Why were they celebrities, then? Are you saying it was not under NASA's control -- that regardless of who they put in the craft, they would instantly become a "celebrity" too dangerous to expose to risk?
Quoting: nomuse (not logged in) 2380183 Parading the astronauts in front of the media and touting them as America's next hero-explorers made them celebrities. The public reaction to the Apollo 1 fire demonstrated this.
So your argument is that 9 groups were compartmentalized and made "parts" that worked anyhow, but 1 group of the ten was in on the hoax and made a part that wouldn't work?
Quoting: nomuse (not logged in) 2380183 Not necessarily. We don't know whether the LM design team was consciously party to the hoax. We only know that by 1969, when NASA was shockingly cancelling LM testing as "unnecessary," any LM engineer with a brain and a conscience should and would have publicly protested--unless he either approved of the hoax, or was threatened into silence.
Since you are so hung up on specific meanings in language, I have to ask if "United States" and "Celestial Body" are both necessary and inclusive.
Quoting: nomuse (not logged in) 2380183 Yes, we are speaking of the United States, not the alleged achievements of any other country. And yes, we are speaking of an actual landing on a celestial body with significant gravity and a safe takeoff and return therefrom, not unmanned launches that merely fly through space (perhaps collecting some dust) then fall back to earth.
The United States has never successfully accomplished a land-and-return mission, manned or unmanned. (Unless you count the "moon landings.")
