6WINNING THE MOON RACE WITH APOLLO 8
In the summer of 1968, America was losing the space race. The Soviet Zond spacecraft appeared moon-ready, the Central Intelligence Agency had photographed a giant Soviet N-1 rocket sitting on its launch pad, and the Americans’ troubled Apollo program still needed three more test flights. But in August, NASA manager George Low had an audacious idea. Let’s go to the moon now. Instead of more tests in the earth’s orbit, let’s circle the moon in December and let that be the test. In that moment, the space race was essentially over. Less than a year later, the Soviets had capitulated, and Neil Armstrong had taken ...
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