Since you didn’t ask - I sat on the front lines during the race to the moon - and it was worth it. Unless you would have preferred learning Russian like I did - no easy task.
None of that was BS - it was always a matter of life and death - something the media concealed from the public most of the time. I guess you would have had to have been there to appreciate what we few (watching over the Russian space program, and military movements) did to keep you safe and non-Russian speaking.
Then you'll have to live with my lack of gratitude. Well after the fact it was admitted there was no missile gap. It was never an either/or matter of Dyna Soar or rocketry and the Soviets never made it to the Moon. Dyna Soar was in progress and would have served as both the next step up from X-15 and as an orbital vehicle lifted by advanced Titan rockets.