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As we all know, various factors caused the Space race to slow down and eventually peter out. The war in Vietnam, the assasiantion of JFK, and most glaringly the inability of the U.S.S.R. to do more than crash an unmanned probe into the surface of the moon in an almost comical manner.

This caused a general disinterst in space flight and the space race that culminated in the cancelation of the Apollo program after Apollo 8. The Apollo 1 debacle and the inability of NASA to produce a Lunar Lander in time and under the weight limit did not help.

To this day, "Landing on the moon" continues to be shorthand for something impossible that cannot be done.

My question is, what if we HAD landed on the moon? what might have come after? what if we HAD NOT given up on the dream to "Solve the problems on Earth, problems that despite our abandonment of space exploration stubbornly refuse to get solved.

American Children still go hungry DESPITE the "Great society" we still have wars, DESPITE our focussing on Earth's problems and we have, in general become a smaller, meaner, and less inquisitive country. We watch programs about the old west, and we can't stop rehashing the second world war in fiction.

We gave up on new dreams, so we are left with the old dreams of our grandparents and great grandparents.

But what if we HAD landed on the Moon?
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