This summer saw the 50th anniversary of the US National Aeronautics and Space Agency - NASA. Formed out of the old National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (created in 1915,I suspect its centenary might have been overlooked) but born of a huge shock to American technological pride, the Soviet Sputnik of 1957. NASA thus became a frontline Cold War warrior establishment with the implicit if not explicit remit to win the space race. And win it NASA duly did through a succession of manned space missions culminating in the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969. After that, Americans lost interest and political support waned. The dramatic Apollo 13 incident notwithstanding, the programme was arbitrarily terminated in 1972 with Apollo 1 7, three short of the planned 20. Remaining hardware was then used as the basis for the Skylab missions and ajoint mission with the Soviet Union.
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