[calex59]

I guess that I missed something about the Apollo Astronaughts- I was firmly convinced that the achievements of the astronaughts was probably one of the best examples of the result of a concentrated and coordinated team effort, involving NASA, the federal government, the combined efforts of the nation's academic community, a great number of the nation's civilian hi-tech corporations, as well as the taxpayers that paid for the effort.

You are indeed missing something. If not for the individualism of the astronauts, they would never have gotten to the position where they were capable and suited to become astronauts. It wasn't the government who made them enter flight school n their youth or struggle and achieve all of their goals up to and including the Apollo program.

[TXnMA]

Matthew seems to be conflating the "Apollo Astronaughts", [sic] who were extremely resourceful and self-sufficient individuals with the equally impressive team effort that was the Apollo Program, itself.

Both were premier examples of American exceptionalism -- but it was the Astronauts who were mentioned as prime examples of self-reliance in the sentence being cited.

For a prime example of the ground team plus the resourceful individuals in space forming a "whole greater than the sum of the parts", there is no better example than the survival of the Apollo 13 crew...