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Suppose the Soviets had managed to get their moon rocket working |
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and had made it first. They could have beaten us if either: |
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* Their rocket hadn't blown up on the pad thus setting them back, |
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and/or |
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* A Saturn V went boom. |
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If they had beaten us, I speculate that the US would have gone |
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head and done some landings, but we also would have been more |
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determined to set up a base (both in Earth Orbit and on the |
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Moon). Whether or not we would be on Mars by now would depend |
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upon whether the Soviets tried to go. Setting up a lunar base |
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would have stretched the budgets of both nations and I think |
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that the military value of a lunar base would outweigh the value |
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of going to Mars (at least in the short run). Thus we would |
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have concentrated on the moon. |
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/~~~(-: James T. Green :-)~~~~(-: [email protected] :-)~~~\ |
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| "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving | |
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| the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the | |
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| Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." | |
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| <John F. Kennedy; May 25, 1961> | |
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