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I am always surprised that people analogize moonshot as the ultimate national effort opposite WWII. Despite noir movies like Double Indemnity, which don't seem
by zantana 8y ago
I am always surprised that people analogize moonshot as the ultimate national effort opposite WWII.
Despite noir movies like Double Indemnity, which don't seem to show any effects at all, reading about it, it always seems that WWII effected practically every part of life down to the steel penny.
Whereas despite the "let them eat moonshot" quip from Asimov I haven't heard of great initiatives which didn't take place because of the space race.
- philwelch 8y agoThe Manhattan Project alone is close to the scale of the moonshot, and the US was devoting so many resources to the war that virtually no one even noticed that the Manhattan Project was happening. Not even Vice President Truman knew about it until after FDR’s death.
- 15charlimitdumb 8y agoInteresting note on WW2 expenditures, the B-29 Superfortress actually cost more than the Manhattan project. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress "Including design and production, at over $3 billion it was the single most expensive weapons project undertaken by the United States in World War II, exceeding the cost of the Manhattan Project by between $1 and 1.7 billion"
- philwelch 8y agoI'm curious about how that happened, honestly. Was there a "second-system effect" that settled in after the B-17?