You're absolutely right.
The forward momentum of the space program was killed by Nixon. If we had continued on with Apollo and then shifted into the next gear, we would have had a small (6 man) moonbase by 1985 and a manned Mars mission by 1995. After that, the future would have been wide open.
Also people like Fritz Mondale...
“The forward momentum of the space program was killed by Nixon. If we had continued on with Apollo and then shifted into the next gear, we would have had a small (6 man) moonbase by 1985 and a manned Mars mission by 1995. After that, the future would have been wide open.”
Nixon killed Orion, Dynasoar, and Nerva and of course Apollo after 16 returned.
If Orion was allowed to proceed, then it would have been Mars by 1965 and Venus by 1974.
An none of these weightlessness, solar radiation problems we have with the current set up would have been a bother.
10,000 ton payload, crew of 150 - for the Orion small starter version. 40,000,000 ton for the intersteller version.
That was the wide open future that never was...