//I was a bit worried that any astronauts who might have blown the whistle have all met with unfortunate fatal accidents ... nine of them?? //
8 of the twelve to have walked on the moon are still alive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_men_who_walked_on_the_Moon#Apollo_astronauts_who_walked_on_the_Moon
The lunar module breaks in 2 when it leaves the moons surface so the thrust is diverted onto the lower stage (see video)
On Earth you would expect a lot of dust to be thrown up - mut the moon has no air - there is no turbulance and hence no dust thrown up.
If you think about it you'll probably see the logic in that
And you'll probably then also realise how hard that would be to fake on the Earth.
Technology can now even see the remnants of the landing site
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19050795
Of course conspiracy theorists will say this is faked (what proof would they accept?)
However the biggest piece of proof is the laser reflectors left on the moon that over the last 40 years hundreds of scientists have used to bounce lasers off of the moon and measure it's distance.
That's an awful lot of people to involve in the conspiracy!