This is similar to people being surprised by the typical age of civilian general aviation aircraft. Dozens of types from the 40s, 50s, and 60s are still flying

This is similar to people being surprised by the typical age of civilian general aviation aircraft. Dozens of types from the 40s, 50s, and 60s are still flying great, which is what meticulous maintenance and logging gets you. Visit Alaska and you’ll spot loads of Cubs from the early 1940s. It’s not uncommon to train in an aircraft like a Cessna 150 or 152, and a lot of those predate the Moon landing. You can buy a nice aircraft from that era, one which will last you a long time with (expensive) care, for about the same cost as a Prius. One can get a lot of mileage out of something designed to be airworthy and reliable and maintained by a careful lineage of owners.