Nobody out there wants to admit that Apollo 11 was in the end, a triumph of task specific American socialism. The US Government wanted five million pounds of rocket thrust to get to the moon and seamlessly orchestrated a patchwork of bureaucrats, corporations, engineers, pilots and military officers to get it.
Meanwhile over in the allegedly socialist USSR the generals feuded with the party elite over scarce technological resources and design bureau fought design bureau over booster rocket configurations as the nation tumbled punch drunk into the moon race.
Ultimately Marxism Leninism proved a poor organizer when it came time to go strolling in the Sea of Tranquility.
When transported into a fatuous mood, Ronald Reagan used to joke about those dreaded dreaded words "I'm from the Government, I'm here to help".
A smart rejoinder might have been "I'm from NASA, lets go to the moon!"
No, if there is a failure to Apollo 11, it is existential in nature. Since then great conquests have eluded the scientific-technology establishment of the USA...all the action now is in cyberspace, not outer space. The horn-rimmed socialists of MIT lack a project by which to demonstrate their prowess on behalf of the nation you understand.
This has given rise to that bleak lament..."If they can send a man to the moon, why can't they....?" (Insert your own accomplishment).
The age of accomplishment is not behind us. Our problem today is a lack of motivation, the means are there, the will is lacking...let the debate begin.
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