It isn’t well known by the public, but the early planning was for 100+ Saturn V launches. That’s why they built multiple launch pads, and the largest building in the world, the two-bay VAB. They could crank out Saturn Vs in assembly line fashion, one on the launch pad, another 2 being prepared.
They also envisioned a manned Mars landing in 1985-1987, during the favorable window. What our “leaders” simply threw away is difficult to fathom sometimes. It’s only gotten worse.
It would’ve been neat to have “2001: A Space Odyssey” tech in 2001.
Instead we’re stuck with HAL9000….
Yes, but don't forget that money was redirected towards very pressing terrestrial needs. We won BOTH the "War on Poverty" AND the "War on Drugs." Just look around today...we have no homeless, no poverty, and no drugs. Such a resounding success. Government at its finest.
My mother always said that President Nixon pushed to end our space program because President Kennedy would always get the glory. I am inclined to agree with her.
As evidence, remember the Apollo–Soyuz mission to use up the last Saturn booster.
The unnumbered American vehicle was left over from the canceled Apollo missions, and was the last Apollo module to fly.
The Apollo 11 mission was the first moon landing. By the time Apollo 13 rolled around, the networks weren’t even doing live coverage of the mission.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist (pun intended) to figure out that manned missions to the moon and other planets was a pointless exercise with no commercial applications that would make them feasible. Even today, a manned mission to Mars would be as practical as another silly ascent to the summit of Mount Everest.
By the 1980s, NASA had ditched interplanetary travel in favor of orbital applications like satellite deployments and manned space shuttle missions — which were far more practical, promising and commercially viable than a manned mission to Mars.