4 ms·

Seeing that you are being left behind is a great motivator. The USA went to the moon to make sure that Russia would not get there first.

• electromagnetic 15y ago
  When you simplify it like that it makes the US look exceptionally petty. ... Does anyone want to tell the American public that the Chinese are going to beat them to Mars?
  • MichaelApproved 15y ago
    And do what when they get there?
• maaku 15y ago
  It is, in fact, a heck of a lot more complicated than that. Mostly the U.S. went to the moon to provide civilian cover for R&D investments in I.C.B.M. and satellite surveillance technology. If you are interested I suggest reading "Red Moon Rising", which covers quite accurately the early players and their politics and motivations on both sides (from the V-2 in WW2 to Yuri Gagarin and Kennedy's declaration).
  • william42 15y ago
    A google search gives a lot of results, but I think you mean this: http://www.amazon.com/Red-Moon-Rising-Sputnik-Rivalries/dp/080508147X http://www.amazon.com/Red-Moon-Rising-Sputnik-Rivalries/dp/0... Is this true?
    • maaku 15y ago
      The manuscript I read had a different cover, but I think it's the same book. And yes, it's true. I work at NASA and some of my managers were there as early as the Apollo program. The connection to the military is an open secret that is well-known but has always been divorced from the mythic of the space race. It wasn't until the players retired, memoirs were published, and the fall of the U.S.S.R. that historians were able to put the pieces into a cohesive whole, telling the story from both sides. Matthew Brzezinski draws upon this more recent research for the book.