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Notes -
It was happening back then as well, space exploration has always been coded right-wing and nationalist. I'm not sure why OP thinks it was ever coded as left wing.
It has forever been coded as right-wing in a large body of scifi literature and filmmaking, and it was also right-wing and nationalist in the most literal sense- Nazi scientists were hugely important to the US space program. That is one of those historical anecdotes that progressives cite as a low-key own goal. "Look how bad our government was- it recruited Nazis to the space program!" Yeah, it did, because they were the best and they greatly contributed to those accomplishments.
The dialectic between civil rights and NASA is going to endure in similar form in the modern culture war vis-a-vis progressivism/Effective Altruism versus space adventurism.
The right wing of today should take the side of space adventurism as well, as a competing vision to EA. The two are not really reconcilable.
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