If that were so then the USSR would have gone to the moon first. Oh, I forgot, they never did get to the moon.
But WE did.
Oh that's right, we did it TWICE.
.
.
No, I forgot. We did it THREE times.
The simple fact is the United States today can’t even visit the ISS without getting technological help from Russia.
So don’t get too puffed up over something that happened almost fifty years ago.