In early 1960, the Apollo project was conceived by NASA to put a man on the moon. There was no budget and no political interest. President Eisenhower founded NASA as a response to the Soviets putting Sputnik, the first satellite into space and showed little interest after. Kennedy even would’t support a manned space program.

A few dreamers at NASA pushed ahead anyways, creating plans for project Apollo.

Then the Soviets launched Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. And people flipped out. At first Kennedy’s response was that the US wouldn’t win the manned space race, but would win elsewhere. It didn’t matter, political pressure mounted and almost overnight he did a complete reversal of opinion. In his now famous speech before a joined session of congress he vowed the US would put a man on the moon before the decade was over.

One day, your CEO, your board, your minister or somebody of equivalent importance holden the purse strings at your DMO is going