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I think that's part of the premise for the show. Landing on the Moon did slow down the Space Race, there are a ton of documented plans for the advancement of th

I think that's part of the premise for the show. Landing on the Moon did slow down the Space Race, there are a ton of documented plans for the advancement of the Space program but the will to push them through disappeared as soon as the US "beat" the Soviets. I think the real reason was that many, maybe even most people only really cared about Space from a standpoint of beating the other team. The show really leans into that in the early episodes. It does cast the USA as the "good" guys, in that even if we are losing we never give up until we win.

ljf 6y ago
Totally this. I have a little (uniformed) ramble I do when explaining 'Vision' over 'Mission' to people. In that putting a man on the moon was just the mission, we don't actually know the vision. The vision statement (if there was one) could well have been 'win at space, and therefore have the most developed scientific processes' 'beat the damn Russians' 'show the world the superiority of capitalism' (then you can rattle down the vmost pyramid - the objectives (bring them back alive, broadcast it in real time etc) - the strategies (a pure oxygen environment simplifies some things for engineering - and is far too dangerous... ) and the tactical day to day/week to week decisions that had to be made. But all the 'MOST' are easier when people on the project understand the vision.
- dmix 6y ago
  Did the ruskies slow down after the moon landing too? I remember watching a great video on their giant (unrealistic) N1 rocket that Russia was trying to create to get to the moon (and elsewhere) with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscKBzvHBSw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscKBzvHBSw Another good video as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gklVhRzkVqA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gklVhRzkVqA Besides the space-race part, just the pure industrial might of the Soviet Union at the time is quite amazing to even build such a massive rocket, seeing it rolling towards the launcher. Shows the value competition has on society, it's not limited to markets.
  - blackrock 6y ago
    It’s too bad the N1 never lifted off successfully.
    - DuskStar 6y ago
      It lifted off successfully multiple times, it just never reached orbit.
- blackrock 6y ago
  >’show the world the superiority of capitalism’ The funny thing is is that the federal government pumped billions of dollars into the Gemini and Apollo programs. This isn’t capitalism. It’s socialism for the wealthy.
  - danielheath 6y ago
    Right - it was able to apply more resources on the problem because its underlying system created more surplus. I don't have the skills necessary to evaluate the accuracy or relevance of that argument, but it's not inconsistent with the facts.

ljf 6y ago

Totally this. I have a little (uniformed) ramble I do when explaining 'Vision' over 'Mission' to people. In that putting a man on the moon was just the mission, we don't actually know the vision. The vision statement (if there was one) could well have been 'win at space, and therefore have the most developed scientific processes' 'beat the damn Russians' 'show the world the superiority of capitalism' (then you can rattle down the vmost pyramid - the objectives (bring them back alive, broadcast it in real time etc) - the strategies (a pure oxygen environment simplifies some things for engineering - and is far too dangerous... ) and the tactical day to day/week to week decisions that had to be made. But all the 'MOST' are easier when people on the project understand the vision.

dmix 6y ago
Did the ruskies slow down after the moon landing too? I remember watching a great video on their giant (unrealistic) N1 rocket that Russia was trying to create to get to the moon (and elsewhere) with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscKBzvHBSw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscKBzvHBSw Another good video as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gklVhRzkVqA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gklVhRzkVqA Besides the space-race part, just the pure industrial might of the Soviet Union at the time is quite amazing to even build such a massive rocket, seeing it rolling towards the launcher. Shows the value competition has on society, it's not limited to markets.
- blackrock 6y ago
  It’s too bad the N1 never lifted off successfully.
  - DuskStar 6y ago
    It lifted off successfully multiple times, it just never reached orbit.
blackrock 6y ago
>’show the world the superiority of capitalism’ The funny thing is is that the federal government pumped billions of dollars into the Gemini and Apollo programs. This isn’t capitalism. It’s socialism for the wealthy.
- danielheath 6y ago
  Right - it was able to apply more resources on the problem because its underlying system created more surplus. I don't have the skills necessary to evaluate the accuracy or relevance of that argument, but it's not inconsistent with the facts.