"It’s probably the most well known peacetime battle between the USA and the Soviet Union, in both technological and ideological terms of the 20th century. Although the USA won the race to the moon, if you’d been a betting person from the mid 1950’s to 1960’s, the chances are that you would have thought the Soviet Union had a very good chance of getting there first. So why didn’t Russia put a man on the moon"?
It's been a HALF CENTURY since man first walked on the Moon. In 1969, we were sure that Mars would be next, with the US and Russia's experience in Space Technology......but 50 years? What's the problem.....Dollars and Rubles? Hal
In 1962, John F. Kennedy gave his now famous speech about going to the moon. We believed. It happened. Today, when I wonder if there are people who still believe in a dream, I turn on the NASA channel and discover brave people living the dream of Space Exploration...
Perhaps now we can learn just as much or more using technology; that humans on Mars might be romantically exciting but not cost effective. Also, taxation was much higher then so the government had more to spend on projects such as this.
@Lulu Moppet Taxation was much higher in 1969 than now? Taxation being such a broad term, one really needs to outline the very largest sources of taxation, and examine them, I think. U.S. income tax? State income tax? Sales taxes? Personal Property taxes? Which of these were higher then? I know of one tax that likely produced meager revenue when compared to primary ones, that was eliminated. The excise tax on rubber used in manufacturing tires. Frank
"What was the tax rate in 1960? The top marginal tax rate in 1960 was 91%, which applied to income over $200,000 (for single filers) or $400,000 (for married filers) – thresholds which correspond to approximately $1.5 million and $3 million, respectively, in today's dollars. Approximately 0.00235% of households had income taxed at the top rate. Today's income tax rates are strikingly low relative to the rates of the past century, especially for rich people. For most of the century, including some boom times, top-bracket income tax rates were much higher than they are today." https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-tax-rates
@Lulu Moppet Income taxes which "tax" the greatest majority of taxpayers are certainly not those squeezing the rich individual. I wonder how the revenues compare? It irks me that the Social Security Act enacted withholding of taxes from nearly all wage-earners, as well as their employers, and that today, IRS calls S/S benefits "income", and taxes it as such, when it is in fact those taxpayers' OWN MONEY which was already earned once. Like sales tax on a new car, taxed again when sold "used", etc., over and over. I could call it immoral once I get past the cussing stage. Frank