The need for specialized ultra sensitive equipment in the case of the 1962 laser bouncing and not needing that same specialized equipment after the reflector seems to prove otherwise.
You could test this yourself. Take a laser of the needed wattage and shine it randomly at the moon, measure your findings of the reflected light and then aim at the reflector that’s up there and measure how much different it is. The former may prove challenging compared to the latter as amateur astronomers can hit the reflector and track how much father the moon is moving from us year after year, where the former needs ultra sensitive equipment.
The need for specialized ultra sensitive equipment in the case of the 1962 laser bouncing and not needing that same specialized equipment after the reflector seems to prove otherwise. You could test this yourself. Take a laser of the needed wattage and shine it randomly at the moon, measure your findings of the reflected light and then aim at the reflector that’s up there and measure how much different it is. The former may prove challenging compared to the latter as amateur astronomers can hit the reflector and track how much father the moon is moving from us year after year, where the former needs ultra sensitive equipment.
Any equipment that is able to detect a single photon is ultra sensitive.