Quote:
Originally Posted by Kunama
We only got to the moon because of the weapons research.....
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The Yanks did the moon because they were terrified the Soviets would continue to maintain their lead in space. Sputnik put the fear of Gawd up em and they were concerned about Soviet militarisation up there, (nukes falling from the sky syndrome). It was national prestige and fear more than anything that initially drove them but what they found up there really changed a lot of people. "Earth rise" is widely recognised as the most poignant image in history for good reason.
An interesting aspect of this discussion is that space caused the first thawing of relations between East and West and that lead to a lot of things including the SALT treaties. Even now, with the crap going down, ISS does not seem to be affected.
Perhaps one of the great benefits of space research, and travel, is the international cooperation that results, and perhaps that's what we need. In the 70's in particular, there was a lot of cooperation. Perhaps its because space pushes us to our limits, economically, biologically, Scientifically and technologically; maybe that's what civilisation is lacking now; an international vision of something bigger than us all.
