Apollo Missions

[KyleB]

In 1969, the first mission to the moon, Apollo 11, was led by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Apollo's 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 were other missions to the Moon, while Apollo 13 was a near-disaster-- the crew had to abort the mission but no one died.
After Apollo 17, Pres. Nixon canceled the next three planned Apollo missions- 18, 19, and 20. Before that, people thought that there would be Mars landings in the 1980's because the space program was going so well. But Nixon quashed those hopes. The Moon missions were expensive and actually quite dangerous.
But what would have happened if Nixon had not canceled the last three missions and continued the original plan of establishing a moon base rather than spend money on the Space Shuttle? What would happen if one of the three extra missions ended in catastrophe?

[MRig]

I have trouble seeing this happening. The basic premise of the Apollo program was to beat the Russians, and after 11 it had a lot of trouble staying afloat. It's not just Nixon that killed the 20th century Mars dream. If Nixon doesn't cancel it, someone else will.

EDIT: Mars in the 20th century is probably still possible, it just requires an earlier POD.