Why America Conquered Space
A review of *Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War*
What percentage of Americans do you think supported the space race in the 1960s?
As with almost all statistics, it’s impossible to arrive at one conclusive answer, but I assumed the number would be high. Maybe 75%? Cold War rivalry ran deep, the story goes. Everyone took the losses to the USSR in space very seriously and wanted to pull ahead. But it turns out that isn’t so true. It turns out that public sentiment for space exploration is remarkably similar to what it was 60 years ago: it’s not worth the money. Throughout the 1960s, the majority of Americans did not support the outlay of funds to lunar exploration. The lone exception is when 53% supported it immediately after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969.
This was the major theme that stuck with me from Jeff Shesol’s new book, Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War. These specifics weren’t mentioned within the book, but the tenor of the conversation around space exploration (both politically and popularly) seemed to be comprised of both optimism and skepticism. Several times, people question what is to be gained by “winning the space race”. A few explanations are given in retort…
