Bobby Kennedy wins in 1968--space program?

[Herbert1]

Dayton - JFK opted for the space race race against the Soviets because the goals were easier to attain, and more politically acceptable, than civil rights, etc. (The huge infusion of Apollo money into the industrial infrastructure was no small thing either.) My comment was that RFK likely held the opposite view of Nixon pertaining to the space program, and would have continued the 'legacy' that his brother established for that reason if nothing else. As events might have transpired in an alternative history extending through the early seventies, I have my doubts that support would have extended past the planned Apollo 20 mission.

Maybe. Or perhaps the moon race could have been replaced by a permanent moon base race between the United States and the Soviet Union?

In 1974, Valentin Glushko did start designing the Vulkan rocket and the LEK lunar lander for a Soviet moon base.

The intention of the NASA's Integrated Manned Space Flight Program of 1969 was to establish a permanent 12-person moon base and have the support infrastructure to keep the base supplied.

There could have also have been a Mars race between the Soviet Union and the United States.

But I think it would be more likely that funds that had been spent for the Vietnam War would have been channeled either to social programs or to new weapons systems for the United States military.

Public claims to the contrary, Agnew was under personal orders from Nixon to gut the space program (and in this he was relentless); the only project that was salvaged from all the NASA plans was the space shuttle, because Casper Weinberger, Nixon's director of OMB, thought it was a necessity.

United States Air Force requirements did influence the space shuttle design and the vehicle does have military applications although it has NASA painted on it. Early plans were to operate the vehicle from Vandenburg Air Force Base or White Sands, New Mexico.

As I said earlier, Keldysh of the Soviet Academy of Sciences was convinced that it could be used as a vehicle for military purposes including as a nuclear bomber. So perhaps there was a "space shuttle" race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

 

[Orne]

Herbert, I'm fond of the idea that any space race between nations is preferable to an arms race or bombing proxy countries into the stone-age. Wish things had turned out that way. Space programs, contrary to the view that the money is better spent on social programs, are better for the economy, beneficial to education (especially hard-sciences and technological advancement), and a huge boon to the industrial-base. For the money that was spent to continue the Vietnam War, moon colonization or Mars exploration - and everything that falls between - could easily have been funded. Likewise the money expended in Iraq (starting with the eleven billion dollar cash delivery which disappeared who knows where) could've been used more effectively for space exploration; but, in either era, I wouldn't have handed it over to NASA without a thorough cleaning out of the deadwood management/bureacracy.

 

[Herbert1]

Herbert, I'm fond of the idea that any space race between nations is preferable to an arms race or bombing proxy countries into the stone-age. Wish things had turned out that way. Space programs, contrary to the view that the money is better spent on social programs, are better for the economy, beneficial to education (especially hard-sciences and technological advancement), and a huge boon to the industrial-base. For the money that was spent to continue the Vietnam War, moon colonization or Mars exploration - and everything that falls between - could easily have been funded. Likewise the money expended in Iraq (starting with the eleven billion dollar cash delivery which disappeared who knows where) could've been used more effectively for space exploration; but, in either era, I wouldn't have handed it over to NASA without a thorough cleaning out of the deadwood management/bureacracy.

I agree with everything you said. Regretably, the way that the political system works in the United States it never seems to work out that way. Money spent on space exploration is seen as money that is thrown away so that NASA can play with expensive toys at public expense.