Chapter 13, The Gift of Apollo, Chapter 14, Exploring Other Worlds and Protecting This One Summary and Analysis

The moon was once understood as a symbol of the unattainable but when men landed on it, that notion was shattered. For many millennia, the moon was not even conceived of as a place, but in the last few centuries this changed. However, since 1972, no one from any nation has gone back to the moon and no one has gone anywhere save low earth orbit.

The reason no one has gone back is that going to the moon was about politics, about proving the United States superior to the Soviet Union. It was also showing about showing that the United States had the capacity to place weapons in space. One benefit of this attitude is that in...