a variety of other things also required a lot of deception, too.
Then, ofcourse, you have to hope that the Russians didn't put out a headline of "Americans fake lunar landing". Since they kept a close eye on things.