This is my most recent Apollo program read, and I enjoyed it very much. The author's premise is that the digital world owes its origins to the Apollo program, and makes a strong case that it was Apollo's use of then-uncommon computer "chips" that both drove their price down and their reliability up so that they became a mainstay of modern products.
He also tells the fascinating story – based on later declassified recordings of a meeting JFK had on space policy with his advisers and a private meeting NASA chief James Webb in late 1963 that make clear that Kennedy's commitment to the moon race was flagging by the time of his trip to Texas as it became clearer that the program would not make it to the moon during his presidency, the cost of the program would require continuing support from Congress, and the original reason – the show American superiority over the Soviets in space technology – was being satisfied by the program's advances since 1961.
So while it was Kennedy that set the goal, it was only his replacement by a true believer in the space race – Lyndon Johnson – that ensured the level of financial commitment needed to get to the moon before the end of the decade.
Fishman also addresses the constant "what we could have done with that money" argument, making clear that spending for Apollo wouldn't have simply been redirected to antipoverty or other programs, and can't be blamed for the levels of spending those programs enjoyed. Apollo ended up costing almost exactly what its initial estimates predicted – about $20 billion, with spending peaking in the mid-60's at around $3 billion a year. I can't recall the precise figures, but at exactly the same time the U.S. spent about five times as much – per year and overall – on the Vietnam War, which mnakes clear that the money was there – it was just spent on something else.
The book also tells the fascinating story of the development of the Apollo computer hardware and software, as well as the guidance systems. Interestingly, the book told very few stories that I had heard before – even in part. It was new stories and new insights into a story that is now half a century old.
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