Interesting tidbit, and one that I did not realize until recently, Neil Armstrong was a civilian when he joined the space program. Such a humble man. Sort of the anti-John Glenn.
Two years to the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11 and where are we now? We started but now we are f**ted as our Astronauts pay for taxi rides to the ISS at the Russian’s convenience. This is more like a failed policy than a confident ‘go for launch’! Our BEST choices are the private efforts of Musk, Allen and Bezos BUT NASA has become far too PC where human space flight is concerned.
It is very instructive how effective the social justice warriors (aka civil rights leaders) were in decrying money spent in space versus in the ghettos! By Apollo 14, there were significant demonstration events at the launches. Now, in today’s US Budgets, we see the dollars versus pennies showing the victors of that battle.
What is left an unknowable is how the diminished perception of a capable America (USofA) in the brave new frontier of space has equally diminished that perception both internationally and domestically on all fronts. The ability to use an EBT Card at the local grocer hardly compares with planning and accomplishing a Moon Landing!