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