Being early is the same as being wrong in aerospace just as it is for VC (i.e. Northrop YB-49, Boeing 2707, Lockheed D-21).  While the Apollo program was an impressive flags and footsteps mission, it did not pave the way to a future lunar base.  The Apollo astronauts were lucky to get back alive (, if you&#x27;ve ever looked at how many single points of failure there were on the LEM and CM, you know what I mean).