In 1964, 40% of the public did not approve of Project Apollo, and more than 50% did not think the moon shot was "worth the cost" throughout the 1960s. Kennedy himself questioned the commitment and considered cooperating—instead of competing—with the Soviet Union in space. At the same time, there was an explosion of space-related pop culture and citizen engagement with the space race. Dr. Emily Margolis, whose dissertation was titled Space Travel at 1G: Space Tourism in Cold War America, joins the show to explore the complicated politics of the home front during Project Apollo.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1964, 40% of the public did not approve of Project Apollo, and more than 50% did not think the moon shot was "worth the cost" throughout the 1960s. Kennedy himself questioned the commitment and considered cooperating—instead of competing—with the Soviet Union in space. At the same time, there was an explosion of space-related pop culture and citizen engagement with the space race. Dr. Emily Margolis, whose dissertation was titled Space Travel at 1G: Space Tourism in Cold War America, joins the show to explore the complicated politics of the home front during Project Apollo.<p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

Explore the politics of why the United States decided to send humans to the Moon—and why the nation pulled back after landing only six times. Hosted by Casey Dreier, the Chief Advocate and Senior Space Policy Adviser at The Planetary Society, this special edition podcast features some of the world’s leading space policy experts and historians in interviews initially broadcast as part of the monthly show, Planetary Radio: Space Policy Edition. Together these interviews, along with new opening analyses, attempt to tell a fuller story about Project Apollo, beginning with the political pre-history of the space age, going into the cold war, and looking at the political opposition that ultimately ended the ability of the United States to land on the Moon.

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