This coming Monday is the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's touchdown on the Moon. To mark the occasion, we have pulled some of TNR's best coverage of the space program from the 1960s:
"But What Comes After the Moon?" by Ralph E. Lapp, November 19, 1966. As the Apollo program grew closer to a Moon landing and the Vietnam war ate up more and more of the federal budget, Lapp--a nuclear phsyicist who had been heavily involved in the Manhattan Project--ponders the future of federally-funded space missions.
"A Case for Cutting NASA's Budget" by Ralph E. Lapp, March 30, 1968. Lapp argues the space program should be cut to make room for other priorities, with the remaining NASA money refocused around making real scientific progress.
"The Coming Trip Around The Moon" by The Editors, December 14, 1968. The editors interview Lapp about the upcoming Apollo 8 mission, its safety problem, and the state of the Soviet space program.