As I was typing it out, it occurred to me that the whole angle of national unity was maybe trumped up a bit by the documentary. After all, ultimately the whole

As I was typing it out, it occurred to me that the whole angle of national unity was maybe trumped up a bit by the documentary. After all, ultimately the whole thing was driven by nationalistic competition and technology originally invented for war. But I still think there's something to it that couldn't exist today. If you watch the doc you'll see an absolute gaggle of people who turned out to watch the launch and there really does seem to be an overriding air of excitement and hopefulness. In the spirit of optimistic naivete I mentioned in my OP, I will choose to believe that, by the time the mission was in progress, for a all-too-brief moment, we as a country _really were_ all rooting for the same thing in 1969 - that the mission would be a success, that the astronauts would come home safely, and that the scientific achievement represented hope for a better future for everyone.