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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   30447 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 2, 2026

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I didn't engage your initial post's discussion about motivation, because it wasn't central to my earlier arguments. But it's worth noting that the average person's opinion (poorly informed as it is) is not and never has been particularly important for space flight.

Not sure I'd agree with this. I feel the politics of the 60s/70s/80s gets glossed over in a weird way in regards to history, but atleast part of the Civil Rights Movement were actively protesting against the Apollo program.

Now, it's questionable how much this had in terms of affect on political policy and influencing NASA, but I'm not so quick to dismiss it.

The popularity of the original Space Race is grossly overstated. Most people back then didn't particularly care that much.

Conversely, I'm not so sure about this, either.

If you've never watched it, there's an incredible documentary about the Apollo program called In The Shadow of the Moon, which goes into amazing and indepth interviews with surviving Apollo astronauts at the time of the documentary. It also shows near world-wide celebration when America managed to land safely on the moon.

So I don't know. I wouldn't be that quick to dismiss the importance of public opinion.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I feel the need to go rewatch a certain documentary...

Not sure I'd agree with this. I feel the politics of the 60s/70s/80s gets glossed over in a weird way in regards to history, but atleast part of the Civil Rights Movement were actively protesting against the Apollo program.

I did say:

The popularity of the original Space Race is grossly overstated. Most people back then didn't particularly care that much. It still happened because politicians and technocrats wanted to beat the Soviets, and the Soviet central planners wanted to beat the Americans (even if the average peasant would have traded the Soyuz for more vodka).

It also shows near world-wide celebration when America managed to land safely on the moon.

My grandpa remembers hearing it announced live on the radio, and people really were happy.

But I don't see a contradiction between people celebrating the successful outcome and the majority not particularly seeking investment into the programs that brought about the outcome. Most Americans drastically overestimate NASA's share of the budget, which at least weakly implies that they wouldn't mind a higher share than in reality. They're not going to change their voting patterns over it, nobody lost an election for supporting the SLS despite it being an absolute boondoggle.

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