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[–]In-the-clouds 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

To summarize all of what you wrote, you say the motive is, like the others say: ego. I don't believe it. If it were ego, they would publicize their "accomplishments" so they could receive public praise.

when they realized they were in deep shit and weren't going to be able to deliver the goods.

Deliver what goods? They didn't provide anything to the American public for the moon missions. And did they fake every moon mission? They said a total of 12 men walked on the moon. The media coverage was poor and the American public seemed bored. The public would not have chastised the government for quitting the moon program if they were unable to carry it out. Even today, most Americans don't care about the current space program, and know so little about it. But they will sure be told all about the aliens and UFOs. You watch. It will be constant coverage, like was given to COVID. Do not be deceived.

[–]StillLessons 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

To summarize all of what you wrote, you say the motive is, like the others say: ego. I don't believe it.

We're going to disagree on this one. The word "ego" is an oversimplification of the effect I'm talking about. Kennedy, when he started this project, made a categorical declaration: We're going to the moon within 10 years. He staked the reputation of the U.S. government and political economy on that statement. It's not about the ego of the men involved. They created the dynamic that if the government didn't accomplish what was laid out, it was a categorical failure. The blow to the prestige of the U.S. in that environment should not be dismissed. Remember, they were getting their asses quite kicked in southeast Asia at the time as well. They viewed this not as their personal failure, but as the failure of the country's technological capacity to do what they set themselves to doing. In their minds, the myth of American greatness was threatened. Empires cannot continue to grow if the world does not see them as the most powerful group on the block, and the United States has been an empire since WWII (longer actually, but post WWII, it's quite explicit). It's this kind of belief structure which leads people to decisions like the ones this group of people took.