I got this idea while watching a sci-fi movie. There are lots of stories and movies about people building rockets and using them to get to the Moon. What if some government put its resources behind the idea and actually tried to do this?
Its surprising this hasn't been tried. Presumably in democracies, interest groups fighting for resources would keep the government from committing to such an endeavor, but it would seem to be exactly the sort of prestige project dictatorships like to do.