la position de la Nasa sur le projet Apollo est instructive
Partly in response to this concern, Johnson asked NASA to provide for him a set of specific recommendations on how a scientifically-viable Project Apollo, would be accomplished by the end of the decade. What emerged was a comprehensive space policy planning document that had the lunar landing as its centerpiece but that attached several ancillary funding items to enhance the program's scientific value and advance space exploration on a broad front:
1. Spacecraft and boosters for the human flight to the Moon.
2. Scientific satellite probes to survey the Moon.
3. A nuclear rocket.
4. Satellites for global communications.
5. Satellites for weather observation.
6. Scientific projects for Apollo landings.
Johnson accepted these recommendations and passed them to Kennedy who approved the overall plan.
ceci semble très raisonnable à l'époque comme minimum, alors qu'on ne sait absolument rien de la lune.
Even as the Mercury program was underway and work took place developing Apollo hardware, NASA program managers perceived a huge gap in the capability for human spaceflight between that acquired with Mercury and what would be required for a Lunar landing.
un énorme fossé technologique à combler.
