I wonder how hard it would be to fake a ‘ship’ being towed from the rough area where you boarded, and put on a real rocket. How many people would still argue it wasn’t real when they saw the launch of a rocket that could reach a few dozen miles up? Sure, some would have the technical knowledge to look at the rocket and know it wouldn’t be enough.

Hide the true numbers off people boarding, and thus you can fake the ‘ship’ being super small, and it could work on the unknowledgeable viewer who is placed several miles away.