Waning InterestSoon after Apollo's 1969 victory, the United States' interest in space conquering efforts decreased and was replaced by new sociopolitical issues such as the escalation in Vietnam. (3) Congressional support declined as well and in the early 1970s the space program was scaled back. Three planned lunar landing missions--Apollo 18, 19 and 20—were canceled due to lack of public and congressional support. (4) In response, NASA changed its goal from expanding its influence in space to providing the country with scientific information and discovery in a more cost-effective way. (5)
Many critics argue that the program's quick decline was a reflection of other draw-backs to the program. |
What if Kennedy Had Lived?Many people who have analyzed the space race pose an interesting question about what the fate of the space program could have been if Kennedy hadn’t been assassinated in November of 1963. Friedman ponders, "What if Kennedy had lived and we had shifted to a cooperative U.S.-Soviet human lunar initiative?" (12) Despite his famous 1961 call to land a man on the Moon before the Soviets, in a 1963 address to the General Assembly of the United Nations, Kennedy’s position had shifted and he expressed his support of a “joint expedition to the Moon.” (13) Unfortunately, the president would be assassinated just 10 days after that UN address and Apollo would become a “memorial to the fallen young president” ending any possibility of a US-Soviet effort. (14)
|
Dangers of SpeedAfter the death of President Kennedy, "the project took on an aura of near-sacredness." (15) Even though critics and scientists began to think that an unmanned flight would be the safer option, and one that would accomplish more for scientific discovery, President Johnson pushed for the program's completion. Nobody wanted to disappoint the late president and the great speed at which the program developed "blinded those involved.” (16) Looking back, many have argued that unmanned space flights would have been just as impactful to scientific discovery, if not more, and could have spared the three lives lost in the Apollo 1 fire. However, NASA was straining to impress the public and therefore pushed to send men to the Moon. (17)
|
All About PoliticsIn the words of Louis Friedman, the lunar landing was "not about the Moon, space or even science." (22) The problem in American society is that "we have have never come to grips with what the Apollo legacy is rather that what we wish it could have been." (23) Frankly, the Moon landing was just a political move, a step over the Soviet Union in the Cold War. When President Kennedy's placed the country’s focus on the Moon mission, it was less about a desire for space exploration and more about geopolitics. (24)
|