1st Man on the Moon - Waste of Money?

809 Words2 Pages

Was the attempt to put the first man on the moon an ambitious accomplishment in science or a waste of government resources?
In May of 1961, President John F. Kennedy stated a commitment to land an American on the moon by the end of the century (Gitlin). During the 1960’s, the Soviet Union and the United States started a massive space race. The Soviet Union had launched the orbit Sputnik on October 4, 1957 and later launched another, heavier, Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957 with a dog named Laika inside. During the height of the Cold War, the United States were stunned by these unbelievable achievements due to she short recovery from WWII and worried the US had fallen back on the advancement of technology. With the United States starting behind, they finally launched Explorer 1 on January 31, 1958. Without an official space program, President Eisenhower signed a law establishing NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration on July 29, 1958. President John F. Kennedy was later elected on November 8, 1960. (Watson). Although the space race between the United States and Russia improved technology, the attempt to land the first man on the moon was a waste of government resources due to the waste of billions of dollars, the lack of public want to land a human on the moon, and did not show dominance at all.
The attempt to put the first man on the moon was a waste of government resources because of the extensive amounts of money used by putting the country into even more debt. After the United States got out of WWI and WWII, we were in debt around 257 trillion dollars ("The Space Race and the Cold War."). As the United States got more and more into the Cold War, the debt went up. The Apollo program alone, costed more than twenty- ...

... middle of paper ...

...is could not show their overall dominance. The attempt to land the first man on the moon did not show the overall dominance and was a waste of government resources.
The Space Race between the United States and the USSR was a waste of government resources because of the waste of billions of dollars, there was no need for it from the public, and it did not show the power of the countries. With the Apollo program and all the other satellites, the US spent billions of dollars that were poorly used. During the time of the Space Race, the public was not fully interested, They only got interested at the exciting parts. The landing on the moon did not show the dominace of the countries only proving that the landing on the moon was a waste of government resources. The need to land a man on the moon was a waste of government resources and was not fully needed in our history.

More about 1st Man on the Moon - Waste of Money?

Open Document