View Single Post
  #7  
Old December 15th 16, 12:17 AM posted to sci.space.history
David Spain
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,901
Default The Space Race was about Power Projection - Miles O'Brien

On 12/12/2016 2:02 AM, wrote:

My view is that the space race was an example of a single combat warrior, sort of like David and Goliath. The idea is that instead of having the two countries duke it out on the battlefield, their representatives, David and Goliath in ancient times and astronauts and cosmonauts in modern times, would vie for superiority. Russia won the first round, by getting a man into orbit before the U.S. did, but the U.S. raised the stakes, making a man on the moon the new goal, and in this arena, the American warriors were superior.

I agree.

That was an idea I first saw promulgated in Thomas Wolfe's book "The
Right Stuff" about the Mercury 7 program. But I'm sure that idea was not
original to him either.

Dave