Axxman300
Philosopher
And?You don't understand that the space race was political...?
NASA was a biproduct of our ICBM program. The guys building nuclear missiles would sit around the break room and discuss other ideas for things we could do with our rockets. One of the ideas was to put men in space. First we'd go into orbit, and if we could build a multi-stage rocket we could reach the moon, or further. Ike thought it would be a wise idea since the Soviets were already leaning in that direction. Then came Sputnik, and we were off to the races.
So what?
The United States spent billions on machines that didn't anyone (intentionally). Inspired a generation of scientists, and in the process of sending men to the moon a long list of products were invented from scratch that made an impact on every day lives of normal people. One of which you currently use to tell us Apollo 11 was fake. I'm not seeing a downside. The classic Earthrise photo from Apollo 8 would launch the environmental movement we know today because it was the first time viewing our home from another world's perspective, and realizing just how small earth is, and maybe it's a good idea to treat it better than a public toilet.
All due to the politics of beating the Ruskies. Sue us.