From what I can dig up casually, it looks like &quot;moonshot&quot; is from the space race, dating to 1958, but &quot;shoot for the moon&quot; might be earlier. And according to this, &quot;shoot the moon&quot; means to leave without paying rent:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.etymonline.com&#x2F;index.php?allowed_in_frame=&amp;search=shoot+for+the+moon&amp;searchmode=none" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.etymonline.com&#x2F;index.php?allowed_in_frame=&amp;search...</a><p>Which is kind of funny.